The highly anticipated list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024 is now out, and the awards ceremony took place at the luxurious Wynn Las Vegas. The annual event, which brought together top chefs, restaurant entrepreneurs, and hotel industry icons, featured restaurants from 26 territories, five continents, and included eight new and much-anticipated entries. We’ve selected the ten best in the world, where dining is always a gastronomic, cultural, and stylistic lesson.
Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain, No. 1
Opened in December 2014, Disfrutar is a project by Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro, and Eduard Xatruch, who met and trained professionally at El Bulli and solidified their work at Compartir (April 2012) in Cadaqués. The three chefs unleash their imagination at Disfrutar, located in the Eixample district of Barcelona, directly opposite the Mercado Ninot, where they continue the tradition of avant-garde Spanish molecular gastronomy. The restaurant first appeared on The World’s 50 Best list in 2018, at 18th place, a year after winning the Miele One To Watch award and the Highest New Entry award. The design of Disfrutar is another of its qualities, with Mediterranean references and Barcelona elements through ceramics, wrought iron, and clay colors. A Mediterranean space with an intimate ambiance and creative cuisine, designed for enjoyment and discovery. After all, it’s number 1!
Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain, No. 2
Ranked 4th in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023 and 6th the previous year, Asador Etxebarri leaps to second place in 2024. Victor Arguinzoniz, the grill master, gives the restaurant its name and soul, satisfying hearty appetites. Asador Etxebarri is, as the Michelin Guide describes, a destination for “food lovers,” who “flock to this temple of grilled cuisine like pilgrims to a religious sanctuary to discover the secrets of flame-grilled cooking, mastered by chef-owner Victor Arguinzoniz, the life and soul of the grill house, who invested everything in his dream.” From the best Spanish barbecue—including the huge txuleta from retired dairy cows—to crispy corn with sea urchin, the delicacies are numerous and mouth-watering. All meats are cooked on adjustable heat grills built by the chef himself!
Table by Bruno Verjus, Paris, No. 3
“Our commitment to ‘made-to-order’ cooking involves a direct relationship with our local producers. They provide us daily with what Nature has to offer. We don’t order quantity, only quality. The exemplary nature of their work, free of pesticides and respecting the wild nature of the soil, respects our clients’ health and our land,” writes Bruno Verjus. The story of Table begins with respect. “Respect for the products,” which chef Bruno Verjus—a notable figure in global gastronomy who has been an entrepreneur, blogger, and food critic—directs “as actors of their pleasure, listening to their temperament.” At Table, guests can witness how Verjus approaches ingredients, enhancing their colors and flavors, such as the large poached green asparagus with seaweed or lobster with peas, nettles, and caper remoulade. Table immediately entered the top 10 on its first appearance in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2023.
Diverxo, Madrid, No. 4
Irreverent, avant-garde, and a breath of fresh air in the Madrid restaurant scene, with dishes like Galician lobster, 45-day aged nigiri, or toasted butter risotto with summer truffle, Dabiz Muñoz’s cuisine echoes “his personal and dreamlike world.” Ranked 4th among the fifty best restaurants in the world, this Madrid hotspot is a creative hub where the predominant use of local ingredients and the ability to recreate memories of the country through flavors is remarkable. “Highlighting themes like invasive species and the Pyrenean ecosystem, the chef works without limits, combining local ingredients with exotic seasonings” in intense and contrast-rich dishes.
Maido, Lima, Peru, No. 5
Mitsuharu “Micha” Tsumura was born in Lima but has Japanese heritage (Osaka, Japan). The chef and owner of Maido, who studied Culinary Arts and F&B Management at Johnson & Wales University, USA, specializes in Japanese cuisine, which he now combines with Peruvian cuisine (known as nikkei), applying techniques and ingredients from the Land of the Rising Sun. Elegant, the restaurant is located in Miraflores, Lima’s cosmopolitan district, and was opened in 2009 “by the charismatic Micha, who serves a tasting menu and an à la carte menu, featuring delicacies such as The Triple, a combination of avocado, eggs, tomato, and chashu (braised pork belly), and caracoles al sillao (soy sauce) with yellow chili foam and nikkei sauce. Micha was also awarded the Estrella Damm Chefs’ Choice Award by his peers at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024.
Atomix, New York, No. 6
This is the second project of Junghyun and Ellia Park, and, as the word “ato” (an old Korean term for “present”) suggests, Atomix aims to present innovative Korean cuisine to the world and showcase the many facets of its culture. “The Atomix journey begins when guests enter the space on East 30th Street, Manhattan,” they say. The natural and neutral materials, carefully designed furniture and lighting, and the way one circulates in Atomix are also key ingredients in this story. Here, Korean dining is served with sophistication, while still honoring tradition. Lamb with deodeok or sea cucumber served with shrimp and egg over rice, all presented in beautiful custom ceramics with a card detailing ingredients, origin, and inspiration, make this the best restaurant in the US in 2024.
Quintonil, Mexico City, Mexico, No. 7
Ranked 7th in the list of the fifty best, the name Quintonil comes from a green herb present in some of the dishes and drinks served there and is, we read, a top choice for those seeking fresh, local ingredients and traditional Mexican flavors. Virtuous chef Jorge Vallejo and his wife, Alejandra Flores—who holds a degree in Restaurant Management from Centro de Estudios Superiores de San Ángel (CESSA) and a master’s in Hotel Management with a specialization in Marketing from Les Roches School, Switzerland—opened Quintonil in 2012, expressing their creativity, vocation, and expertise. The summer menu includes atole de elote y nabos, hierbas de la milpa (cold corn and turnip soup), yellowfin tuna (15g) with aguachile of brassicas, wasabi ice powder, pickled watermelon radish, and aromatic herbs, and crabs (25g) in green pipián with sunflower seeds, Thai lime, and basil, among others.
The Alchemist, Copenhagen, Denmark, No. 8
According to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024 organization, The Alchemist offers an experience “different from anything you have experienced in a restaurant (…), a theatrical and immersive dining experience,” led by Rasmus Munk, “known for blending classical techniques, modern research, and the best available ingredients, resulting in food full of flavor, but also with powerful messages about the environment and other important social issues.” The Alchemist experience consists of up to fifty impressions accompanied by a choice of beverages. It lasts 4-6 hours, and the only prerequisites are curiosity and presence of mind.
Gaggan, Bangkok, No. 9
Indian chef Gaggan Anand leads operations at what was considered the Best Restaurant in Asia in 2024 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. Ranked 9th, Gaggan’s leadership is described as that of “a chef, a musician, a dreamer, a mad romantic, a rebel, and a maestro, or chaos, in the kitchen,” as he defines himself! At Gaggan, in bustling Bangkok, haute cuisine is practiced and reinvented, rediscovering “the joy of having a restaurant and ensuring we don’t get bored with what we do.” The 22-course tasting menu describes his vibrant vision and narrative; his “progressive Indian cuisine, using modern techniques and global ingredients, results in intriguing dishes, each telling a unique story.”
Don Julio, Buenos Aires, No. 10
Don Julio opened in 1999 as a conventional but honest neighborhood steakhouse, founded by young Pablo Rivero, whose family memories are closely tied to butcher activities, grandmother, and cattle ranching, parents. Therefore, few still raise an eyebrow of doubt or ignorance when Pablo Rivero’s name—the chef and owner of one of the world’s best parrillas—comes up in conversation. Booking a table at Don Julio is always challenging. His passion and connection to the world of meat and how the chef understood and interpreted this legacy in a steakhouse where Hereford and Angus breeds, sustainability and regenerative farming concepts, and the way the meats are showcased spectacularly, the V-shaped grill that utilizes meat fat, and the Argentine wine cellar (boasting over 14,000 labels from the country) are evident. Don Julio, with a respectful 10th place on the list of the fifty best, “represents Argentina on the largest gastronomic stages with Rivero’s unmatched passion for organic farming and local products.” Rivero also won the Beronia World’s Best Sommelier Award 2024 at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
