
The 2019 World's 50 Best Restaurants: Full Rankings
Globally prestigious 2019 ranking recognizing the world’s finest restaurants for culinary innovation and excellence.
How many of these have you visited?
Discover on PearlVenues on this list

Mirazur
Menton, France
Mirazur is Menton’s defining high-form restaurant, a three-Michelin-star and Michelin Green Star address shaped by Mauro Colagreco’s borderland cooking between France and Italy. Its appeal is not only luxury dining but a tighter reading of place: gardens, coastal proximity, mountain produce and a Modern French, creative format that treats provenance as structure rather than decoration.

Noma
Copenhagen, Denmark
Noma holds three Michelin stars and a multi-year record atop the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, making it the restaurant most associated with the global rise of New Nordic cooking. René Redzepi's kitchen on Refshalevej organises the year into three seasonal programmes built around foraged and local ingredients. Booking windows run months ahead, dinner service runs Tuesday through Friday only.

Asador Etxebarri
Atxondo, Spain
In a mountain village between Bilbao and San Sebastián, Asador Etxebarri has ranked among the World's 50 Best Restaurants continuously since 2008 and holds the title of Best Restaurant in Europe 2025. Victor Arguinzoniz cooks everything over live fire using custom-built grills and a pulley system of his own design, producing a tasting menu that runs to 14 courses and books out months in advance.

Gaggan Anand
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok's progressive Indian dining scene has few rooms as choreographed as Gaggan Anand, where a 14-seat L-shaped counter turns dinner into a staged sequence of courses, light, sound and participation. The cooking draws from Indian foundations while pulling in French, Thai and Japanese references, with major recognition from Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Opinionated About Dining and La Liste.

Geranium
Copenhagen, Denmark
Denmark's only three-Michelin-star restaurant, Geranium occupies the eighth floor of Copenhagen's Parken stadium with a menu that runs approximately 80% plant-based across 20-plus courses. Chef Rasmus Kofoed, the sole chef to have won gold, silver, bronze at the Bocuse d'Or, leads a program recognised by the World's 50 Best (#1, 2022) and La Liste (98pts, 2026). The wine list, curated by co-owner Søren Ledet, spans 6,085 selections across 22,900 bottles.

Central
Lima, Peru
Central occupies a converted house in Barranco, Lima's bohemian coastal district, has held the number-one position on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list (2023). The tasting menu moves through Peruvian ecosystems by altitude, ocean floor to high Andes, using ingredients sourced by the research collective Mater Iniciativa. For serious diners visiting Lima, it represents the clearest single-table argument for Peru's biodiversity as a culinary framework.

Mugaritz
Errenteria, Spain
Mugaritz sits in Errenteria’s Basque dining orbit as a research-led restaurant shaped by Andoni Luis Aduriz’s long move from regional craft into conceptual cuisine. Its recognition, including Michelin two-star status in 2025, Guía Repsol 3 Soles in 2026, a long history on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, signals a table built for diners who want provocation rather than comfort.

Arpège
Paris, France
Arpège belongs to the Paris fine-dining tier where technical French cooking is judged against its ability to evolve, not merely preserve. Alain Passard’s long turn from slow-cooked meats toward garden-led cuisine gives the restaurant its critical importance: vegetables are treated as the main argument, backed by Michelin in 2025, La Liste Top Restaurants 2026 at 97 points, decades of international ranking history.

Disfrutar
Barcelona, Spain
Disfrutar is Barcelona’s high-concept progressive dining reference point: a restaurant built around technique, surprise, the post-El Bulli evolution of Spanish avant-garde cooking. Its recognition, from Michelin to a World’s 50 Best Restaurants #1 ranking in 2024 and Guía Repsol 3 Soles in 2026, places it in the rare tier where the meal is judged against global creative counters, not local fine dining alone.

Maido
Lima, Peru
Named The World's Best Restaurant 2025 by the 50 Best organisation, Maido occupies a specific position in Lima's dining scene: the city's clearest expression of Nikkei cuisine, where Japanese technique meets Peruvian ingredient with precision and seasonal intent. Chef Mitsuharu Tsumura has built a decade-and-a-half of credential around this intersection, earning consecutive top-ten rankings and a loyal international following from a Miraflores address on Calle San Martín.

Den
Tokyo, Japan
Den belongs to Tokyo's creative kaiseki tier, where seasonal structure is kept but the room loosens the formality. Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa's restaurant carries two Michelin stars, a 2026 Tabelog Silver Award, a place on major international lists, yet its point is not ceremony for its own sake; it is kaiseki made warmer, more playful, less rigid.

Pujol
Mexico City, Mexico
Pujol is Mexico City's benchmark modern Mexican dining room, led by Enrique Olvera and carrying Michelin two-star recognition, La Liste 98 points for 2026, a long run on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list. The experience sits in the high-price tier and is better understood as a national culinary reference point than as a simple tasting-menu stop.

White Rabbit
Moscow, Russia
Positioned at the top of Moscow's fine dining scene, White Rabbit operates under a glass dome atop a skyscraper on Smolenskaya Square, pairing 360-degree city views with a tasting menu built around rediscovered Russian ingredients and techniques. Chef Vladimir Mukhin has placed the restaurant consistently inside the World's 50 Best, reaching number 13 in 2019, the kitchen remains one of the clearest expressions of the New Russian culinary movement.

Azurmendi
Larrabetzu, Spain
Azurmendi Larrabetzu elevates sustainable fine dining to an art form, where Chef Eneko Atxa's three-Michelin-starred vision unfolds through an immersive greenhouse-to-table experience. This architectural marvel seamlessly integrates Basque tradition with cutting-edge gastronomy, offering the acclaimed Adarrak tasting menu in a bioclimatic structure that defines the future of responsible luxury dining.

Septime
Paris, France
Septime is a Paris neo-bistro shaped by the modern bistro shift: seasonal cooking, natural-wine gravity, a dining room that feels casual without lowering the technical bar. Bertrand Grébaut’s restaurant carries Michelin one-star recognition for 2025 and a long run on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, with a four- or seven-course seasonal format that places it in the city’s serious reservation tier.

Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée
Paris, France
Historical profile: Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée at 25 Av. Montaigne, 75008 Paris is listed by Google Places as permanently closed as of a June 21, 2026 audit. Active booking, hours, contact details have been removed.

Steirereck im Stadtpark
Vienna, Austria
Inside a 1904 pavilion in Vienna's Stadtpark, Steirereck im Stadtpark operates at the intersection of architectural drama and Austrian culinary research. Three Michelin stars and consistent placement inside the World's 50 Best Restaurants top 25 position it as the reference point for serious dining in the city. The menu is built around rare breeds, near-extinct produce varieties, ingredients grown on the building's own rooftop.

Odette
Singapore, Singapore
Odette occupies a gallery-facing address inside the National Gallery Singapore, where Julien Royer's French Contemporary cuisine, shaped by Michel Bras training and seasoned by years in Asia, has earned three Michelin stars, a World's 50 Best top-25 ranking, a 98-point La Liste score. The tasting menu operates at the upper tier of Singapore's fine dining market, with award consistency that places it in a narrow comparable set globally.

Twins Garden
Moscow, Russia
Twins Garden has placed Moscow's fine dining on the global map with consecutive appearances in the World's 50 Best Restaurants, reaching as high as number 19 in 2019. Led by the Berezutskiy brothers and anchored by a wine list of 1,400 selections across 8,000 bottles, the restaurant operates at the top of Russia's Modern European tier, drawing regulars back through a combination of technical rigour and a wine program that punches well above its geography.

Tickets
Barcelona, Spain
Tickets in Barcelona reimagined tapas as playful, modernist Spanish cuisine under Albert Adrià’s hand. Must-try plates included the signature half-liquid olive, a seasonal tasting menu that shifts with local produce, whimsical desserts served from the restaurant’s nostalgic ice-cream van. The setting married a circus-themed palette with precise modernist technique, delivering dishes that surprised with texture and bright, balanced flavors. Celebrated internationally, ranking #25 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2017 and featured on Chef’s Table (Volume 5, Episode 4), Tickets combined accessible tapas energy with haute gastronomy, creating instantly memorable bites and a lively, sensory dining rhythm in Barcelona’s Poble Sec neighborhood.

Frantzén
Stockholm, Sweden
Frantzén sits at the high-control end of Stockholm dining, where Nordic ingredients, French technique and Asian references are folded into a choreographed townhouse format. Björn Frantzén's training at Edsbacka Krog, Chez Nico and L'Arpège gives the restaurant its technical grammar, but the larger story is Stockholm's shift from spare New Nordic minimalism toward immersive, multi-room fine dining.

Narisawa
Tokyo, Japan
Narisawa is Tokyo's long-running argument for Japanese terroir through a French-informed lens: satoyama thinking, disciplined technique, a room built for serious dining rather than spectacle. The 15-seat restaurant carries Michelin two-star recognition, Tabelog Silver status for 2026, La Liste scoring, a history on the World's 50 Best Restaurants rankings, with pricing in the JPY 80,000–99,999 bracket for lunch and dinner.

Cosme
New York City, United States
Cosme has occupied a specific position in New York's fine dining conversation since it opened: the restaurant that made contemporary Mexican cooking legible to a city already fluent in tasting menus and seasonal ingredient sourcing. Located in the Flatiron District, it holds a World's 50 Best ranking and a La Liste score of 80 points (2026), with a bar program and dining room that function as much as social infrastructure as culinary destination.

Quintonil
Mexico City, Mexico
Quintonil is one of Mexico City's defining modern Mexican dining rooms, with Jorge Vallejo's cooking placing native herbs, vegetables, masa, insects and local technique inside a contemporary tasting-menu format. Recognition includes Michelin two stars, Les Grandes Tables du Monde membership, La Liste 96 points for 2026, a 2026 Opinionated About Dining North America ranking at No. 35.

Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen
Paris, France
Paris grand dining has narrowed into a serious contest between palace rooms, chef-led temples, creative tasting-menu houses. Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen belongs to the city’s highest luxury bracket, anchored by Yannick Alléno’s modern French vocabulary and a recognition stack that includes Michelin 3 Stars, La Liste 98 points for 2026, repeated appearances in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants extended rankings.

Boragó
Santiago, Chile
Boragó has held a place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants every year since 2015, its tasting menu, Endémica, remains one of South America's most rigorous expressions of native-ingredient cooking. Chef Rodolfo Guzmán works with over 200 foragers and small producers across Chile, drawing from coastlines, high-altitude terrain, a biodynamic orchard to build a menu rooted in Mapuche food culture.

The Clove Club
London, United Kingdom
The Clove Club sits in London’s expensive creative-dining tier, where tasting-menu discipline, wine depth and international rankings have to justify the bill. Its Shoreditch room keeps the mood less ceremonial than Mayfair fine dining, while Isaac McHale’s kitchen uses British produce, smoke, offcuts and sharp contrasts to make the format feel contemporary rather than deferential.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Tarrytown, United States
Blue Hill at Stone Barns is the Hudson Valley's defining argument for farm-led American dining: a working agricultural campus, a progressive kitchen, a wine program with serious depth. The restaurant's recognition, from Michelin 2 Stars in 2024 to Star Wine List accreditation and La Liste scoring, matters because the format is not conventional luxury; it is a meal built around land, season, supply.

Piazza Duomo
Alba, Italy
Piazza Duomo places Alba’s truffle-and-Barolo identity inside a progressive Italian frame, with Enrico Crippa’s plant-led menus pulling the Langhe into a far more technical register. The draw is not only Michelin three-star status, La Liste 96 points for 2026, or its long World’s 50 Best Restaurants run, but the way regional produce becomes the grammar of the meal rather than a decorative accent.

Elkano
Getaria, Spain
Elkano is Getaria's defining seafood asador, a house where Cantabrian fish culture, wood-fire technique, port-town sourcing form the real subject. Aitor Arregi's kitchen sits in a rare competitive bracket: Guía Repsol 3 Soles in 2026, La Liste scoring, Michelin recognition in 2024, repeated appearances on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

Le Calandre
Rubano, Italy
Three Michelin stars since 2002, a 99-point La Liste ranking in 2026, a permanent position in the World's 50 Best since 2006: Le Calandre in Rubano operates at the upper tier of Italian fine dining. Chef Massimiliano Alajmo runs three tasting menus from a minimalist dining room where tables are carved from a single 300-year-old ash tree, forty minutes from Venice.

Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao
Bilbao, Spain
Nerua holds a Michelin star inside the Guggenheim Bilbao, ranked #153 in Opinionated About Dining's 2025 European list and a former World's 50 Best entry at #32. Chef Josean Alija's progressive Basque menu offers both à la carte and the Muina tasting format, with service running two tight sittings daily. Booking ahead is essential; the restaurant operates within one of Europe's most visited cultural institutions.

Lyle's
London, United Kingdom
Lyle's London elevates modern British cuisine to Michelin-starred heights within Shoreditch's converted Tea Building, where James Lowe's ingredient-driven philosophy transforms daily-changing seasonal menus into refined culinary statements. This minimalist industrial space champions technical precision over theatrical presentation, delivering exceptional fine dining through radical simplicity.

Don Julio
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Don Julio holds a Michelin star and a top-ten World's 50 Best ranking, placing it at the apex of Buenos Aires' parrilla tradition. Booking two months ahead is standard; walk-in queues form close to opening time. The wine cellar runs to 60,000 bottles, the beef, Aberdeen Angus and Hereford, dry-aged in-house, is sourced from the restaurant's own regenerative farm outside the city.

Atelier Crenn
San Francisco, United States
Atelier Crenn is San Francisco fine dining at its auteur end: Modern French technique filtered through California sourcing, seafood, vegetables, the biographical poetry of Dominique Crenn. The restaurant carries Michelin three-star recognition and a 2026 OAD Top Restaurants in North America ranking, placing it in a rarefied bracket where provenance and precision matter more than luxury theater.

Le Bernardin
New York City, United States
Le Bernardin New York reigns as the city's premier seafood destination, where Chef Eric Ripert's three-Michelin-starred artistry transforms ocean treasures into transcendent cuisine. This legendary Midtown institution has maintained The New York Times' four-star rating for over two decades, offering an unmatched fine dining experience centered on the philosophy that "the fish is the star."

Alinea
Chicago, United States
Alinea remains Chicago's defining modernist dining room: theatrical, technical and more concerned with changing the grammar of American fine dining than with repeating luxury-restaurant conventions. Grant Achatz's long-running flagship carries two Michelin stars, a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star rating, AAA Five Diamond recognition and a 2026 OAD North America ranking, placing it in a narrow tier of U.S. restaurants where format is part of the argument.

Hiša Franko
Kobarid, Slovenia
Three Michelin stars and a place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants confirm what visitors to this remote Soča Valley farmhouse already know: Hiša Franko operates at a level rarely found outside major capitals. Chef Ana Roš, self-taught and hyper-local in her sourcing, has built a menu anchored in the Julian Alps, drawing ingredients from foragers, shepherds, fishermen across the valley's tight community of producers.

A Casa do Porco
São Paulo, Brazil
A Casa do Porco sits at the intersection of democratic pricing and serious culinary ambition in downtown São Paulo. Chef Jefferson Rueda's whole-animal pork programme has earned a World's 50 Best ranking (#83 in 2025, previously as high as #7 in 2022) and a Michelin Bib Gourmand, placing this República address in a different competitive tier from the tasting-menu circuit that surrounds it.

Restaurant Tim Raue
Berlin, Germany
Berlin's most decorated Asian-inspired restaurant, Restaurant Tim Raue has held two Michelin stars since 2010 and ranked in the World's 50 Best every year from 2016 through 2025, reaching as high as #26. Drawing on Japanese, Thai, Chinese traditions while eliminating white sugar, gluten, lactose, the kitchen produces food that reads as rigorous European fine dining through an Asian lens.

The Chairman
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
The Chairman sits in Hong Kong's Cantonese dining conversation as a high-recognition counterweight to hotel luxury: ingredient-led, technically precise, unusually disciplined in format. Its current awards profile includes Black Pearl three-diamond status, La Liste scoring, OAD Asia ranking, Star Wine List recognition, a 2024 Michelin star, but the point is the cooking: Cantonese tradition sharpened through sourcing, wok control, restraint.

Belcanto
Lisbon, Portugal
Belcanto holds two Michelin stars and ranked #31 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2024, placing it at the top of Lisbon's fine dining tier. Chef José Avillez runs two tasting menus and an à la carte from a 45-seat room beneath vaulted ceilings in Chiado. La Liste scored it 96.5 points in 2025. Book well ahead; Tuesday through Saturday only.

Hof van Cleve - Floris Van Der Veken
Kruishoutem, Belgium
In the rolling countryside of the Flemish Ardennes, Hof van Cleve represents one of Belgium's most decorated dining addresses, holding two Michelin stars and a consistent presence in the World's 50 Best Restaurants over more than a decade. Under Chef Floris Van Der Veken, the kitchen has pivoted toward a plant-forward direction, earning five Radishes with high distinction from We're Smart and a La Liste score of 96.5 points in 2025.

The Test Kitchen
Cape Town, South Africa
The Test Kitchen earned five consecutive placements on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list between 2014 and 2019, peaking at number 22 in 2016, became the reference point for ambitious South African fine dining during that period. Situated in Woodstock's Old Biscuit Mill, the restaurant is now permanently closed, but its influence on Cape Town's contemporary dining scene remains legible across an entire generation of South African kitchens.

Sühring
Bangkok, Thailand
Sühring holds three Michelin stars and a No. 18 position on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2026, making it one of Bangkok's most decorated fine-dining addresses. Twin chefs Thomas and Mathias Sühring serve a modern German tasting menu from a restored 1970s villa in Chong Nonsi, drawing on fermentation, pickling, curing techniques alongside a wine list of 715 selections weighted toward Germany, Austria, Burgundy.

De Librije
Zwolle, Netherlands
De Librije has held three Michelin stars since 2004, making it the most consistently decorated restaurant in the Netherlands over the past quarter-century. Housed in a converted women's prison in Zwolle, it operates Thursday through Saturday evenings under chef and co-owner Nelson Tanate, with a programme built on regional produce, fermentation, a vegetable-led approach that shaped modern Dutch cooking.

Benu
San Francisco, United States
Benu sits in San Francisco's serious tasting-menu tier, using French structure and Chinese-Korean reference points with uncommon technical control. Corey Lee's restaurant has the external validation to match the ambition: No. 12 on Opinionated About Dining's 2026 North America ranking, La Liste recognition, a 2025 James Beard Outstanding Restaurant semifinalist nod, long-running Michelin three-star status.

Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet
Shanghai, China
Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet closed after its final table on March 29, 2025. The ten-seat secret-location Shanghai restaurant paired each course with synchronized light, sound, scent, held a consistent position in the World's 50 Best Restaurants across eight years of rankings, reaching #24 twice. It remains a landmark of Shanghai fine dining, but it is no longer taking reservations.

Leo
Bogotá, Colombia
Leo has held a place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants every year since 2019, peaking at #43 in 2023 and sitting at #76 in 2025. Chef Leonor Espinosa's seasonal tasting menu moves through Colombia's ecosystems, Amazon, Caribbean, Pacific coast, using indigenous ingredients that rarely appear on any menu outside their region of origin. It is the most externally validated address in Bogotá's modern Colombian dining scene.

Schloss Schauenstein
Fürstenau, Switzerland
Schloss Schauenstein occupies a medieval castle in the village of Fürstenau, deep in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The kitchen, guided by Andreas Caminada and Marcel Skibba, holds three Michelin stars and a sustained presence in the World's 50 Best since 2010. Vegetables sit at the centre of a creative European menu that draws on alpine produce and precision technique.
Overview
The 2019 World's 50 Best Restaurants list recognized 50 venues across 27 countries and 37 cities. Mirazur in Menton, France took the top position, followed by Copenhagen's Noma at number two. The rankings shifted dramatically from the previous edition, with complete turnover in the list composition and new representation spanning Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
This edition featured 50 new entrants compared to the previous list, representing a fundamental restructuring of the rankings. Copenhagen earned two spots in the top five with Noma and Geranium, while Lima placed Central and Maido in the top ten. Spain dominated the upper rankings with three venues in the top nine: Asador Etxebarri, Mugaritz, and Disfrutar. France claimed two positions in the top ten through Mirazur and Arpège. Bangkok's Gaggan Anand secured fourth place. The geographic spread covered 27 countries total, with the 50 venues distributed across 37 different cities worldwide. The previous year's top venue, Zuccardi Valle de Uco, dropped off the list entirely along with 51 other venues from the prior edition.
Mirazur in Menton, France topped the 2019 World's 50 Best Restaurants, marking a complete reshuffling from the previous year. The list saw 50 new entrants and zero carryovers from the prior edition, representing the most dramatic turnover in the rankings. Copenhagen placed two restaurants in the top five, while Spain secured three spots in the top nine. The 50 venues spanned 27 countries and 37 cities, with strong representation from Europe and significant presence from Asia and South America.
Quick Facts
- Top Restaurant
- Mirazur (Menton, France)
- Total Venues
- 50
- Countries Represented
- 27
- Cities Represented
- 37
- Copenhagen Top 5 Entries
- 2 (Noma, Geranium)
- Spain Top 10 Entries
- 3 (Asador Etxebarri, Mugaritz, Disfrutar)
- Carryover from Previous Year
- 0 venues
- New Entrants
- 50
About This Edition
The 2019 edition represented a wholesale change in composition, with all 50 venues appearing as new entrants compared to the previous list. Mirazur's first-place finish put Menton on the global dining map, while Copenhagen reinforced its position as a fine dining capital with Noma at number two and Geranium at number five. Spain demonstrated depth across multiple regions, placing Asador Etxebarri from Atxondo at third, Mugaritz from Errenteria at seventh, and Barcelona's Disfrutar at ninth.
Lima earned recognition as the only city outside Europe with multiple top-ten placements: Central at sixth and Maido at tenth. Bangkok's Gaggan Anand at fourth position marked the highest Asian entry in the top tier. Paris contributed Arpège at eighth place. The complete turnover from the previous edition—with 52 venues dropping out including former number one Zuccardi Valle de Uco—indicates either a significant methodology change or a dramatically different voting panel.
The geographic distribution across 27 countries and 37 cities shows broader international representation than a European-focused list, though the top ten skewed heavily toward European destinations with seven of the ten spots.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which restaurant ranked first in the 2019 World's 50 Best Restaurants?
How many countries were represented in the 2019 list?
Which cities had multiple restaurants in the 2019 top ten?
How many venues from the previous edition returned in 2019?
Which country had the most restaurants in the 2019 top ten?
How many of these have you visited?
Find out on Pearl and keep score across every place in 2019 World's 50 Best Restaurants.

