Glossary
World's 50 Best Restaurants
WURLDZ FIF-tee best REST-er-onts
English; ranking founded in 2002 by Restaurant magazine, now operated by William Reed Business Media
An annual ranking of the world's top 50 restaurants, voted on by 1,000+ chefs, restaurant critics, and frequent diners across 26 voting regions. Often considered the modern alternative to the Michelin Guide, with a more global and contemporary view of fine dining.
Full Definition
The World's 50 Best Restaurants list is the modern alternative to the Michelin Guide. Founded in 2002 by Restaurant magazine in the UK and now operated by William Reed Business Media, the list ranks the world's top 50 restaurants based on votes from approximately 1,080 industry experts — chefs, restaurant critics, and frequent diners — across 26 geographic voting regions.
Each voter submits 10 votes per year, with at least four required to be outside their home region. The methodology emphasises currency over legacy: a restaurant must be visited in the prior 18 months for a vote to count, which means the list moves faster than Michelin and tends to favour newer, more experimental, and more globally distributed kitchens.
The list has helped globalise fine dining — restaurants in Lima (Central, Maido), Bangkok (Gaggan), Singapore (Odette), Bilbao (Asador Etxebarri), and Mexico City (Pujol, Quintonil) achieved international recognition through the list before Michelin caught up. The current 2026 number-one is Disfrutar in Barcelona; recent leaders include Central (Lima), Geranium (Copenhagen), Noma (Copenhagen), and Eleven Madison Park (New York).
Sister rankings — Asia's 50 Best, Latin America's 50 Best, North America's 50 Best, and Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best — extend the methodology to regional lists. Each is the de facto industry benchmark for its region.
Critiques of the World's 50 Best: voter blocs can produce regional patterns (one strong national voting bloc can lift restaurants from that country); the list weighs avant-garde over classical; and the rotation of past number-ones into a separate "Best of the Best" list has been controversial. Despite these critiques, the list is the most influential global ranking in modern fine dining.