Japan¡¯s showing at the 2023 World¡¯s 50 Best Restaurants ceremony included a few fallers ¡ª and one notable riser.
At the June 21 ceremony held live in Valencia, Spain, restaurants in Tokyo captured three of the top 50 spots, and another three from the capital and Osaka placed in the top 100. Perennial nominee Den?and its modern spin on traditional kaiseki cuisine led the contingent at the No. 21 spot.
French restaurant Florilege shifted into the No. 27 spot, followed by a surprise rush up the rankings from , which captured the No. 37 position after placing at No. 82 in 2022 ¡ª quite the achievement for a restaurant that only opened in July 2021.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Tokyo¡¯s Narisawa took the No. 51 spot of the evening, followed by Osaka¡¯s (No. 60) and Tokyo¡¯s (No. 83). Each of these chic restaurants fell several notches compared to their 2022 rankings, with Sazenka¡¯s drop from No. 59 representing the biggest fall among Japan¡¯s awardees.
The top accolades of the evening went to (Lima, Peru), perhaps buoyed by chef Virgilio Martinez¡¯s recent exceptional expansion here in Tokyo. Martinez and his staff accepted the praise at the tail end of the ceremony, which was livestreamed from Valencia on the World¡¯s 50 Best Restaurants¡¯ .
Also based in Lima, moved into the No. 6 spot, thanks to Peruvian-born chef Mitsuharu Tsuruma¡¯s Nikkei cuisine ¡ª a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese flavors and techniques. Japanese chef Kei Kobayashi and his located just steps from the Louvre also broke into the top 100 for the first time at No. 93.
According to the 50 Best organization, its global panel of more than 1,000 judges is divided into 27 regions with 40 gender-balanced voters each. These include ¡°food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs and highly regarded ¡®foodies.¡¯¡± Judges are required to have visited restaurants at least once over the past 18 months, and all votes are kept anonymous.
Notably, the World¡¯s 50 Best Restaurants list also instituted a rule in 2019 stating that no restaurant could occupy the top spot of the rankings twice, which explains why Rene Redzepi and Noma¡¯s recent Kyoto pop-up were left off of the list.
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