Overview
Last night, the best chefs in the world descended on Spain's Bilbao for the annual World's 50 Best celebrations. Among them, was Australia's Ben Shewry. Shewry is no stranger to the awards, his Ripponlea restaurant Attica has appeared on the list every year since 2013, but this is the first year he's cracked the top 20.
Attica was the only Australian restaurant in the top 50 — which jumped 12 spots from No. 32 to No. 20 this year — with Victoria's Brae falling to No. 58, compared to a ranking of No. 44 last year. Attica also took out the coveted Best Restaurant in Australasia award.
The top five restaurant for 2018 aren't dramatically different from past years, with Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana rising from second place to once again take out the top gong. Spain's El Celler de Can Roca rose from No.3 to No.2, while Southern France's Mirazur rose from No. 4 to No.3, and New York's Eleven Madison Park dropped from No.1 to No. 4 — it was closed for renovations for a portion of last year. Rounding out the top five was Bangkok's Gaggan, a restaurant known, among other things, for its emoji-only menu.
It was a bittersweet awards for Australia, which has oft had up to four restaurants on the list — the award's debut year, in 2002, saw Melbourne's Flower Drum, Sydney's Tetsuya's and Neil Perry's Rockpool (which has now closed) all in the top 50. This year, only one made the cut.
The award's often-criticised gender imbalance was once again evident, with only five women making the list (an increase from last year's three). You can check out the full list at the World's 50 Best website.