La Liste’s top 1,000 2017 was unveiled at a press conference in Paris on December, 5 with Michelin-starred chef, Guy Savoy claiming the top position for his eponymous Paris restaurant.
La Liste ranks the 1,000 best restaurants in the world and is compiled from hundreds of sources including France's Gault-Milau and Michelin as well as press columns and online reviews. It is designed by an international team of experts headed by Philippe Faure, La Liste aims to create a reference in gastronomy, dedicated to travellers and gourmets worldwide.
Guy Savoy
The second edition sees Guy Savoy jump three places from number four replacing Benoit Violier at the top of the list. For the UK, renowned chef and TV personality, Gordon Ramsay remains the highest British restaurant to be featured in the top 1,000 at number 42 (one place down from last year) whilst Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck follows behind at number 66, an incredible leap from last year’s position of 150.
This year saw several major trends emerge from the 2017 ranking with Japanese gastronomy triumphing once again, with 116 restaurants among the top 100. France is close behind with 113 restaurants and China (Hong Kong and Macao included, 100 restaurants).
Elsewhere Italy is ahead in the Best value section and Swiss restaurants (40) are performing very well relative to the size of the country. But what about British gastronomy? This year marked a decline for the UK with only 31 restaurants making the cut, a step down from last year’s 47. Although, Gordon Ramsay remained high up in the list only dropping one place from 41 to 42 and Heston’s The Fat Duck jumped 84 places to number 66 which could be due to the chef’s Bray restaurant reclaiming its three stars in the recent Michelin Guide UK. This is closely followed by Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester coming in at number 87.
La Liste
Elsewhere, La Liste 2017 selected 10,000 additional "Best Value" addresses for the first time. These are mainly restaurants that received positive reviews and offer high-quality cuisine at reasonable prices. Because the notion of “good value for money” is highly subjective, a maximum budget was fixed for each country, in line with local purchasing power. The menu prices (lunch and evening meals) are always clearly mentioned.
The global selection covers 135 countries including restaurants that are of particular interest due to their setting such as a sea view, great architecture, history or typical character.
The 2017 Special award of the Jury for sustainable gastronomy went to Alain Ducasse Entreprise whilst the MoëtHennessy Best Wine List Award went to Schwarzwaldstube im Hotel Traube Tonbach.
Coming into its second year, La Liste still seems to be causing a stir amongst the culinary masses and appears to be fighting its corner to be recognised alongside its peers as one of the best culinary ranking systems around. Only time will tell if it can hold its corner against the likes of the Michelin Guide and the World's 50 Best.
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