This is the first time chef Mauro Colagreco and his sunny Provencal dining room have clinched the top spot; previously the restaurant was No.3
It goes without saying that the 18th annual edition of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, held in Singapore, was its most glamorous, star-studded and, to use street parlance, “happening” to date.
The three days leading up to the crescendo that was the global unveiling of the World’s Number 1 restaurant for the year was nothing short of a culinary extravaganza that somehow transformed the dynamic island nation into, as renowned F&B entrepreneur Benjamin Yong who had flown in especially for the event observed, a real-life version of the hit Netflix series Chef’s Table and then some.
From master classes headed by white-hot star chefs such as Rasmus Kofoed of Copenhagen’s Geranium and Virgilio Martinez and Pia Leon, the husband and wife team behind Central in Lima, to private parties held throughout the city in the nights leading up to the awards, like the one at Keong Saik Road star, Burnt Ends, which featured a triple collaboration between the award-winning dining room, New York’s Momofuku restaurants and Hong Kong’s Ronin, as well as up close and personal sharing sessions with big names on topics that ranged from mindfulness, happiness and achieving success in the culinary world, it’s safe to say that the debut of an Asian city as the venue for the awards, following New York City (2016), Melbourne (2017) and Bilbao (2018) was nothing short of spectacular.
At 11.18pm, over a red carpet celebration held at the grand ballroom of the iconic Marina Bay Sands, the entire audience burst into collective cheers as Mirazur of France was announced as The World’s Best Restaurant 2019, alongside a host of other winners including Daniela Soto-Innes as World’s Best Female Chef, Azurmendi for Westholme Highest Climber Award and Gaggan as The Best Restaurant in Asia.
For a full list of all the winners and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, see here.
