Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and the Michelin Guide has paid tribute to the Top 16 Women Chefs in the world which own and head up the kitchens of one-, two-, and three-star Michelin Restaurants.
It is also a good opportunity to pay a final tribute to our country’s only Top 10 Chef Chantel Dartnall, who is soon to close down her Restaurant Mosaic outside Pretoria.
Women Chefs have always been in the minority in general, but also at the top echelon of restaurant ownership.
An exciting and what is described as the most challenging chef competition to date, will be aired on Netflix on 20 November, and will project Cape Town Chef Ash Heeger, of recently renamed and relaunched Riverine Rabbit, onto the world cooking stage! Continue reading →
After seeing a Tweet by The Collection by Liz McGrath Executive Chef Peter Tempelhoff about the new interior of SeaFood at The Marine earlier this week, I decided to lunch there yesterday, being in Hermanus for the day. It was a most disappointing experience, given the five star and Relais & Chateaux status of the hotel.
The Marine hotel has a long heritage and was bought by Mrs McGrath a number of years ago. and sat on its own on the cliffs overlooking Walker Bay, technically a magnificent location, but little is made of the beautiful view. A recent flurry of development across the road from the hotel has given it a lift. Mrs McGrath appears to be like Le Quartier Français owner Susan Huxter who renovates her establishment annually. Mrs McGrath did the latest interior design of SeaFood at The Marine, her staff told me. The colour scheme now is grey, with grey chairs, grey tables, and grey Continue reading →
The 2011 S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony was held last night, and number 2 Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant The Tasting Room at Le Quartier Français, with chef Margot Janse at the helm, was the only South African restaurant to make the prestigious Top 50 list, for the seventh year running, and won Best Restaurant in Africa/Middle East, at 36th position, down from number 31 last year. The top restaurant on the World’s 50 Best is Noma from Copenhagen, its second successive year at the top.
France remains the country with the most Best Restaurants, at seven, followed by Italy and the USA, with six each.
South Africa also featured in the 51-100 Restaurant ranking, with Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Top Chef David Higg’s Rust en Vrede team making 61st place (up from last year’s 74th place), enhancing the sadness about his departure from the restaurant in June, and La Colombe (now without Luke Dale-Roberts) at 82nd place, a vast fall from 12th position last year.
| Rank | Position | Restaurant | Country | Awards |
| 1 | — | Noma | Denmark | The S.Pellegrino Best Restaurant in the World. The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in Europe |
| 2 | Up 2 | El Celler De Can Roca | Spain | |
| 3 | Up 2 | Mugaritz | Spain | |
| 4 | Up 2 | Osteria Francescana | Italy | The Chefs’ Choice sponsored by Electrolux |
| 5 | Down 2 | The Fat Duck | England | |
| 6 | Up 1 | Alinea | USA | The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In North America |
| 7 | Up 11 | D.O.M | Brazil | The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In South America |
| 8 | Up 1 | Arzak | Spain | |
| 9 | Up 2 | Le Chateaubriand | France | |
| 10 | — | Per Se | USA | |
| 11 | Down 3 | Daniel | USA | |
| 12 | Up 12 | Les Creations de Narisawa | Japan | The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In Asia |
| 13 | Up 3 | L’Astrance | France | |
| 14 | Up 15 | L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon | France | |
| 15 | Up 2 | Hof van Cleve | Belgium | |
| 16 | Down 3 | Pierre Gagnaire | France | |
| 17 | Up 2 | Oud Sluis | Netherlands | |
| 18 | Down 3 | Le Bernardin | USA | |
| 19 | Re-Entry | L’Arpege | France | |
| 20 | Up 28 | Nihonryori RyuGin | Japan | Highest Climber Sponsored by Lavazza |
| 21 | Up 1 | Vendome | Germany | |
| 22 | Down 1 | Steirereck | Austria | |
| 23 | Up 7 | Schloss Schauenstein | Switzerland | |
| 24 | Up 26 | Eleven Madison Park | USA | |
| 25 | Up 9 | Aqua | Germany | |
| 26 | Up 1 | Quay | Australia | The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In Australasia |
| 27 | Up 1 | Iggy’s | Singapore | |
| 28 | Up 7 | Combal Zero | Italy | |
| 29 | Up 4 | Martin Berasategui | Spain | |
| 30 | Re-Entry | Bras | France | |
| 31 | Up 15 | Biko | Mexico | |
| 32 | Down 12 | Le Calandre | Italy | |
| 33 | Re-Entry | Cracco | Italy | |
| 34 | New Entry | The Ledbury | UK | Highest New Entry Sponsored by Silestone |
| 35 | Down 12 | Chez Dominique | Finland | |
| 36 | Down 5 | Le Quartier Francais | South Africa | The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In The Middle East and Africa |
| 37 | New Entry | Amber | China | |
| 38 | Down 2 | Dal Pescatore | Italy | |
| 39 | Up 1 | Il Canto | Italy | |
| 40 | Down 14 | Momofuku Ssam Bar | USA | |
| 41 | Up 2 | St John | UK | |
| 42 | New Entry | Astrid Y Gaston | Peru | |
| 43 | Up 6 | Hibiscus | UK | |
| 44 | — | Maison Troisgros | France | |
| 45 | Down 4 | Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee | France | |
| 46 | Down 9 | De Librije | Netherlands | |
| 47 | Down 33 | Restaurant de l’Hotel De Ville | Switzerland | |
| 48 | New Entry | Varvary | Russia | |
| 49 | New Entry | Pujol | Mexico | |
| 50 | Re-Entry | Asador Etxebarri | Spain |
The S. Pellegrino awards are organised by The Restaurant magazine, and the award-winning restaurants are nominated by and voted for by “800 international restaurant industry experts”, says the S. Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants website. “What constitutes ‘best’ is left to the judgement of these trusted and well-travelled gourmets. There is no pre-determined check-list of criteria”, the website says, and the results are a “simple computation of votes”. The World’s 50 Best Restaurants is an ‘honourable survey of current tastes and a credible indicator of the best places to eat round the globe”. There are no requirements for eligibility for the ranking, and the length of time that the restaurant has been open, and the culinary awards won are not taken into consideration for the vote. For the first time, a livestream presentation allowed one to watch the Awards ceremony from the comfort of one’s home, making one feel part of the ceremony.
Other Awards presented were the following:
* 2011 One to Watch: Frantzen & Lindeberg from Stockholm (number 57)
* Lifetime Achievement Award: Juan Mari Arzak (number eight)
* Chef’s Choice: Osteria Francescana (number 4)
* Fastest Climber: Nihonryori Ryugin of Japan (number 20)
* World’s Best Female Chef: Anne-Sophie Pic, of Maison Pic, first female Michelin three star chef in France
Last year Noma also was named the Best Restaurant in the world, with chef René Redzepi at the helm. Ferran Adria’s El Bulli, long in number one position, was second, and Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck came third. Adria withdrew from this year’s awards, as he is closing his restaurant for an indefinite period of time.
Tamsin Snyman heads up the Southern African judging team, stepping into her late mother Lannice Snyman’s shoes. Lannice held this position for years. What is odd is that the performance of South African restaurants on the Wold’s 50 Best Restaurants and Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant Awards has been so different, Le Quartier Français’ Tasting Room consistently having done well on the international Awards list, even when it did not make the Eat Out list in the past.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage