World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022: Only 1 Asian restaurant in the top 20 as European fine dining dominates again

Geranium in Denmark named world’s best restaurant; The Chairman in Hong Kong drops out of the top 10; Den in Tokyo, ranked 20th, is voted the best in Asia

The voting is based on visits to restaurants, and travel curbs in Asia because of the pandemic may have been a factor as European restaurants dominated

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Staff at Copenhagen’s Geranium restaurant celebrate it taking top spot in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranking for 2022. Asian restaurants did badly in the annual awards. Photo: Geranium

Published: 5:15pm, 19 Jul 2022

The Nordic region reigned supreme in the 20th edition of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, with Copenhagen’s Geranium taking top spot.

Chef and co-owner Rasmus Kofoed, who has previously won bronze, silver and gold in the Bocuse d’Or, one of the world’s most prestigious cooking competitions, said that, after the difficult times of the pandemic, the World’s Best Restaurant award is a “recognition that’s not about being better than another, it’s a celebration for all of us”.

Soren Ledet, sommelier and co-owner of Geranium, said his “heart and head is full”. He put Geranium’s, and the Nordic region’s, success as a culinary destination down to the diversity of people involved in the restaurant business, all bringing their own approaches and philosophies to the sector.

Coming in at No 2 was Central, in Lima, Peru, the flagship restaurant of Peruvian chef Virgilio Martínez Véliz. The kitchen serves as his workshop in the investigation and integration of indigenous Peruvian ingredients.

Parfait from Central, Lima, Peru. Photo: courtesy of Instagram/@centralrest

Chef Dabiz Munoz, whose restaurant Diverxo in Madrid took fourth place in the World’s 50 Best rankings. Photo: courtesy of Instagram/@dabizdiverxo

Spain also triumphed at this year’s awards, with experimental, seafood-heavy Disfrutar in Barcelona, headed by chefs Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch, and Mateu Casañas, coming third. Well-loved, punk-styled chef Dabiz Muñoz, with his trademark mohawk, took fourth place for the avant-garde Diverxo in Madrid.