10 - Alinea"Alinea is a chef driven restaurant - we live and die by the work, cuisine and vision of Grant Achatz". That is the view of Grant's Business partner in Alinea.
Judging by our Academy's opinions, the Chicago staff of Alinea can rest assured their lives are in safe hands with Achatz at the helm. And you'll know why if you ever get to try dishes such as the all American peanut butter and jelly sandwich, served with bread wrapped round a grape on a specially made spike.
This is arguably the most cutting edge food in America.
1723 North Halstead, Chicago, Ilnois 60614, USA++1 312 867 0110
http://www.alinea-restaurant.com/
9 - Pierre GagnaireThis is masterful French food - Pierre Gagnaire's Paris restaurant is a homage to art in cooking, literature and design.
Gagnaire's focus and determination are summed up in a comment made on his journey to the UK when opening Sketch in 2003. Gagnaire admitted a lack of knowledge of the British restaurant scene. "I don't have enough time to look at what other people are doing" he said, and why should he when he is this good.
6 Rue Balzac, 75008 Paris, France+33 (0)1 5836 1250
http://www.pierre-gagnaire.com/
8 - ArzakJuan Mari Arzak serves dishes to amaze and amuse the senses. His family have occupied the same site in San Sebastian since 1897, and it remains a family affair with his talented daughter Elena at his side now.
Together they offer a modern interpretation of classic Basque cuisine, including such delights as Lobster with white olive oil and smoked white tuna with figs and pine nuts.
273 Avenida Alcalde Elosegui, 20015 Donostia/San Sebastian+34 943 278 465
http://www.arzak.es/
7 - BresMichel Bras shows yet again what a perfect culinary marriage Japanese and French traditional cuisines can make.
This modern restaurant in the Massif Central is where Bras pioneered the "go out and pick it" movement. The results are the finest herbs and local wild plants are used in perfect balance.
A lagoustine arrives split open and garnished with Aubrac style combination of finely chopped broad beans and country sausage, laid out on a rectangular block of volcanic stone...superbe!
Route de l'Aubrac, 12 210 Laguiole, France+33 (0)5 65 51 18 20
http://www.michel-bras.com/
6 - Per SeIn Per Se, Thomas Keller and Jonathan Benno have successfully created an urban interpretation of The French Laundry for New York.
Salmon Cornet and signature Oysters and Pearls open the meal at both. Daily menus offer nine petite courses of perfectly wrought modern US cuisine.
Snake River Farm beef with crispy bone marrow or spring lamb with butter poached morels deliver an experience that have earnt Per Se the recognition of our academy, and the title of Best Restaurant in the Americas.
10 Columbus Circle (at 60th Street), 4th Floor, New York, NY 10019, USA++1 212 823 9335
http://www.perseny.com/
5 - El Celler de Can RocaEl Celler de Can Roca is the work of three brothers: head chef Joan Roca, maitre d' and head sommelier Josep and pastry chef Jordi. Such a meteroric climb into the top 10 might be attributed to their move and new state-of-the-art kitchen-cum-lab, a wine cellar that offers customers an audio-visual journey through five key wine regions and a breathtaking dining space created with natural, organic materials and an abundance of natural light. Spain has yet another top 10 masterpiece restaurant in El Celler De Can Roca.
Ctra. Taialà, 40, 17007 Girona, Spain+34 972 222 157
http://www.cellercanroca.com/PORTADA/intro.htm
4 - MugaritzAndoni Luis Aduriz is often portrayed as the quiet man of Nueva Cocina. His food is less flamboyant than that of many modern Spanish chefs, and, ostensibly, he is less driven by new technology and kitchen science. But it is all a matter of degree. Aduriz spent two years studying the chemistry of coagulation in order to produce the perfect poached egg. Clearly, he is a chef in possession of a fathomless curiosity and a razor-sharp cutting-edge. "I encourage my team to make an individual effort to explore the origin of everything they touch and transform over fire."
Where Aduriz veers away from molecular gastronomy, however, is that this learning and technical wizardry very much plays a support role in the Mugaritz kitchen. From baking carrots in clay and ash to creating "crunchy milk sheets", technique and technology are very much a means to an end.
And what is that end? Well, it's about coaxing the best flavour from the ingredients. It's also about paying a creative homage to the natural world. This often involves exploring obscure ingredients, such as winter purslane, roasted acorn skins or amaranth grains, and making original, daring marriages on the plate. At a more profound level, it's about attempting to produce food which resonates on an emotional as well as sensual level.
Mugaritz's Naturan menu is full of arresting ideas: warm lettuce hearts soaked in vanilla brine; sheep's milk curd seasoned with hay and toasted fern; beef roasted with the embers of vine cuttings. It is subtler, earthier, less sexy even, than what is going on at El Bulli, but, be in no doubt, Mugaritz is playing a pivotal role in the great global shift away from tradition, orthodoxy and dull restaurant food.
Mugaritz, Otzazulueta Baserria, Aldura Aldea 20, 20100 Errenteria Gipuzkoa, Spain+34 943 522 455
http://www.mugaritz.com/
3 - NomaFor those in the know, Rene's colossal achievement of moving up seven places inside the top 10 is no surprise. But just look at the legends he has leapfrogged and you cannot help but think something truly significant is taking place at Rene's Copenhagen restaurant.
Noma is a homage to soil and sea, a reminder of the source of our food. Take his starter of crunchy baby carrots from the fertile Lammefjorden region of Denmark, served with edible "soil" made from malt, hazelnuts and beer, with a cream herb emulsion beneath - you are literally eating the earth!
Great restaurants are a blend of sophisticated cooking, imaginative ideas and respect for ingredients. Noma is more than this. It's a experience that reminds you why some restaurants deserve to be revered, and why we created this list.
Strandgade 93, 1401 Copenhagen K, Denmark+45 3296 3297
http://www.noma.dk/
2 - The Fat DuckWell what a year 2009 has been for Heston and The Fat Duck. Heston's brand of wizardry and fun have been witnessed on UK screens in his spellbinding series - Feast.
For viewers it has been plain to see what makes The Fat Duck such a unique dining experience - it is Heston's love of science and research into the molecular make up of ingredients behind many of his creations, the results of which are invariably fun, and delicious.
Who else could create the theatre in the service of his now famous nitro-scrambled egg and bacon ice cream? The ice cream custard has been injected into an empty egg shell, which is then cracked at your table and ‘cooked' or frozen with liquid nitrogen into clumps of scrambled egg like ice cream.
Heston remains the jewel in the crown of the UK dining scene, and not far off the summit in the world for that matter.
The Fat Duck, High Street, Bray, Berkshire, SL6 2AQ, England+44 (0)1628 580333http://www.fatduck.co.uk/
1 - El Bulli
This man is going to be hard to beat, we knew that four years ago, but he has continued to raise the bar.
Ferran's generous willingness to share his knowledge means his influence now spans the globe. Many of those who have worked with him have taken his techniques and ideas back to their part of the world. Maybe this is what drives Adria to surpass himself each year, in the knowledge that the people who have worked for him are one day capable of topping this list themselves.
Ferran Adria continues to tear up the fine dining rule book, presenting customers with food that often defies description, and maybe even defies the laws of physics too.
Although closer than ever before, the Academy have yet again voted El Bulli as Europe's and The World's Best Restaurant.
Apartado 30, 17480 Roses en Cala Montjol, Spain+34 97215 04 57 (after 3pm during the season)
http://www.elbulli.com/
