Far from featuring neighborhood burger joints, the survey is dominated by highly-decorated, internationally renowned restaurants owned and run by some of the biggest names in fine dining.
TripAdvisor survey results
El Celler de Can Roca in Girona was voted the best restaurant in the world for its tasting menus based on local Catalan produce. Despite lazy cliches about the standard of British food, England has three restaurants in the worldwide top 10, including Midsummer House, which came in at second on the worldwide list. An unassuming townhouse in Cambridge plays host to the restaurant, which has two Michelin stars and, more importantly, plenty of positive reviews on TripAdvisor.
First place in the U.S. goes to Grant Achatz’s Alinea in Chicago, whose awards include three Michelin stars, an AAA Five Diamond Award, as well as a place on S. Pellegrino’s annual list. Despite the fact that the chef suffered from tongue cancer which robbed him of his sense of taste for quite some time, his restaurant is obviously still delivering a great dining experience to TripAdvisor reviewers.
A survey to be trusted?
Of course the fact that the survey is carried out by customers of an online review service may tarnish the prestige of the award, with previous results having led to allegations of review fraud.
One surprise omission from the list is NOLA, Copenhagen, which has taken the title of the world’s best restaurant three years in a row. The fact that it is currently impossible to bag a reservation at NOLA means that there have been no recent reviews left on its Tripadvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) page. Winners are crowned based on their reviews, so despite critical acclaim, NOLA does not feature on the TripAdvisor list.
Although the survey may serve as a rough guide to travelling diners who wish to follow the recommendations of their peers, yours truly would recommend taking the results with a healthy pinch of salt, and consulting the recommendations of food critics before you decide where to eat tonight.
