Asador Etxebarri tops The 50 Best Restaurants 2026 as London nearly vanishes

Last night in Lima the 50 Best Restaurants 2026 list was revealed, crowning Asador Etxebarri the best restaurant in the world. Victor Arguinzoniz’s grill house in the Basque village of Axpe, in Atxondo, has long been one of the most revered destinations for gourmets; it climbs from no.2 last year to succeed Maido in Lima, which now joins the Best of the Best hall of fame. The ceremony at the Teatro Municipal of the Peruvian capital also celebrated the restaurants that have made the cut for the first time – 11 new entries, from Tuju in São Paulo to Masque in Mumbai – plus five re-entries, across 28 territories and six continents.

It was a bittersweet night: a celebration of remarkable talent, such as Jessica Rosval of Al Gatto Verde, named Best Female Chef, but also a sad one for the city where the list was born in 2002. London, once one of its powerhouses, now has barely one entry, Ikoyi at no.48. The decline had already been signalled by the 51–100 list, released ahead of the ceremony, on which only Kol at no.70 and The Ledbury at no.83 made it. For reference, last year Ikoyi was at no.15, Kol at no.49, Mountain at no.74 and The Clove Club at no.86; the latter two have now dropped out of the top 100 altogether.

It is true that rankings such as this one are heavily influenced by the means and the interest of local governments and well-funded restaurants in hosting the international media, but a city like London, a global cultural epicentre, never needed that extra help to attract the attention and scrutiny of the press, so questions need to be asked.

The top 10 was dominated by some of the most ambitious restaurants of all, including Gaggan in Bangkok at no.2, Alchemist in Copenhagen at no.3, Diverxo in Madrid at no.9 and Plénitude in Paris at no.10. Kadeau, also in Copenhagen, took the Highest Climber Award, rising 33 places to no.8.

Al Gatto Verde, the restaurant Rosval runs with Massimo Bottura at Casa Maria Luigia in Modena, jumped 68 places from last year, catapulting itself to no.24 and becoming the second-highest-ranked restaurant in Italy, behind Piazza Duomo in Alba at no.20. And deservedly so. It is no surprise that the Canadian-born chef also took home Best Female Chef: she is one of the most impressive and refined cooks of her generation, known for her elegant wood-fired cooking and for Roots, the social enterprise restaurant she co-founded in Modena to train migrant women for professional kitchens.

Among the individual awards, the Icon Award went to Ferran Adrià, chef of the now-defunct El Bulli, one of the most influential restaurants – if not the most influential – of the past 50 years, whose techniques, from spherification to foams, can still be found on menus across the world. Ivan Ralston’s Tuju collected the Art of Hospitality Award as well as the Highest New Entry Award, debuting at no.16. Junghyun “JP” Park of Atomix in New York (no.11) snatched one of the most coveted prizes of the night, the Chefs’ Choice Award, voted for by his peers.

Bangkok’s Dej Kewkacha, a self-taught pâtissier who made his name as executive pastry chef of Gaggan at Louis Vuitton, was named Best Pastry Chef, and Lesley Liu, head sommelier at Odette in Singapore, Best Sommelier. Naar, a 16-seat restaurant in the Himalayan foothills at Kasauli whose menu follows the region’s six seasons, won the Sustainable Restaurant Award, while Ghana Food Movement, a network of chefs, farmers and entrepreneurs based in Accra, received the Champions of Change Award. The 50 Best Restaurants Scholarship went to Doris Lam, a former food journalist from Hong Kong who left that career to train as a chef and will now take paid stages at The Fat Duck in Bray and Salsify at the Roundhouse in Cape Town. Yiaga, Hugh Allen’s restaurant in Melbourne’s Fitzroy Gardens, was named One to Watch, an award that has historically put the spotlight on some of the most interesting restaurants around.

Lima stepped in as host city after Abu Dhabi, announced in February, was no longer an option because of the conflict in the region, bringing the ceremony to South America for the first time. The next edition will be held in Montreal in 2027.

Filippo L’Astorina, the Editor

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026: the full list

The full 1–50 and 51–100 lists are available at the50.com.