World's 50 Best Restaurants 2018 Winner

After spending the past week gathering the world's top chefs and restaurateurs together in Bilbao, Spain, the World's 50 Best Restaurants has announced it's list for 2018, with Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana reclaiming its top spot. 

As Eater noted earlier, eight restaurants that were formerly part of the top 50 have been pushed back to the lower 51 to 100, making room for eight newcomers, including Ana Roš's restaurant, Hiša Franko, in Slovenia and Disfrutar, the Barcelona spot helmed by three El Bulli alumni that debuted on the list all the way at number 18. Meanwhile, the biggest upset undoubtedly is Atelier Crenn, which was widely predicted to make it into the top 50 this year but wasn't even included in the 51-to-100 ranking.

It's not all bad news for the U.S.'s culinary scene though: Cosme, from Enrique Olvera and Daniela Soto-Innes, jumped from number 40 to number 25, while the U.S has the second highest number of restaurants on the list (six total) behind Spain, which has seven. And even though Eleven Madison Park lost its number one spot from last year, it still remains in the top five post-revamp. 

Of course, The World's 50 Best isn't the end-all be-all of restaurant rankings: The organization has been criticized in the past for its favoritism of expensive tasting menus, a continuing (and severe) lack of gender equality and, though its voting members are spread across the globe, a preference toward more Western gastronomic areas of the world. The selection process, conducted by more than 1,000 chefs, restaurateurs and writers in 25 regions, grants each member of its voting body 10 votes, with the stipulation that they must have visited a restaurant at least once in the last 18 months and that four of their votes must go to a place outside of their region. 

So while the awards have yet to experience the shift we saw at this year's James Beards Awards, Clare Smyth, this year's winner of the controversial Best Female Chef award, had the following to say during her acceptance speech:

"You can't put all women in a box or under the same label. Everybody's different. . . But we must listen to each other and support each other. I also know that we won't change things by doing nothing. And there are no quick fixes. It is in what we do everyday that we will make the difference—we must draw a line under this and make sure we clear a path for the next generation, because I for one can't wait until we achieve equality and this debate moves on."

See the top 51 to 100 restaurants here.