Fat Duck Is Only Second Best

It's official - Fat Duck in Bray is no longer the best restaurant in the world in the 2006 Restaurant Magazine survey..... And I predicted that about 10 days ago on here! El Bulli in Spain has once again returned to the top spot.

The top 50 restaurants are as follows:

1. El Bulli, Spain
   
2. The Fat Duck, United Kingdom
   
3. Pierre Gagnaire, France
   
4. French Laundry, US
   
5. Tetsuya's, Australia
   
6. Bras, France
   
7. Restaurant Le Louis XV, Monaco
   
8. Per Se, US
   
9. Restaurante Arzak, Spain
   
10. Mugaritz, Spain
    
11. Can Fabes, Spain
    
12. Nobu, UK
    
13. Gambero Rosso, Italy
    
14. Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road, UK
    
15. Restaurant Alain Ducasse, France
    
16. Jean Georges, US
    
17. Le Cinq, France
    
18. Daniel, US
    
19. Oud Sluis, The Netherlands
    
20. Chez Panisse, US
    
21. El Celler de Can Roca, Spain
    
22. L'Astrance, France
    
23. Hof van Cleve, Belgium
    
24. La Maison Troisgros, France
    
25. L'Atelier, France
    
26. Charlie Trotter's, US
    
27. Le Gavroche, UK
    
28. La Colombe, South Africa
    
29. Enoteca Pinchiorri, Italy
    
30. Rockpool, Australia
    
31. Le Calandre, Italy
    
32. Le Bernardin, US
    
33. Noma, Denmark
    
34. Restaurant Dieter Muller, Germany
    
35. St John, UK
    
36. Hakkasan, UK
    
37. Martin Berasategui, Spain
    
38. Le Quartier Francais, South Africa
    
39. Chez Dominique, Finland
    
40. L'Ambroisie, France
    
41. Die Schwarzwaldstube, Germany
    
42. Dal Pescatore, Italy
    
43. Bocuse, France
    
44. L'Arpege, France
    
45. Gramercy Tavern, US
    
46. Bukhara, India
    
47. De Karmeliet, Belgium
    
48. Oaxen, Sweden
    
49. Comme Chez Soi, Belgium
    
50. DOM, Brazil
    

Out of the three 3-Michelin star restaurants in the UK, Fat Duck fell from the top spot to 2nd place, Gordon Ramsay fell from 5th to 14th, and Waterside Inn didn't even get into the top 50 this year. I am a bit surprised to see Nobu to be featured at No. 12, but maybe the food has improved since I went there about 2 years ago - while their grilled black cod was nice, I could think of one Japanese restaurant in London that serves a better version at a fraction of the price.

Jean-Georges at No. 16???? Ah well, I definitely don't agree after my experience there last year - food was very good but some of the combinations of ingredients just didn't quite blend together well, and when the air-con was weak on a hot July evening.... it was a bit of a torture for me really.