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River Café no longer one of world's top 50... but five London restaurants are
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard22.04.08
The River Cafe's 20-year reign at the top of London's gastronomic hierarchy has come to an end.
The acclaimed Hammersmith restaurant, run by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers, has been dropped from an influential list of the world's top 50 restaurants for the first time.
However, five London restaurants have been named among the 50 best, according to the poll of 700 food critics.
The capital's reputation for dining out was bolstered by the success of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, the chef's flagship establishment in Chelsea.
Last year it was ranked 24th. This year it has shot up the list to become the capital's highest-placed entry at No13.
The overall winner was El Bulli in northern Spain, named best restaurant in the world.
Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire, came second for the third year running.
The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, produced annually by Restaurant magazine, is based on votes by experts from around the globe.
A total of six British restaurants make it onto the list this year.
The four other London restaurants in the top 50 are St John, EC1 (16th), Hakkasan, W1 (19th), Le Gavroche, W1 (22nd), and Nobu, W1 (30th).
A further six make it into the top 100. They are Maze, W1 (57th), the River Café,W6 (58th), Zuma, SW7 (64th), The Square, W1 (67th) and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, WC2 (83rd). The only other British entry is also in Bray - Michel Roux's Waterside Inn, at No70.
A fifth of the restaurants in the top 50 are in France, while the US and Spain have eight and seven respectively.
The list was announced at a ceremony at the Freemasons' Hall in Covent Garden last night, attended by many of the world's most famous chefs and restaurateurs including Blumenthal, Alan Yau, Aldo Zilli, Giorgio Locatelli, Sally Clarke and Skye Gyngell.
Restaurant magazine's Sarah Canet said: "The list is interesting because as well as the fine-dining French restaurants you would expect, there are all the guys with their gadgets like Heston Blumenthal and also people like Victor Arguinzoniz, from Asador Etxebarri in San Sebastian, who cooks everything over an open flame. It's also interesting to see places like Nobu and Joel Robuchon have numerous entries in different countries. And Thomas Keller has two in the top 10 - The French Laundry in California and Per Se in New York."
Ramsay, whose New York and French openings have suffered mixed reviews, might want to take note of Keller's method - screens in each kitchen so he can keep an eye on both at once.
