A cult London wine bar and tiny South African beach spot triumph at the new World Restaurant Awards

Two-Michelin-starred Mugaritz in Spain won
Two-Michelin-starred Mugaritz in Spain won

A London bar that was created by the founders of a cult magazine for oenophiles and a spot on Lake Garda famed for a simple pasta dish are among the winners in the inaugural World Restaurant Awards 2019.

Ten countries and four continents were represented by restaurants and chefs whose achievements include remaining tattoo-free (that accolade went to Alain Ducasse, the multi-Michelin-starred chef who recently opened a chocolate shop ), and being 'original thinkers' – La Clarence, in Paris, winning the award for its trend-busting approach to championing French fine dining in an industry whose current fashion is for fusion dishes and foraged ingredients.

The UK's only winner (featured in the full list below) was Noble Rot, a wine bar established by a wine buyer and former A&R man who still continue to produce their eponymous fanzine that inspired the popular haunt on Lamb's Conduit Street in London. The list of nominations commended beachside Riley's Fish Shack on King Edward's Bay in Tyneside.

When Dan Keeling and Mark Andrew launched the bar and restaurant (with the backing of Stephen Harris, chef of the Michelin-starred The Sportsman in Seasalter, Kent, and Telegraph columnist), they compiled a wine list of bottles they wanted to drink themselves; there are unknown gems and hard-to-find labels, delivered via a menu that is is chatty and irreverant ("Many people claim they 'don’t like Chardonnay', but at Noble Rot we think that’s a bit like saying you don’t like chicken based on KFC"). At the World Restaurant Awards, they won the category for red-wine-serving restaurant.

The ultimate champion, crowned restaurant of the year, was Wolfgat in Paternoster, South Africa – a tiny beach restaurant in an isolated fishing village, tucked away in a 130-year-old ocean-side cottage on the historic Wolfgat cave. Its menu specialises in local seafood and plants foraged from the Western Cape – good enough to impress the judges who gave it the top spot in a second category, marking it the ultimate ‘off-map destination’ – and at the same time putting it firmly on the travelling gourmand’s map.

The new awards, which were announced last summer to grumbles about "yet more lists", join the many industry gongs on the culinary calendar – from The World's 50 Best to Squaremeal's UK Top 100 Restaurants – but is the first to implement a gender-balanced judging panel and inspection teams.

“We knew that having an equal number of men and women judging a restaurant awards was not going to change the composition of the restaurant industry overnight," says Cecile Rebbot, the director of The World Restaurant Awards, "but by giving women an equal voice in the awards we can start to make more meaningful change over time.”

The noticeably “woke” category titles, from 'tweezer-free kitchen' to best Instagram account (see chef Alain Passard's gourmand feed), are more creative than most, and also recognise forward-thinking initiatives in the industry. The event of the year celebrated the Refugee Food Festival, which sees restaurants open and entrust their kitchens to refugee chefs, founded by the charity Food Sweet Food. Collaboration of the year went to the longtime partnership of Cafe Paradiso in Cork and their vegetable suppliers at Gort na Nain farm, in Ireland.

The  awards, announced on February 18, were presented in Paris by French entertainment icon Antoine de Caunes – and attended by a roll call of globally recognised and rising restaurant stars from around the world, including chefs Alex Atala, Alain Ducasse, Dan Barber, Hélène Darroze, Ana Roš, and Clare Smyth.

The results overall recognised a diverse range of dining experiences, from the humble to the indulgent: the accessible, inclusive establishment Mocotó in Sao Paulo topped others in the class for ‘no reservations required’, while cutting-edge luxury dining destination Inua, in Tokyo, was hailed as ‘arrival of the year.’

The full list of category winners:

Big Plates

Original Thinking: Le Clarence, France

Chef Christophe Pelé delivers his modern take on French classics; 
Price: lunch from €90 per person

Off-Map Destination: Wolfgat, South Africa

Just 20 diners, and just one menu – seven courses of tasting dishes (starring foraged leaves and seaweed), in sight of the Atlantic;
Price: tasting menu R850 per person

No Reservations Required: Mocotó, Brazil

In the north of São Paulo, and already well recognised for its good value (it has a food truck, too);
Price: daily specials from R$14,90

House Special: Lido 84 (Cacio e Pepe), Italy

On the banks of Lake Garda, serving a menu that draws on mountain ingredients;
Price: a la carte mains around €30; tasting menus from €75; the cacio e pepe is €15 per person

Forward Drinking: Mugaritz, Spain

A three-plus-hour dining session comprising 20-odd dishes and wine matches.
Price: 220€, not including drinks

Event of the Year: Refugee Food Festival, various locations

Encouraging restaurants around the world to open their kitchens to refugee chefs.

Ethical Thinking: Refettorio (Food for Soul), various locations

Founded by chef Massimo Bottura and his wife Lara Gilmore to launch community kitchens around the world.

Collaboration of the Year: Paradiso X Gort na Nain, Ireland

The vegetarian cafe in Co. Cork sources its vegetables from Gort na Nain farm.

Atmosphere: Vespertine, USA

Food, architecture, art and music collide at this four-floor tower in California.

Enduring Classic:

Established in Lyon in 1921 and now an institution (with two Michelin stars), run by Mathieu Viannay.

Arrival of the Year

Inua, Japan

Opened in June 2018 in the neighbourhood of Iidabashi and overlooking the Tokyo skyline. Japan meets Scandinavia on the menu.

Restaurant of Year

Wolfgat, South Africa

 

Small Plates

Tweezer-Free Kitchen: Bo.Lan, Thailand

This category celebrates a more rustic style of service, putting the fun back into it (while gently mocking the plating perfectionism of other establishments). Bo and Dylan, the couple behind Bo.Lan, offer a chef’s interpretation of Thai street food (smoky hot and sour soup of Phang Naa banana prawns, for example).
Price: expect dinner from 3,280 baht per person, which works out at around £80.

Trolley of the Year: Ballymaloe House, Ireland

Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry in County Cork, founded by Myrtle Allen, was victorious because, according to the World Restaurant Awards, “tableside service should always be in fashion”. The original wooden cart that bears desserts was made to Allen’s specifications in the Sixties, and for the last decade the contents have been overseen by head pastry chef JR Ryall.
Price: five-course dinner menu €80

Tattoo-Free Chef: Alain Ducasse, France

Ducasse boasts an empire of addresses (more than 25 in total), ranging from grand establishments such as Le Louis XV in Monaco to Michelin-starred inns in Provence. He also recently opened Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse in the newly redeveloped Coal Drops Yard in King’s Cross, London. 
Price: 7-course tasting menu at Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester,r £145.

Instagram Account: Alain Passard, France

Alain Passard, of L’Arpège in Paris, boasts 261k followers on Instagram @alain_passard. The restaurant opened in 1986 and is a site of pilgrimage for restaurant lovers with its own organic vegetable gardens.

Long-Form Journalism: Lisa Abend (Fool Magazine), USA + Sweden

Lisa Abend's feature, 'Welcome to The Food Circus: Power, Publicity and Cooking', for Fool Magazine lifts the lid on the world of restaurants. A journalist based in Copenhagen, she is the author of The Sorcerer’s Apprentices: A Season in the Kitchen at Ferran Adrià’s elBulli.

Red-Wine Serving Restaurant: Noble Rot, UK

A venue credited with “making wine bars cool again”. The focus is on English and French cuisine crafted from seasonal ingredients, as well as a lovingly-chosen wine list.
Price: mains from restaurant menu, around £25; by the glass, wines range from a 125ml glass of rioja for £4.50 to a Côtes du Rhône for £26.

 

The World Restaurant Awards’ charity partner for 2019 is The Perennial Farming Initiative, which is dedicated to combating climate change by mobilising support for regenerative agriculture in the food world