Did Your Favorite Restaurant Win World’s Best?

Photos Courtesy of El Celler de Can Roca

Everyone has a go-to favorite restaurant but the chance of your dining pick being chosen by 900 of the world’s dining experts as the best in the world is pretty slim. Unless you chose El Celler de Can Roca in Spain, of course, because it was just announced this past Monday that Can Roca has won the world’s best title by the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.

According to Today.com, the awards ceremony was streamed live online. The winners were announced in batches to keep the suspense level high until El Celler de Can Roca was revealed as the best, knocking Denmark’s famed Noma restaurant from first place to second. Run by the Roca brothers (Joan, Jordi, and Josep), Can Roca first entered the contest eight years ago and has been climbing the ranks ever since. The family-run restaurant serves Catalonian cuisine and features a rather impressive wine cellar of some 60,000 bottles. If you really want to take advantage of the wine offerings, maybe pair some with a 17-course lunch featuring dishes like caramelized olives that are served on bonsai trees.

What does each brother do exactly? Joan is the head chef and is known for being a technical genius who helped to pioneer the use of sours-vide cooking in the 1990s. Jordi is the pastry chef, creating delicate desserts that apparently need to be tasted to be believed. Last but not least, Josep is the restaurant’s sommelier who runs the front operations.

Other top honors went to Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain, and Eleven Madison Park in New York.