Celebrity chef Neil Perry, of Sydney restaurant Margaret, has today accepted the Icon Award at the annual World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards, held at Wynn Casino in Las Vegas.
“For me it’s always been about hospitality through generosity. It’s been about caring – that’s the philosophy that we’ve run the restaurant by,” the Rockpool founder and cookbook author told the crowd. “If we’re ready and willing to function together and we’re looking after each other, great things can happen. Then we have to look after the community and environment. I think what I’ve always tried to do is: when these young people come to work for us, they don’t just end up better at their craft – better cooks, restaurateurs, sommeliers – but they end up being better people. And if they do that, we really think we’ve done our job,” he finished, to wild applause.
Perry’s restaurants have appeared multiple times in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list since it launched in the UK in 2002. The event host described him to the crowd as a “friend and mentor to many across the globe”, as well as “a visionary and pioneer” who’s “still happy to be in the kitchen at his latest restaurant, Margaret”.
Aussie seafood star Josh Niland and wife Julie Niland were also at the black tie event after their restaurant Saint Peter was announced at number 98 in the 51–100 longlist last week. Josh presented a keynote speech at 50 Best Talks (think Ted Talks for food nerds) the day before the ceremony, explaining his visionary ethos of cooking the whole fish (apart from the gall bladder, which he’s never managed to make edible).
Top honours at this year’s awards went to Barcelona’s Disfrutar, the highly technical fine diner led by El Bulli alumni Mateu Casanas, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch. Second place went to Asador Etxebarri in Spain’s Basque country; third to Parisian restaurant Table by Bruno Verjus; and fourth to Diverxo in Madrid. Peruvian restaurant Maido – led by chef Mitsuharu ‘Micha’ Tsumura – took fifth place, as well as winning the Chef’s Choice category and claiming best South American restaurant overall.
It's been a challenging period for hospitality in the wake of Covid shutdowns and turbulent economic conditions. “It’s been a tough time, but 50 Best is a brand that supports and looks at the industry,” said CEO Charles Reed at 50 Best Talks. “We’re now at a stage where interest rates are coming down; there seems to be more stability [despite] a lot of uncertainty this year with elections in the US and UK and India. But we’re optimistic for the next stage of the industry.”
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants has, in recent years, grown to include the 50 Best Bars and Hotels, with regional lists in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. The list is compiled from an annual vote from anonymous food experts selected by regional “chairs”, choosing the best restaurants they have visited in the past year.
“There are 40 anonymous voters in my region,” Alexandra Carlton, 50 Best academy chair for Oceania, tells Broadsheet. “It’s made up of an even split of food writers and critics, chefs and restaurateurs and ‘well-travelled gourmets’. Globally, there are 1080 voters total, from 37 different regions. There’s also a 50/50 gender split across the voters globally, which I think is one of the Academy’s strongest assets.”
Be that as it may, the 50 Best brands are often criticised for not enough acknowledgement of women in the industry, and a geographical bias towards high-profile cities like London, Paris and New York. Even Australia struggles for consistent recognition. Previous years have seen Attica, Quay, Brae and Gimlet crack the rankings. With the exception of Attica, which has been named six times, all others have slipped out within a year or two. Surely these great restaurants aren’t getting objectively worse?
“We know what an extraordinary food and drink culture [Australia] has and its array of diverse restaurants, and sometimes that is not reflected in the list because it’s a very big world,” says William Drew, 50 Best’s director of content. “But I’m sure Australia will come back with a strong showing in future years.”
Distance is certainly an issue, with many of the international voters not making the trip Down Under in the past 12 months. “It is a long way for many of the voters to visit, but we have a proportioned and balanced academy which reflects that,” he says. “It’s a level playing field for all nations, even areas which are more remote. We have some fantastic restaurants on the list that are a day-and-a-half journey away from the nearest airport.”
Carlton says the “tyranny of distance” cliche is sadly unavoidable. “Ten or 15 years ago, when Australia made the list over and over again, regions such as South America, Mexico and large parts of Southeast Asia weren’t the global gastronomic hotspots they are today. In 2024 there are simply way more restaurants to compete against than ever before. To me, that makes an entry such as Josh Niland’s placement at number 98 even more extraordinary.”
To “make it” on a world stage, Carlton says restaurants now need to do more than cook delicious food. “They have to be pushing boundaries, telling stories, and making a genuine difference. But I think we are getting there, and Oceania will rise again.”
The writer travelled to Las Vegas with assistance from Visit Las Vegas.
