World’s Best Restaurant Has Been Named: Spain’s El Celler de Can Roca Takes Top Spot

The World’s Best Restaurant has been named, and once again it’s in Spain. According to CNN, El Celler de Can Roca has wrestled away top honors from Denmark’s Noma.

Hundreds of the world culinary scene’s top names gathered in London this week for the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards, described by CNN writer Barry Neild as the “Oscars of the fine dining world,” to see which restaurant would get the honor.

As the crowd roared in applause at the Spanish restaurant getting the top spot on the World’s Best Restaurant list, Head Chef Joan Roca i Fontane accepted the honor on behalf of his employees, his family, and his employees’ families.

“This success is also for our family, thanks family for your patience, for our wives, our kids, also our team — the best team in the world.”

El Celler de Can Roca is located in Girona, Spain, a coastal area just north of Barcelona. TripAdvisor users – those who can afford to eat there and make reservations up to a year in advance – rave about the experience.

“This was undoubtedly the best meal of my life, but that was just half of what there was to enjoy at El Celler. From the moment you arrive, you are taken on a guided tour that can only be described as a stress-free, four hour culinary vacation.”

Last year’s Best Restaurant in the World, Copenhagen’s NOMA, has been knocked down to third place, according to Forbes. Italy’s Osteria Francescana holds on at #2.

If you want to eat in one of the top-rated restaurants in the world, but despair of an international flight, just head to New York City for a culinary delight. The highest-ranking U.S. entry on the World’s Best Restaurant list, Eleven Madison Park, is located in the Big Apple and comes, in at #5. The only other US entry in the Top 20, Le Bernardin, is also in New York City.

What makes a restaurant the best in the world is, of course, subjective. One person’s version of the best restaurant in the world may be a hole-in-the-wall rib place in Tulsa while another’s may be an off-the-beaten-path Maison in the south of France.

The organization that bestows the Best Restaurant in the World honor doesn’t publicize its criteria – a criticism that led some 360 culinary heavyweights – collectively known as Occupy50Best – to sign a petition calling on the awards to be more transparent.

What, in your opinion, is the best restaurant in the world? Share your thoughts in the Comments below.

[Image courtesy of El Celler de Can Roca]