It is fair to say that the French are world renowned for their fine-dining so when Restaurant Magazine included only five French restaurants in its 2014 ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ it’s no surprise that across the Channel the French had something to say about it.
Le Chef magazine’s top 10 world’s chefs and restaurants 1. Pierre Gagnaire, Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire, Paris, France
2. Paul Bocuse, L’Auberge du pont de Collonges, Collonges au Mont d’Or, France
3. Joan Roca,
El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain
4. Thomas Keller, Per Se, New York, US
5. Alain Ducasse, Louis XV, Monaco
6. Michel Bras, Le Suquet, Laguiole, France
7. Eric Fréchon, Epicure, Paris, France
8. Yannick Alléno, Ledoyen, Paris, France
9. Seiji Yamamoto, Nihonryori RyuGin, Tokyo, Japan
10. Daniel Humm, Eleven Madison Park, New York, US.
Restaurant magazine’s 'World’s Best 50 restaurants' top 10 2014 1. Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark
2. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain
3. Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy
4. Eleven Madison Park, New York, US
5. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London, UK
6. Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain
7. DOM, Sao Paulo, Brazil
8. Arzak, San Sebastian, Spain
9. Alinea, Chicago, US
10. The Ledbury, London, UK.
In response to the list and over a decade of low ranking restaurants, Le Chef, a French magazine for foodies, bit back last week. Le Chef compiled its own list of the top 100 chefs and restaurants, the magazine polled over 500 two-to-three Michelin starred chefs around the world and asked them each to provide five names of chefs they thought represented the best of the cooking profession and which chefs and restaurants they would like to see on a list of the 100 best in the world. Five of the top ten were French, including Pierre Gagnaire and Paul Bocuse.
Le Chef editor, Francis Luzin, stated on the magazine’s website: “The fifty-best is a ranking of “so-called” best restaurants in the world… It thus gives pride of place to small countries with few (Michelin) star restaurants. French gastronomy (is) poorly represented in this ranking.” The lists suggests that both magazines have their own objectives, but does this mean that British and French food rivalries are rife as more and more people try new flavours further afield? Michel Roux Jr. explained that this rivalry is nothing new, he said:
“The friction between the French and the English has been lasting for the last 500 years. The French and English are always having a go at each other. On the culinary front, as a chef, all of these lists and points of view are good because they get people talking and comparing. It’s good for business and it’s good for awareness of our industry, and if there’s a little bit of friction in there, that’s good too." He added: “Le Chef’s is an interesting list, because they are predominantly French chefs but there are some foreign ones in there as well. The polling was done solely by chefs, whereas for Restaurant Magazine the polling was journalists and food critics from far and wide, with countries that do not have the Michelin guide. You can’t really compare one against the other.” As a Michelin starred chef himself and an influential part of The Roux Scholarship competition, Michel Jr. is proud to be French and sees it as key to Le Gavroche's success.
"If you look at the illustrious list of previous winners of the Roux Scholarship," explained Michel Jr. "They are stars in the making and stars that are already there. People like Sat Baines and Andrew Fairlie. They’re up there with the best. It’s magnificent to see a completion like the Roux Scholarship in its 32nd year now and still old true to its beliefs and encouraging young
