The Best of 2009

When the clock struck midnight on the 31st of December, the first decade of the 21st century ended.  The past ten years have passed so quickly and so many important events have taken place.  I began the noughties with my wedding in Napa, followed by several moves: first to Santiago, then Dubai, then Montreal and now Marbella.  My two children were also born in the last ten years and my blog was created in the last part of the decade.

Now, I'm facing the next year and am both eager and wary of what the future may bring. There is one thing I can be sure of though, and that's the best gourmet experiences I had in 2009. So, Happy New Year and here's to sharing more gourmet travels with you in 2010!

Best Bang for the Buck - Chocolateria San Gines, Madrid
This is a bang for the buck that's satisfying for all the senses.  A short walk off a pedestrian street and in a tiny alley is where you'll find Chocolateria San Gines.  Open 24 hours, they serve freshly-made churros and thick chocolate to dip them into all day long and into the night.  Great for a mid-morning pick-me-up or a late afternoon treat.  Aside from jamon Iberico, this is my other favorite Spanish snack.

Best Bistro - Itineraires, Paris
This new and cozy bistro in Paris' 5th arrondissement was a revelation.  A young chef, his wife out front greeting diners, fantastic prix-fixe menu, modern interiors and best of all, really good food.  This will stay on my Paris TO GO list for a long time.

Best Breakfast - Break of Dawn, Laguna Beach
No one does big breakfasts like the Americans do and this out of the way restaurant located in a nondescript strip mall in Laguna Beach is a perfect example.  Ex-Ritz Carlton chef who leaves the busy hotel kitchen to set up his own place and spend more time with his family.  The result is impressive - breakfast classics like corned beef hash, french toast and oatmeal are on the menu alongside an Asian-influenced spicy Hawaiian sausage with rice, eggs and pickled shredded papaya or a Mexican-influenced chorizo and scrambled eggs.  Mugs of fresh drip-coffee, free iced water, large tables filled with families makes it almost like a diner.

Best Hotel Buffet Breakfast - Woods, Geneva
Hotel buffet breakfasts are all starting to blur into one - assorted breads and pastries, yogurts, cold cuts, cereal and a small selection of cooked items (scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon) kept warm in chafing dishes.  Well, not at Woods in the Intercontinental hotel where breakfast was an aesthetic experience - a large wooden table piled high with baskets of assorted breads and pastries, artisanal jams and honeys then a cold section of marble-topped shelves where yogurts, fresh fruit, fresh juice in individual carafes and cold cuts were laid out and finally, a hot food section where a granite topped counter with built-in warmers kept the food in the serving dishes hot.

Best Chinese - Hakkasan, London
Another Alan Yau  and Christian Liagre partnership, this time with Michelin star as well for the creative Chinese haute cuisine.  I went there first in 2002 when they just opened and was already impressed with what they had created.  Seven years later, it's still a pleasant shock to the senses - dark, sexy interiors and sexy, snappy servers just add to the atmosphere and honestly with food this good, I can tolerate the attitude.  Lunch is a bargain but the dinner bill can become astronomical with the colorful cocktails and first growth wines.  No photos are allowed so I wasn't able to document my lunch there so you'll just have to imagine it.

Best French - Joel Robuchon at the Mansion, Las Vegas

Elegant, check. Cozy, check.  Haute cuisine, check.  Hypertension-inducing prices, check.  Dinner with my sisters, priceless.  My sisters and I try to meet up at least once a year and when we do, we always go somewhere new for dinner and last year was Joel Robuchon's fine dining jewel at the MGM hotel.  We decided to skip the degustation and go a la carte so we could all order different things and have a taste of each others' plates.  The food was classic French haute cuisine with some modern twist but thankfully, none of those molecular/hyper-modern foams and dry ice creations that are a bit of a turn-off.  Was it delicious? Yes.  Was it worth it?  Yes, once every decade.  The experience was impressive but we're still saving up for another anti-recession meal like that one.

Best Home-Cooked Meal - Mahnaz's Persian Kebabs, Marbella
Mahnaz invited us over for a traditional Persian dinner of kebabs - both chicken and lamb - served with grilled peppers, tomatoes and buttery long-grain rice.  She also made fesenjan, the traditional lamb and pomegranate syrup stew.  Persian comfort food at its' best.

Best Japanese - RAKU, Las Vegas
My sister and her husband had been raving about this tiny off-strip restaurant for ages so when we finally made it there in February, our expectations were high.  After lots of little plates - creative Robatayaki-based dishes,  super fresh sashimi,

Best New Gourmet Discovery - Foie gras carpaccio, Paris
I have Tonger to thank for taking us to Comptoir de la Gastronomie, a deli/restaurant near Les Halles.  He insisted I order the foie gras carpaccio and I was glad I did.  The plateful of paper-thin slices of foie gras drizzled with honey, balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with sel de Guerande.  It made for a terrific cold lunch and it was such a pleasant surprise to try foie gras in a new way.

Best Tapas - La Moraga Iberica, Puerto Banus

I was never a fan of Dani Garcia's, Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant, Calima.  On the other hand, his tapas bar concept La Moraga in Malaga has always been a favorite.  This year, he opened a second tapas bar in the middle of Puerto Banus - La Moraga Iberica.  Modern interiors with a large bar where diners can sit and watch the action from the show kitchen.  His modern version on the classic Spanish tapa of boquerones (anchovies) served in an opened sardine tin with roasted peppers is fun and fantastic.   It's been packed ever since they opened and because no reservations are taken, the wait can be unbearably long but worth it.  I'm looking forward to his new creation La Moraga Sweet just down the road which should solve the problem of where to go for a nice dessert around here.

Best Thai - Busaba, London
2009 was all about recessionista dining and this Alan Yau concept and Christian Liagre-designed Thai restaurant brought the best bang for the buck with its' spicy flavors, generous portions, modern interiors, efficient service and most of all, reasonable prices.  Perfect for both yummy mummies and slummy mummies, businessmen and tourists, families and couples - the large communal tables and shared dishes make for convivial dining.

RICHOUX

On our last morning in the city, we skipped the hotel breakfast and walked down the road to South Audley street to a London institution - Richoux. Opened in 1909 as a confectioner and patisserie, over the years it has become a cafe and tea room with several locations in London. Personally, I prefer Patisserie Valerie for the French pastry but the never-changing atmosphere at Richoux is why it's well-loved by locals.

We arrived almost at 11 and the place was still filled with families having a late breakfast and businessmen having coffees. The breakfast menu is complete with classic egg dishes (eggs Benedict, scrambled eggs, full English) as well as healthy options like fruit and yogurt. We decided to have a big breakfast before our flight back along with large cappuccinos. Service was a bit erratic as they were switching over to the all-day menu at the same time but otherwise, it was a pleasant start to our day.

After breakfast, we decided to stroll around the block and window-shop to kill time before checking out and taking the afternoon train to Gatwick. As usual, we ended up on chic Mount street window-shopping by the high-end boutiques: Christian Louboutin, Marc Jacobs, the future Goyard store, Balenciaga, Stephen Webster and almost walked by a tiny, nondescript shopfront - Aesop. Lucky that we didn't as this company makes botanically-based products for men and women. We had used their hand wash and lotion at Hakkasan a few days before and loved the clean herbal scent. Since it was our last stop before heading back to Marbella, we ended up buying a few treats for ourselves as well as a present for A. With our stylish Aesop bottles wrapped up, we headed back to the hotel to check-out and go to the airport. It was a perfect girl's mini-break. I'm looking forward to the next one, wherever that may be.

OLIVOMARE

Our last evening in London was spent with a dear friend from Moscow who moved to London last year to start a new life. We agreed to meet at Olivomare, the third and newest of the Sardinian restaurant group which started with Olivo.

Olivomare opened in spring 2007 after the success of casual Oliveto, which I have been to several times over the years. Located in Belgravia where the other two Olivo restaurants are, it is more similar in ambiance to casual Oliveto. Alongside the restaurant it their deli/wine shop Olivino which makes it convenient as a pantry for all three restaurants.

We arrived early and opted to sit outside as it was a surprisingly warm evening. While we waited for L to arrive, we were served olives, a basket of assorted bread and a Sardinian aperitif (similar to sherry). Our table right by the street was ideal for people-watching and seeing all the diners arriving at the restaurant. Service was attentive and courteous and the Italian waitstaff weren't in a hurry to take our order as they could see we were enjoying our conversation.

L arrived soon after and looked fantastic (it seems that London life suits her). As we dug into the bread basket and olives and proceeded to catch up on each other's news, we also glanced at the menu quickly and decided what we were going to have. Olivomare is a seafood restaurant, hence the name, with Sardinian specialties.

To start we shared the grilled calamari farcitti alla griglia (grilled stuffed baby calamari) - sweetly tender squid char-grilled and filled with chopped fresh plum tomatoes and shredded basil - an excellent plate to share between friends. We also asked the charming Italian manager to choose a white wine for us and he suggested the Sardinian 2007 Contini Karmis Vernaccia. The restaurant started to fill up by then and all tables were occupied, even the few that were set up outside.

As we enjoyed the cold wine, our main courses were served. Pasta for all of us - raviolini alla coda di rospo (monk fish ravioli) for L, lorighttas con vongole (traditional hand-made pasta with clams and grey mullet roe) for T and the special linguine with scampi (Dublin bay prawns) for me. My linguine dish was filled with several scampi that I had to crack and dig in to get to the sweet prawn meat hidden inside. L's ravioli were filled with monk fish and that salty Sardinian ingredient - bottarga (grey mullet roe). T's dish was not the typical dried pasta but fresh pasta resembling twisty noodles tossed with clams and also flavored with bottarga. All three dishes were al dente, delicious and served with a simple sauce of fresh chopped tomatoes - a true taste of summer.

Catching up with friends takes time and before we knew it, it was already past 11:00 and the restaurant was emptying out. Some of the waiters shifts were over and a few were outside enjoying after-work cigarettes. The manager was still there though so we ended our dinner with two scoops of homemade sorbet - lemon and strawberry - and very short espressos. As we said our goodbyes, we promised to keep in touch and see each other very soon, hopefully in London again for another fun dinner among friends.

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Olivomare

10 Lower Belgrave St.

London SW1 (Belgravia)

+44 020 730 9022

Open daily for lunch and dinner

(Closed on Bank Holidays)

HAKKASAN

We had nothing booked for Wednesday noon so after spending more than an hour window shopping and buying a few things at Marc by Marc Jacobs, we went back to the hotel to dump our shopping bags and think about where we were going for lunch. Since we hadn't had Chinese food yet, we decided to have some dim sum at another Alan Yau restaurant - Hakkasan.

Booking a table at Hakkasan is not for the faint-hearted - you have to get through their automatic phone system and more often than not, a table is hard to come by. On that day though we were lucky as it was mid-week in the summer and we didn't need a table until 1:30 so as soon as we called, we got our confirmation.

I had been to Hakkasan when they first opened in 2001 when the concept high-end Chinese cuisine in very modern interiors, more like a nightclub than a restaurant, was a novelty. Now, modern Asian restaurants are the norm rather than the exception and Hakkasan has proven to be on top of it's game even after almost a decade while still holding on to it's one star Michelin status.

The entrance to the restaurant at the end of the alleyway on Hanway Place just off the end of Oxford Street is almost a secret location. Going down the stairs into the dark interiors makes for a very mysterious first impression. The large bunches of orchids are still there and the rich colors of purple, orange and red from the Christian Liaigre designed interiors are still beautiful (n.b. Alan Yau's other restaurants Yauatcha and Busaba were also designed by Christian Liaigre).

We asked to be seated in a quiet area (was it called the Ling Ling lounge bar) rather than right by the bar where it was packed. There were only a few tables occupied mostly by Chinese having dim sum. We settled into our purple velvet-upholstered banquette and started to look through the leather color-coded menus - orange for dim sum, red for the a la carte selection and purple for the wine list.

I chose one of their teas - a light one called Classical Beauty while T had an exotic cocktail from their very complete list (Martinis, Bellinis, Juices, Champagne etc) called a Pink Mao Mao made of fresh watermelon, strawberries, Belvedere vodka, Akashi-tai sake, strawberry liqueur) in a glass rimmed with crushed black pepper.

While we were looking at the menus and deciding what to have, I started to take some photos of the table set-up and interiors and was told by our not-so-friendly waitress that taking photos wasn't permitted (excuse me!) which is why this post doesn't have any food shots. You'll just have to imagine what we ate.

We ordered three dishes from the dim sum menu: XO Scallop dumpling with asparagus and mushroom; stir-fried snow pea shoots; salted fish and salted egg fried rice. From the small eats section of the a la carte menu, we chose the fried soft-shell crab with red chili and curry leaf. All the dishes arrived almost at the same time and were all piping hot, the way they should be.

The scallop dumpling was a delicately-flavored dim sum of scallops with tiny chunks of asparagus and mushroom which we dipped into the chili-garlic oil (one of the two sauces provided, the other was a red chili sauce). The snow pea shoots were fresh and still had the crunch of something quick-fried in a very hot wok. The fried rice was perfect - yellow from the salted egg yolk and full of flavor from the salted fish yet not oily at all. It's a dish hard to come by in most Chinese restaurants. Last but not least was the soft shell crab which was crunchy, spicy, salty and delicious.

As usual, we had our fill and didn't save enough space for dessert so we sipped the rest of the tea and lingered at our table before we went back up into the street and into the hustle and bustle of London. Hakkasan is a sexy oasis that serves fantastic Chinese haute cuisine in boudoir-like surroundings. If only they could get their staff to smile more, but then I guess that wouldn't be authentic enough.

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Hakkasan

8 Hanway Place

London W1

+44 020 7927 7000

Open for lunch and dinner daily

Ling Ling Lunge Bar open till very late

Dim sum for lunch only (*a great bargain)

ROKA

One of my favorite London restaurants is trendy Zuma in Knightsbridge with it's sleek interiors, good looking crowd and fantastic food. On this trip though, I wanted to try Zuma's little sister, Roka in an up and coming area where many other hip, new restaurants line the streets.

We arrived for our table booking on time but since I requested to be seated at the bar where no reservations are taken, we decided to wait and have a drink downstairs at the dimly-lit Shochu Lounge. We had just chosen something to drink - some cold sake for me and a champagne cocktail with rose petals for T. After just one sip, we were led upstairs to the best seats at the bar on the corner so we could still talk to each other face to face and at the same time not miss any of the action from chefs hard at work on the robata (grill).

As the menu is quite large, we had a difficult time narrowing down our choices to a few dishes since we wanted to try so many things. While we were looking through the menu, we had some edamame (baby soybeans) with our drinks then ordered quite a feast.

We started with some raw fish: salmon and toro (fatty tuna) sashimi and two rolls: Age Watari Gani (soft-shell crab, cucumber, kimchi and chili mayonnaise) and Ebi No Tempura maki (crispy prawn, avocado, chili, chrysanthemums and dark sweet soy). We also had a salad of spinach leaves in a sesame dressing. The toro was fantastic, the soft-shell crab roll delicious and the spinach salad was presented in new way with the leaves piled one on top of another instead of the usual squashed in a box-shape way.

The next few dishes arrived one after another hot off the robata (grill): juicy chicken wings heightened in flavor with a spritz of lime juice and dipped in a bit of sea salt, sweet smoky ko nasu (eggplant in Mirin, ginger and soy) and simply-grilled tofu with chives. We also ordered the ubiquitous gin tara (black cod) marinated in yuzu miso (citrus and soybean paste) just to see how it compares with the one made famous at Nobu - quite similar but not one of my favorites. Other diners were looking at the many dishes crowding our very full corner and we did try our best but couldn't finish it all in the end. We were so full we had to skip dessert although we did see some wonderful ice cream and fruit presentations in hollowed-out bamboos shared by most other diners.

When we finally left close to midnight, the restaurant was still more than half-full with a younger, more casual crowd than Zuma's. We wandered up to the corner of Charlotte street and back, peeking into the very busy bar of the Charlotte Street Hotel and at other restaurants still filled with diners on that weekday evening. After a quick walk, we hopped into a cab and headed back to our hotel in Mayfair.

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Roka

37 Charlotte Street

London W1

Telephone: +44 020 7580 6464

Open daily for lunch and dinner

BUSABA

Our first meal in London was supposed to be at Yauatcha, Alan Yau's funky dimsum restaurant so we hopped into a cab and went straight to Broadwick Street in Soho. When we arrived, we were surprised to find a very quiet restaurant and were greeted by the not-so-friendly hostess who informed us that only the tearoom was open while the restaurant kitchen was undergoing renovations.

Since we were quite hungry, we walked around to try and find another restaurant. At the end of the road was Wardour street where there was a Busaba, another Alan Yau creation, which was on my list of restaurants for lunch the next day.

Walking into Busaba's modern interiors was a pleasure. The restaurant was filled with square tables, benches and large pendant lamps over each table focusing on the three bottles of essential sauces in Thai cooking - Sriracha hot sauce, soy sauce and Squid brand fish sauce. We were seated at a corner of the large table making it much easier to have a conversation during the meal instead of being seated side-by-side on the long bench. Each place was set with a simple brown paper mat in the same color as the wood of the table and some chopsticks (although Thais don't eat using chopsticks but forks and spoons, which we were given later on).

The menu is divided into: salad, soup noodle, wok noodle, stir-fry, grill, rice, curry and side dishes. We wanted to try several dishes and just share them all. From the wok noodle, we had the Sen chan pad Thai (a twist on the usual Thai rice noodle dish because of the addition of crab meat and green mango). From the stir-fry section, we had rose-apple and chicken stir-fry, a side dish of Chinese broccoli with garlic and shiitake mushrooms and coconut rice. All the food arrived quickly piping hot and served in simple white crockery. The vegetables were crisp and not overcooked, the stir-fried chicken was sweet from the fruit with a hint of spice and the coconut rice was delicious but the best dish was the pad Thai which was a large portion of rice noodles with prawns and crab meat, crushed peanuts, egg and the tangy twist from the slices of green mango - an excellent Thai flavor combination of sweet-sour-salty and spicy. We were pleasantly surprised with the bill which came to £15 each for n excellent lunch.

The next day, we were supposed to meet up with another friend, C, for lunch at the Busaba on Bird Street near our hotel. Instead of going to another restaurant, we decided to eat there again since we had such a delicious lunch the day before. This time since there were three of us, we were able to order more dishes from the menu and just place them all in the middle and share them all. We tried the pat prik king prawn (stir-fried prawns with snake bean, lime leaf, ginger and red curry), the char-grilled duck in tamarind sauce with Chinese broccoli, a side dish of Thai calamari with ginger and peppercorn, a non-noodle Mai sai-sen pad Thai made only with Chines chive, tofu, bean sprouts, egg, peanut and lime plus our favorites from the day before: the Sen chan Pad Thai, Chinese broccoli with garlic and shiitake mushrooms and coconut rice. We also tried the Unif iced green tea which was very refreshing and a nice alternative to fizzy drinks or regular iced tea.

As usual, the food arrived quickly and piping hot - the new dishes we tried were all very good: the prik king prawns were spicy, the grilled duck was sour-sweet from the tamarind marinade, the squid, crisp and hot with the whole black peppercorns and the non-noodle pad Thai an unusual yet delicious option for vegetarians. Everything else was exactly as they were the day before with the crabmeat and green mango Mai sai-sen pad Thai again standing out for its' original flavor combination. We thought we would never be able to finish all that food but we somehow managed to eat every last morsel which was useful as we needed the energy for our afternoon of retail therapy. Again, the bill was very reasonable at £20 each, excellent quality-price ratio.

We hit the shops on Oxford street all afternoon starting at Selfridges stationery department and food hall then heading off to M&S, Russell and Bromley, Mothercare and back again to Selfridges women's fashion and shoe floor where we spent a few hours escaping the heat and trying tons of Christian Louboutins, LK Bennett's and Havaianas. It was a perfect girl's day of lunch, shopping and catching up on gossip.

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Busaba

106-110 Wardour St.

London W1

+44 020 7255 8686

* perfect for hanging out in Soho

8-13 Bird St.

London W1

+44 020 7518 8080

* great for shopping on Oxford Street

another on:

22 Store St., London WC1

+44 020 7299 7900

Open daily, all-day long.

Monday-Thursday 12 noon to 11 p.m.

Friday-Saturday 12 noon to 11:30 p.m.

Sunday 12 noon to 10:00 p.m.

SCOTT'S

Dinner on our first evening in London had to be somewhere special and it was going to be difficult to decide where to go with so many restaurants to choose from. This decision was fortuitously taken out of my hands when Mrs. B kindly booked us a table at one of London's best seafood restaurants - Scott's.

Scott's is a century-old London institution that opened in 1851 and was famous in the forties and fifties. It moved to it's current Mayfair location in 1968 and was a mainstay in London's swinging sixties until it closed in 2004. It's oak-paneled walls were retained but the rest of the interiors have been given a dramatic renovation. After a successful reopening in 2006, it is once again one of London's most glamorous restaurants. Now owned by Richard Caring, Scott's continues to be an establishment restaurant along with The Ivy, Le Caprice, J Sheekey, Daphne's, BamBou and Rivington Grill, all part of Caprice Holdings.

We walked the few blocks to the restaurant on Mount Street and arrived a bit past eight-thirty. Since our table wasn't quite ready, we were led to the massive onyx and sting-ray bar where an immense sculpture-like tub of crushed ice and seafood made for an impressive centerpiece. We ordered some Prosecco but before we even took a sip, we were whisked off to our linen-covered table just behind the bar right smack in the middle of the action where we had a very good view of the well-dressed movers and shakers dining at Scott's that evening. Service was quick and attentive and menus were presented as soon as we sat.

After a quick look at the menu, we made our choices and were soon served some crusty bread along with some beurre demi-sel (slightly salted butter) which we had while we sipped our Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut Credde 2007 .

We watched the waiters rush around while the restaurant continued to fill up with a well-dressed crowd. It was fun being in a restaurant with a proper people-watching scene and enough to keep us entertained while we waited for our starters which arrived soon enough - a dozen Spéciales de Claire (oysters) for myself and a Girolle (chanterelle mushrooms) and broad bean risotto with Gorgonzola for T. The oysters were sweet and salty and ice-cold, perfect with just a bit of mignonnette (wine, vinegar, shallots and pepper) and some brown bread with butter. T's risotto was rich with the blue cheese, earthy because of the mushrooms and given a twist by the addition of the broad beans - delicious. I took my time savoring every oyster and making sure to get every last drop of oyster liquor left in the shell.

After a brief interlude, we our main courses were served: Cornish sea bass with lemon and herb butter for me and the Cornish hake for T. Along with these, we had two side dishes - creamed spinach and chips. My sea bass was split open, crisp on the outside an flavored with parsley lemon butter. It was very good. T's hake was pan-seared and came with some squid and what was called "Castilian potatoes" - which were potato chunks sauteed in paprika. The fish was fleshy and the spiced potatoes and seared squid were a delicious accompaniment to the fish.

We also had a carafe of 2007 Chardonnay from New Zealand's Dog Point Vineyard - its' citrus and oak flavor marrying well with the fish. We shared a lemon and raspberry sorbet to end the meal. We were so full that we didn't even have space for a coffee. We asked for the bill and received a surprise (a very pleasant one) when we were told there wasn't one, as our tab had been already been taken care of by the Mrs. B. Thank you Mrs. B for a wonderful first meal in London!!!

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Scott's

20 Mount Street

London W1 (Mayfair)

Tel: +44 020 7495 7309

Open daily for lunch and dinner from 12 noon

Valet parking

Arriving in London

Bright and early on Monday morning, we drove to Malaga and caught our easyJet flight to London. We arrived on schedule in Gatwick and immediately took the train to town. Our hotel, the recently renovated Grosvenor House, was on Park Lane in chi-chi Mayfair.

Since we arrived before three p.m., our room wasn't ready yet so we decided to leave our luggage and head off to Soho for a quick dim sum lunch at one of my favorites - Yauatcha. We were disappointed to find out that the restaurant's kitchen was closed for renovation and only the tea shop was open. Luckily we were right in the middle of Soho, we decided to walk around and find another restaurant nearby and luckily, there was a Busaba just around the corner on busy Wardour street. After a truly delicious lunch (more on this restaurant later), we walked to Bar Italia, where we had the best espresso and cappuccino to end our meal. It started to drizzle and since we didn't have an umbrella we headed back to the hotel.

By the time we got back, our room was ready. We were upgraded to a lovely suite with lounge access and on the table in the living room was a bottle of chilled Bordeaux and a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries. Who could ask for more than that? We spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking and resting before our dinner at Scott's.

London

Off for a mini-break to London with my good friend T. Booked our restaurants already and looking forward to trying out a few new ones and going back to my old favorites. Have to finish packing and go to bed soon as we're off early tomorrow morning. London, here we come.

World's 50 Best Restaurants

The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2009 list is out with #1 El Bulli and #2 The Fat Duck keeping their spots from last year.  There are also nine new entries from Italy, Japan, Austria, France, U.S., Singapore, Australia and Sweden  From the top 50, I've been to four.  The list also extends to 51-100 of which I've been to (only) five which just means lots more eating out to be done this year.

(The list below was copied from the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants website.)

1 =	El Bulli	Spain	The World's Best Restaurant  Best Restaurant in Europe
2 =	The Fat Duck	UK
37	Noma	Denmark	Chef's Choice
4 =	Mugaritz	Spain
521	El Celler de Can Roca	Spain	Highest Climber
6 =	Per Se	USA	Best Restaurant in the Americas
7 =	Bras	France
8 =	Arzak	Spain
96	Pierre Gagnaire	France
1011	Alinea	USA
11 =	L'Astrance	France
127	The French Laundry	USA
13New Entry	Osteria Francescana	Italy	Highest New Entry
142	St John	UK
155	Le Bernardin	USA
1611	L'Hôtel de Ville - Philippe Rochat	Switzerland
178	Tetsuya's	Australia	Best Restaurant in Australasia
184	L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon	France
192	Jean Georges	USA
20New Entry	Les Créations de Narisawa	Japan	Best Restaurant in Asia
2118	Chez Dominique	Finland
2221	Ristorante Cracco	Italy
2312	Die Schwarzwaldstube	Germany
2416	D.O.M.	Brazil
259	Vendôme	Germany
262	Hof van Cleve	Belgium
27 Re Entry	Masa	USA
2816	Gambero Rosso	Italy
2913	Oud Sluis	Netherlands
30New Entry	Steirereck	Austria
31New Entry	Momofuku Ssäm Bar	USA
3216	Oaxen Skärgårdskrog	Sweden
334	Martin Berasategui	Spain
344	Nobu London	UK
35New Entry	Mirazur	France
3617	Hakkasan	UK
3713	Le Quartier Français	South Africa	Best Restaurant in the Middle East and Africa
38 Re-Entry	La Colombe	South Africa
395	Asador Etxebarri	Spain
40New Entry	Le Chateaubriand	France
41 =	Daniel	USA
42Re-Entry	Combal.Zero	Italy
4328	Le Louis XV	Monaco
443	Tantris	Germany
45New Entry	Iggy's	Singapore
46New Entry	Quay	Australia
472	Les Ambassadeurs	France
4825	Dal Pescatore	Italy
4913	La Calandre	Italy
50New Entry	Mathias Dahlgren	Sweden