Basque restaurants Mugaritz and Arzak still among world's 10 best

Two Basque restaurants were included among the best ten restaurants in the world when the prestigious UK magazine Restaurant, dedicated to subjects of gastronomy, announced its official list of the world's best 50 restaurants.

Mugaritz in Donostia-San Sebastian came third, following second El Celler de Can Roca in Girona. The Chefs' Choice award, voted for by the World's 50 Best chefs, was presented to Andoni Luis Aduriz of Mugaritz, which was devastated by a fire two years ago. Basque winners also included Arzak at no. 8, whose joint Head Chef Elena Arzak was awarded the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef award.

Basque restaurant Asador Etxebarri was also featured in the latest top 50, in position 31. Martin Berasategui, on the other hand, dropped to 67.

Danish restaurant Noma was crowned the world's best restaurant for the third year in a row in an annual list, beating out top eateries in the Basque Country, Brazil, Italy, the United States and elsewhere.

The S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna World's 50 Best Restaurants, produced by Britain's Restaurant Magazine, were unveiled in the medieval splendour of London's medieval after voting by a panel of more than 800 chefs, restaurateurs, journalists and food experts who rated chef Rene Redzepi's Noma as the "standard-bearer for the new Nordic movement."
Redzepi said he was delighted to win the award for the third time and added that his main philosophy was to create delicious food using locally sourced produce.

"It's something about the zeitgeist. It's about nature, people growing food, being close to food. Connecting with organic farmers, working hard to maintain a healthy ecology, the utmost deliciousness ties in with this," he said.