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SA restaurant named in top 50 in the world

Wednesday, June 20th, 2018 by Nikita Buxton
The Test Kitchen - Crisp Pork Belly, Wood Roasted Sweet Potato, Orange Dashi

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, have been revealed at an awards ceremony  held at Euskalduna Palace in Bilbao, Spain, with South African restaurant The Test Kitchen in the number 50 spot. For the second time, Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana secured the number one spot.

Luke Dale-Roberts’s The Test Kitchen moves up 13 places from last year’s ranking of number 63 and has secured its place as The Best Restaurant in Africa. The Woodstock restaurant, with head chef Ryan Cole at the helm, is also currently enjoying the number one spot in the Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards Top 10 for the sixth year running.

Chef Luke Dale-Roberts in The Test Kitchen. Photo by Andy Lund.

Now in its sixteenth year, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants celebrates the very best in global gastronomy, showcasing a broad cross-section of cultures and cuisines from restaurants across five continents.

The billionaire shortbread at The Test Kitchen. Photo supplied.

In claiming the top position on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, earns the title of The World’s Best Restaurant for the second time – the first being in 2016 – as well as The Best Restaurant in Europe. Last year’s number one, Eleven Madison Park in New York, has moved down to fourth position, but retains its title as The Best Restaurant in North America.

Other winners of the night include New York-based pastry entrepreneur Cédric Grolet, claiming the 2018 title of The World’s Best Pastry Chef; chef Gastón Acurio as the 2018 recipient of the prestigious Diners Club Lifetime Achievement Award; and Clare Smyth, who is The World’s Best Female Chef for 2018.

Read our review of The Test Kitchen and view images of the restaurant here.

Have you been to The Test Kitchen?  Write a review and we’ll feed a hungry child. Know the best way to write a review? Download our new app and write one in seconds. (Plus you could win R5000 cash just for downloading and registering in June 2018!)

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2 Comments

  • Danette Riddle
    July 5, 2018

    I would hope that the top restaurant in the world – whoever it is in any given year and PARTICULARLY Osteria Francescana now – would still remain considerate of patrons. I’ve eaten at several 2 and 3 star restaurants and have to say, the reservation system for Francescana is terrible and the communication with potential patrons nonexistent. After going online 3 months in advance the moment (1 am Los Angeles time) it opened for the date I needed, I was wait-listed within 10 seconds. This suggests to me the system is not really “open” or there are perhaps 1 or 2 tables only available with the others already booked out through other means or services. That’s perhaps ok, but some transparency and follow up would be wise. There is ZERO communication from the restaurant up to the day of your waitlisted time. None, nothing, no indication at all of how close you might be to a table or even a “you will likely not have a table” at least a week in advance so that other arrangements like visiting a different city (which is what I would have done). Not being totally upset, we then had lunch at Bottura’s Gucci Garden restaurant. Food was so so and the attitude was far to “special” for the food and venue.

    Reply
  • Mike an Wendy Woollam
    August 22, 2018

    I wouldn’t like to have lunch with her. What a difficult woman. I found her critical very irritating. Too pompous.

    Reply

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