The World’s 50 Best Restaurants for 2024 have just been unveiled

The verdict is in: Disfrutar in Barcelona, Spain has claimed the top spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for 2024. Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo, Spain came in second, and Table by Bruno Verjus in Paris, France placed third on the annual restaurant ranking. Finishing off the top five are Diverxo in Madrid, Spain at No. 4 and Maido in Lima, Peru at No.5.

Now in its 22nd edition, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants was announced at a glitzy live awards ceremony held at Wynn Las Vegas, sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, and graced by the presence of some of the globe’s finest culinary experts as well as restaurateurs and hospitality leaders.

As always, the 50 Best list seeks to assess and subsequently rank the elite of epicurean expertise from 26 territories across five continents. World-class restaurants like Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark and elBulli in Roses, Spain both dominated the leading position on the list five times in the past, but since 2019, any restaurant that ranks on the top of the list is no longer eligible for contest in the following years.

Headed by Chefs Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas, Disfrutar was established in 2014 and took the No.3 spot in 2022, then the No. 2 spot on the list in 2023. Its steady ascend to top of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking is attributed to imaginative dishes put forward with exceptional technical skill and served playfully, with two elaborate menus of 30 courses on offer: The Classic and The Festival. The restaurant, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, also took home the trophy for The Best Restaurant in Europe 2024.

Bangkok’s renowned Gaggan, ranked No.9 on the list, earned the title of The Best Restaurant in Asia 2024. The 2024 edition of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants also saw several new entries, including La Colombe (Cape Town, South Africa), Mingles (Seoul, South Korea), and Wing (Hong Kong), and re-entries such as Sühring (Bangkok, Thailand), Oteque (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Arpège (Paris, France).

Additionally, the awards ceremony doled out several prestigious individual awards, including the Highest New Entry Award 2024 (Wing, Hong Kong), the Sustainable Restaurant Award 2024 (Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin, Germany), the Resy One to Watch Award 2024 (Kato, Los Angeles, USA), and The World’s Best Female Chef 2024 (Janaína Torres of A Casa do Porco, São Paulo, Brazil).