At a ceremony last night in Las Vegas, The World’s 50 Best announced its 2024 list of restaurants, with Barcelona’s Disfrutar landing at No. 1 for the first time. Led by a trio of chefs from the legendary El Bulli, Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casañas, Disfrutar earns bragging rights as The World’s Best Restaurant according to the well-known list, which is assembled by a panel of over 1,000 judges including chefs, members of the food media, and others, and awarded in an annual ceremony presented by Acqua Panna and San Pellegrino.
This year’s World’s 50 Best features four restaurants from Italy: Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera (No. 12), Reale in Castel di Sangro (No. 19), Piazza Duomo in Alba (No. 39), and Uliassi in Senigallia (at No. 50). The result is a slight demotion, as Italian restaurants took five spots on the 2023 list. The United States only produced two of the restaurants on the 2024 list, NYC’s Atomix (No. 6) and Healdsburg, CA’s Single Thread (No. 46).
Lido 84, from brothers Riccardo and Giancarlo Camanini, is on Lake Garda, a popular vacation spot in northern Italy. The restaurant, located in Gardone Riviera, features chef Riccardo's creative takes on Italian cuisine, served in a former lido that was once a beach club.
Reale, from Niko Romito, has helped make Abruzzo a culinary destination. The restaurant occupies a 16th century monastery, and the chef has become known for his wizardry with vegetables as well as regional meats.
Piazza Duomo, from chef Enrico Crippa, features multi-course tasting menus with ingredients from its greenhouses and organic and biodynamic gardens. There's also a Barolo menu that celebrates the Piedmont region's beloved wine with special pairings, and seasonal additions such as a white truffle menu, featuring another famed ingredient from Piedmont.
Uliassi, in the Adriatic coastal town of Senigallia in Marche, is like a hyper-charged showcase of the trendy Italian coastal cuisine with a twist. Chef Mauro Uliassi and his sister/maître d' Catia Uliassi, opened the restaurant in their hometown of 1990 and have made it a destination for innovative cooking and culinary ideas. The World's 50 Best notes, "The uniqueness of Uliassi’s cuisine is found in the chef’s study of marine flavours and how they meet – and ‘contaminate’ – meat-based products. It’s part of a sea-land exchange typical of the Marche regional tradition."
The full list is below, and descriptions for each of the restaurants can be found here.
1. Disfrutar, Barcelona
2. Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain
3. Table by Bruno Verjus, Paris
4. Diverxo, Madrid
5. Maido, Lima
6. Atomix, New York
7. Quintonil, Mexico City
8. Alchemist, Copenhagen
9. Gaggan, Bangkok
10. Don Julio, Buenos Aires
11. Septime, Paris
12. Lido 84, Gardone Riviera
13. Trèsind Studio, Dubai
14. Quique Dacosta, Dénia
15. Sézanne, Tokyo
16. Kjolle, Lima
17. Kol, London
18. Plénitude, Paris
19. Reale, Castel di Sangro
20. Wing, Hong Kong
21. Florilège, Tokyo
22. Steirereck, Vienna
23. Sühring, Bangkok
24. Odette, Singapore
25. El Chato, Bogotá
26. The Chairman, Hong Kong
27. A Casa do Porco, São Paulo
28. Elkano, Getaria
29. Boragó, Santiago
30. Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin
31. Belcanto, Lisbon
32. Den, Tokyo
33. Pujol, Mexico City
34. Rosetta, Mexico City
35. Frantzen, Stockholm
36. The Jane, Antwerp
37. Oteque, Rio
38. Sorn, Bangkok
39. Piazza Duomo, Alba
40. Le Du, Bangkok
41. Mayta, Lima
42. Ikoyi, London
43. Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin
44. Mingles, Seoul
45. Arpege, Paris
46. Single Thread, Healdsburg
47. Schloss Schauenstein, Fürstenau
48. Hisa Franko, Kobarid
49. La Colombe, Cape Town
50. Uliassi, Senigallia
