I don’t usually get all that jazzed about roundups like Restaurant Magazine’s annual list of the world’s top 50 restaurants, which was released this week. We all know that El Bulli is unspeakably incredible, that a meal at Fat Duck is worth hawking your firstborn child for, and that we’ll probably never get in to either place. There aren’t really too many surprises on this list, at least in the top 10 to 20 slots.
But what’s interesting is how loosely the concept world is applied here: Only a handful of the winners—picked by 22 panels of writers, critics, and chefs from 75-odd countries—are located outside of Europe and North America. And there are exactly zero in China or Japan; as Bloomberg.com reports, the panelists anointed the London spots Nobu and Hakkasan the world’s pinnacle of East Asian cuisine. (Perhaps the fact that the chosen Nobu outpost is not the original in New York speaks to a certain bias in the UK-based magazine’s panel selection?)
I’ve never eaten at Bukhara in New Delhi, the lone Asian restaurant on the list (which the Bloomberg writer deems “underwhelming”), but I imagine there have to be some better or at least equally good options somewhere on that continent. Even in the world’s less wealthy countries, there are plenty of higher-end dining experiences to be had, right?
It is interesting how far food lags behind other facets of culture in embracing multiculturalism. There would be an (academic)) uproar if there were a list of the 50 best novels of the 21st century that had this kind of tilt, but folks still seem to assert that western, especially French, cuisine is innately superior to others. Even the concept of the “”ethnic”" bracketed in quotations as it is, reflects a classic Orientalist outlook. I am not claiming that cultural diversity should trump all other criteria, and I suspect that the list reflects the reality that around the world fine dining = French/European cuisine, but it is worth wondering how a list like this would look for other cultural pursuits. I pursued these ideas at greater length today in a post on the Ethnic Paris Cookbook:
http://thegurglingcod.typepad.com/thegurglingcod/2007/04/axis_of_eatin_i_1.html
Silly self-anointed ethnocentric pap providing me with a list of restaraunts I’ll be avoiding.
I think this goes hand in hand with other facets of culture. With the expanding global world western culture is not embracing multi-culturalism, it is destroying it. A perfect example of this is the “green” revolution that took place in farming in the 70’s where big corporations not only encouraged but much of the time forced global south farmers to ditch their tried and true method of planting with crop diversity and forced these farmers to implement mono cropping farming tactics from the “Bigger is Better” school of corporate farming.
If they did not include any Thai restaurants their list is not worth reading.
Do you mean restaurants in Thailand, or Thai restaurants?
“Even in the world’s less wealthy countries, there are plenty of higher-end dining experiences to be had, right?”
I’m not sure this is actually true.
It’s easy to stomp around in a huff declaiming this is a list of restaurants that are to be avoided at all costs (kind of silly, but easy), and the charge of “ethnocentrism” is perhaps fair. But I don’t think the underlying causes are as simple as ignorant Westerners just not knowing about dozens of restaurants in China, Korea, Kenya, et. al. that are operating at the level of El Bulli and the French Laundry.
Luxury restaurants are, well, luxuries. They require a whole lot of resources — in addition to world-class ingredients, equipment, and chefs, you need enough of an audience prepared to pay world-class prices. Finding that combination is going to be really, really tough outside of “First World” countries — countries that are affluent enough to nurture and sustain that kind of restaurant. And like it or not, with very few exceptions this means America and Europe.
A “world-class” restaurant may well exist in certain metropolitan areas outside what we think of as the First World. Dubai seems like a very likely candidate to me, or Shanghai, or Bangalore. But I think it’s very, very unlikely we’re going to come across an incredible undiscovered gem in a place that isn’t accessible to a fairly wealthy leisure class, because the existence of that class is pretty much necessary for such a restaurant to exist.
Although the original Nobu is in New York, the chain got its jumpstart from Matsuhisa in L.A. about 5 years prior.
And you can’t tell me that in all of South America there isn’t one restaurant that should be included in this list?
Of course the list is totally subjective. And obviously wrong as my two best meals were at places not mentioned in the top 100!
But to maintain that these are “a list of restaurants I’ll be avoiding” or that “if they did not include any Thai restaurants their list is not worth reading” is reverse snobbery that doesn’t apply any critical evaluation.
El Bulli and Mugaritz are at #3 and #4 in my personal list. They are both excellent and offer amazing experiences.
And I have to go way down in my personal list to include any Thai restaurants. Two are candidates, but are inconsistent so don’t make my top 10.
Nevertheless, those I’ve heard of all (well, mostly) deserve ‘consideration’ as a potential qualifier for the list. In my limited exposure to India, China and South America nothing has come close to being considered. And I think that the Aussie representatives are a sop to trying to include some diversity, rather than a valid rating.
My criticism is that some of the top rated places are ‘coasting’ on their reputation. Admittedly they may be the absolute best at what they have been doing for several years, but Fat Duck, French Laundry, and Tetsuya (specifically) have hardly changed their menus in the past several years (go compare menus over time).
I meant restaurants IN Thailand. I just haven’t tried very many Thai restaurants in the U.S. although some have been okay!
Gurgling Cod, I am afraid I must disagree about the lack of high end eateries in poor countries. My numbers are probably out of date but if I recall correctly a bowl of Sharks fin soup in Thailand ran around $ 100 U.S. and, Birds nest soup in Hong Kong cost way more than that.I have paid over $ 100 U.S. for a steak dinner in Manila, and, while Japan is hardly a third world country, I doubt that many Euro and U.S. eateries charge as much as $ 300 US for an appetizer like the Fugu Fish I was served as a guest in Japan.
Error, I meant $ 30 for Sharks fin soup. I think the birds nest soup was $ 100, but I might be wrong on that.