Canadian restaurants fail to place in the S. Pellegrino Top 50—again
Let the ritual speculation and recrimination commence. Once again, no restaurants from Canada made it to the list of the world’s 50 best restaurants, as compiled by Restaurant magazine (and sponsored, conspicuously, by S. Pellegrino). And just like last year—but unlike 2010—no Canadian restaurants made it to the consolation prize list of numbers 51-100. Is it because Canadian cooking is insufficiently ambitious? Perhaps there’s too much plaid and reclaimed wood in our dining rooms. Or maybe the 800+ judges just aren’t familiar enough with this country’s food? Or perhaps—to get all conspiracy-theory on this—the top end Canadian restaurants don’t serve enough S. Pellegrino (yes, some Canadian chefs offer this as a reason for this country’s absence on the annual list).
For the third year in a row, René Redzepi’s Noma, in Copenhagen, held on to the top spot, followed by the same pair of Spanish restaurants as last year: El Celler de Can Roca in Girona and Mugaritz in San Sebastian. For those inclined to bask in reflected (or even refracted) glory, David Chang, who’ll be opening two or possibly three spots in Toronto this summer, placed twice, at number 37 with Momofuku Ssam Bar and at number 79 with his tiny Momofuku Ko, while Daniel Boulud, whose Café Boulud will open at the Four Seasons this year, placed at number 25 for Daniel.
The entire Top 50 list:
- Noma (Denmark)
- El Celler de Can Roca (Spain)
- Mugaritz (Spain)
- D.O.M. (Brazil)
- Osteria Francescana (Italy)
- Per Se (USA)
- Alinea (USA)
- Arzak (Spain)
- Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (United Kingdom)
- Eleven Madison Park (USA)
- Steirereck (Austria)
- L’Atelier Saint-Germain de Joel Robuchon (France)
- The Fat Duck (United Kingdom)
- The Ledbury (United Kingdom)
- Le Chateaubriand (France)
- L’Arpege (France)
- Pierre Gagnaire (France)
- L’Astrance (France)
- Le Bernardin (USA)
- Frantzén/Lindeberg (Sweden)
- Oud Sluis (Netherlands)
- Aqua (Germany)
- Vendome (Germany)
- Mirazur (France)
- Daniel (USA)
- Iggy’s (Singapore)
- Narisawa (Japan)
- Nihonryori RyuGin (Japan)
- Quay (Australia)
- Schloss Schauenstein (Switzerland)
- Asador Etxebarri (Spain)
- Le Calandre (Italy)
- De Librije (Netherlands)
- Fäviken (Sweden)
- Astrid Y Gaston (Peru)
- Pujol (Mexico)
- Momofuku Ssam Bar (USA)
- Biko (Mexico)
- Waku Ghin (Singapore)
- Quique Dacosta (Spain)
- Mathias Dahlgren (Sweden)
- Hof van Cleve (Belgium)
- The French Laundry (California)
- Amber (China)
- Villa Joya (Portugal)
- Il Canto (Italy)
- Bras (France)
- Manresa (USA)
- Geranium (Denmark)
- Nahm (Bangkok)
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/food/top-50-restaurants-2012/&title=Canadian restaurants fail to place in the S. Pellegrino Top 50—again&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/noma-best-restaurant-624x406.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_134962" align="aligncenter" width="656" caption="The triumphant Noma crew, with bearded chef René Redzepi in the middle (Image: World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2012 sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna)"][/caption]
Let the ritual speculation and recrimination commence. Once again, no restaurants from Canada made it to the list of the world’s 50 best restaurants, as compiled by Restaurant magazine (and sponsored, conspicuously, by S. Pellegrino). And just like last year—but unlike 2010—no Canadian restaurants made it to the consolation prize list of numbers 51-100. Is it because Canadian cooking is insufficiently ambitious? Perhaps there’s too much plaid and reclaimed wood in our dining rooms. Or maybe the 800+ judges just aren’t familiar enough with this country’s food? Or perhaps—to get all conspiracy-theory on this—the top end Canadian restaurants don’t serve enough S. Pellegrino (yes, some Canadian chefs offer this as a reason for this country’s absence on the annual list).
For the third year in a row, René Redzepi’s Noma, in Copenhagen, held on to the top spot, followed by the same pair of Spanish restaurants as last year: El Celler de Can Roca in Girona and Mugaritz in San Sebastian. For those inclined to bask in reflected (or even refracted) glory, David Chang, who’ll be opening two or possibly three spots in Toronto this summer, placed twice, at number 37 with Momofuku Ssam Bar and at number 79 with his tiny Momofuku Ko, while Daniel Boulud, whose Café Boulud will open at the Four Seasons this year, placed at number 25 for Daniel.
The entire Top 50 list:
Noma (Denmark)
El Celler de Can Roca (Spain)
Mugaritz (Spain)
D.O.M. (Brazil)
Osteria Francescana (Italy)
Per Se (USA)
Alinea (USA)
Arzak (Spain)
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (United Kingdom)
Eleven Madison Park (USA)
Steirereck (Austria)
L'Atelier Saint-Germain de Joel Robuchon (France)
The Fat Duck (United Kingdom)
The Ledbury (United Kingdom)
Le Chateaubriand (France)
L'Arpege (France)
Pierre Gagnaire (France)
L'Astrance (France)
Le Bernardin (USA)
Frantzén/Lindeberg (Sweden)
Oud Sluis (Netherlands)
Aqua (Germany)
Vendome (Germany)
Mirazur (France)
Daniel (USA)
Iggy's (Singapore)
Narisawa (Japan)
Nihonryori RyuGin (Japan)
Quay (Australia)
Schloss Schauenstein (Switzerland)
Asador Etxebarri (Spain)
Le Calandre (Italy)
De Librije (Netherlands)
Fäviken (Sweden)
Astrid Y Gaston (Peru)
Pujol (Mexico)
Momofuku Ssam Bar (USA)
Biko (Mexico)
Waku Ghin (Singapore)
Quique Dacosta (Spain)
Mathias Dahlgren (Sweden)
Hof van Cleve (Belgium)
The French Laundry (California)
Amber (China)
Villa Joya (Portugal)
Il Canto (Italy)
Bras (France)
Manresa (USA)
Geranium (Denmark)
Nahm (Bangkok)
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gosh the noma crew is painfully attractive.
I wonder if they even try out our restaurants!
Toronto: city of the complaining mediocre.
Trolls: vocation of angry losers who think they’re clever and droll.
They simply aren’t good enough
toronto , canada, spots are not good enough , did you see that list of restaurants , theres no way any place in canada can hold a candle to these places , this is an impressive list of top notch spots ,
ps restaurants are not , a room that serves sliced pork products on a wood platter , and u sit on a 1940 s school chair from a second hand store on queen east, and have a single bulb as a lite fixture , with a bar made of 2×6 wood , and they cook on a stove top and the floor is ona 3 degree angle , and then chrage like they are a high end restaurant. Eating to be full , go home , eating out for a experience go out.
who serves san pelligrino in the city?
Keep your sticks on the ice and your fat asses at Hack Astor’s dunce caps.
Mediocre dining establishments at best!