Two Canadian restaurants make the S. Pellegrino top 100

Two Canadian restaurants make the S. Pellegrino top 100

Langdon Hall: 800 pro foodies can't be wrong (Image: langdonhall.ca)

The much-anticipated list of S. Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants 2010 was announced in London yesterday in front of the world’s finest chefs, most influential restaurateurs and members of the international press. It appears that two Canadian culinary gems have caught the eye of the academy, and one of them is in the GTA.

Rouge, in Calgary, placed 60th, and Langdon Hall, in Cambridge, placed 77th.  To put these rankings into perspective, Canada hasn’t had a spot on the list since Eigensinn Farm in 2003. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, the celebrity chef’s three-Michelin-star flagship establishment, which in the past has always landed in the top 15, dropped off the list completely.

Among other news from the list is that there is a new number one. Denmark’s Noma pushed traditional winners El Bulli and The Fat Duck down to second and third, respectively. The restaurant to climb the highest number of spots was New York’s Daniel.

The prestigious list was compiled from 4,030 votes cast by over 800 international leaders in the restaurant industry, who were asked to select their favourite dining establishments in which they had eaten over the past 18 months.

Paul Rogalski, chef and co-owner of Rouge, admits that he had no idea his restaurant was being critiqued for the list but said he hopes the recognition increases business not only for his restaurant, but also for the city. “We have a lot of great restaurants here, so to have this acknowledgment on the global scene will hopefully bring more people out this way.”

The list will be published in the May issue of Restaurant Magazine.

• The World’s Best Restaurant Awards [S. Pellegrino]
Calgary restaurant among world’s 100 best [CBC]
• Calgary restaurant first in city to make list of the world’s top 100 [Calgary Herald]