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Noma Named is the World’s Best Restaurant — Again

Copenhagen restaurant Noma takes the top spot for the fifth time as the world’s best restaurant.

Oct 06, 2021 | By Sarah Ridzwan
noma
Image: Noma

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking is out and Danish restaurant Noma is back in the top spot, previously holding this position in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014.

Co-owner Rene Redzepi accepted the award in Antwerp, Belgium with the Noma team on stage.

With the new rules in place for the ranking, this will be the last time the restaurant accepts the award. The World’s 50 Best now retires entries from the list after they hit the top spot. Noma was still eligible because this is its first time winning the award in its new location.

noma world's best restaurant
Image: The World’s 50 Best

Noma ties with El Bulli (Catalonia, Spain, run by chef Ferran Adrià) for the most wins ever. Due to the rule changes, no other restaurant will match the tallies. The change was billed as a diversity initiative but in 2019 the Times revealed that chefs feared a drop in their reputation as they fell from the number one spot lobbied for the change.

Noma regained the top spot after sitting at number two in the 2019 rankings. The previous year’s (2020) rankings were scrapped because of the coronavirus and the organisation acknowledged that the ongoing pandemic had changed the voting procedures. 

Noma offers three different menus at different times of the year, with seafood season for the first six months of the year, vegetable season for the summer, and game and forest in the winter.

Back when people could fly around the world freely, pre-pandemic, a spot on the top 50 list could drive business for these restaurants.

“Bookings went through the roof,” Redzepi told the crowd as he accepted the top-ranking today and recalled what happened the first time Noma had won. “Tuesdays became like Saturdays. Our website crashed multiple times.”  

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021

  1. Noma, Copenhagen
  2. Geranium, Copenhagen
  3. Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain
  4. Central, Lima
  5. Disfrutar, Barcelona
  6. Frantzén, Stockholm
  7. Maido, Lima
  8. Odette, Singapore
  9. Pujol, Mexico City
  10. The Chairman, Hong Kong
  11. Den, Tokyo
  12. Steirereck, Vienna
  13. Don Julio, Buenos Aires
  14. Mugaritz, San Sebastian
  15. Lido 84, Gardone Riviera, Italy
  16. Elkano, Getaria, Spain
  17. A Casa do Porco, São Paulo
  18. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy
  19. Narisawa, Tokyo
  20. Diverxo, Madrid
  21. Hisa Frank,oKobarid, Slovena
  22. Cosme, New York
  23. Arpège, Paris
  24. Septime, Paris
  25. White Rabbit, Moscow
  26. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy
  27. Quintonil, Mexico City
  28. Benu, San Francisco
  29. Reale, Castel di Sangro, Italy
  30. Twins Garden, Moscow
  31. Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin
  32. The Clove Club, London
  33. Lyle’s, London
  34. Burnt Ends, Singapore
  35. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai
  36. Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem, Belgium
  37. SingleThread, Healdsburg
  38. Boragó, Santiago
  39. Florilège, Tokyo
  40. Sühring, Bangkok
  41. Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen, Paris
  42. Belcanto, Lisbon
  43. Atomix, New York
  44. Le Bernardin, New York
  45. Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin
  46. Leo, Bogotá
  47. Maaemo, Oslo
  48. Atelier Crenn, San Francisco
  49. Azurmendi, Larrabetzu, Spain
  50. Wolfgat, Paternoster, South Africa

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