Best restaurants of the world – Restaurant Magazine

The Sydney Morning Herald posted the top 50 restaurants in the world, a compilation by Restaurant Magazine. It is interesting to see a Copenhagen restaurant, Noma, topping the list. Their food does appear very simple.

The rules are simple and fair.

What caught my attention are the rather minimal entries from Asia, within the top 50. At a glance one can see some from Japan an odd one from China and India. Food as any other culture has a deep sense of nationalism and everyone imagines their cuisine to be the centre of the world. This is especially so if you come from a culture that strongly prides over its cuisine. No cuisine can stand by its self, as fusion had taken place centuries ago. Food is definitely an evolutionary process.

The list is about restaurants and they cannot exist without a cuisine. What sets apart these from the rest? Actually the question is why do we need a ranking? Good and bad food can be distinguished, so why a ranking.

The food industry has been put into a tight spot and has become highly regulated from several consumer angles; it is alas not entirely about a fine culture but about the struggle to compete. If it were merely based on food, then one could argue that the mere uniqueness of one’s culinary skill will give adequate variety to the market. Is it possible to rank the variety?

The chef’s job has become more challenging along with the boredom of cooking day and night. It is not an easy job and definitely not the best paid. Yet hordes of people enrol into catering courses. Part of the reason is the abundance of TV shows devoted to cooking and now kids compete in master chef shows! I wonder how many can cook these dishes after a 9 to 5 slog at work and with a Martha Stewart or Jamie Oliver style. I think the lure of celebritydom works here too.

Compare this to the gladiators fighting in the pit below and the élite paying top dollar to see who survives the match. Fine dining has been reduced to it with de gustation menus costing a bomb all in the name of ambience, fine wine, service and fresh ingredients! Will you dare complain about anything where the cost of an evening can be a fortune not paid out of a corporate account! It is part of human psyche and these competitions serve some purpose, even if good food and wine can speak for themselves!