Two Australian restaurants – Attica in Melbourne and Brae in Birregurra, Victoria – have been dropped from the top 50 in the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, as ranks 51 to 120 were announced overnight.
Ben Shewry’s fine diner Attica, known for its extensive use of Australian ingredients and dishes inspired by moments from his personal life, made the list for the 10th year in a row, but has dropped from 20th place to 84.
Brae, by chef-owner Dan Hunter, now ranks 101, down from last year’s 58. Brae first hit the list in 2015 at number 87, before breaking the top 50 to rise to number 44 in the world in 2017.
Judged by over 1000 industry experts including chefs, food critics, publishers and restaurateurs, the annual World’s 50 Best releases rankings separately for the top 50 and a supplementary 51 to 100, though this year the latter has been stretched to 120.
Attica and Brae are the only Australian restaurants to feature on the ancillary list, with Peter Gilmore’s Quay – which has made the list nine times, most recently at number 95 in 2017 – absent for the second year in a row. The fine diner underwent a major $4 million renovation last year.
This year’s supplementary list features 21 new entries from 15 countries, with a total of 25 countries represented across five continents. The US leads the pack with seven restaurants, while Japan and Spain trail behind with six each.
Changes were made to the voting academy’s mechanics this year, including a 50-50 gender split for voters and a new rule for 2019 barring previous number one restaurants from making the list again.
The top 50 will be announced on June 25 at a ceremony in Singapore. Find all the restaurants that made the 51 to 120 list here.
