For the second consecutive year, the best restaurant in Australia is in Melbourne. Overnight, Ripponlea-based eatery Attica was named the best restaurant in Australasia, and the 32nd best restaurant in the world, as the Top 100 restaurants for 2014 were named in a ceremony at London’s Guildhall overnight, following voting from 900 industry experts.
Attica was the only Australian restaurant to crack the top 50, and one of only two to make the list of 100 restaurants worldwide. The result is a drop from the 21st placement that it earned in last year’s list. The awards noted restaurant owner and mastermind Ben Shewry’s commitment to sustainability, “His cuisine remains uniquely imaginative and original, with dishes often referencing the landscape and memories of his childhood on the wild west coast of NZ’s North Island. King George whiting, topped with meat-infused butter, is cooked in smoking paper bark; potato is cooked ‘in the earth in which it is grown’; snow crab comes with 12 flavours of St Joseph’s Wort (aka sweet basil).”
Sydney’s Quay was the only other Australian entry to crack the Top 100 for 2014, coming in at 60th. Outside of being a mainstay of Australian fine dining, you might remember Quay as being the evil geniuses behind the infamous Snow Egg dessert that has been featured frequently on MasterChef as something of a final boss battle.
The number 1 restaurant in the world for 2014 is Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, which has taken the award out 4 times in previous years. Notable for its inclusion in the top 5 is Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, a version of which will be opening in Melbourne’s Crown Casino following the conclusion of Blumenthal’s Fat Duck residency at the beginning of next year.
You can view the full list of the World’s Top 100 restaurants here.
Photo: Spencer Platt via Getty Images.
