Alchemist by Rasmus Monk was crowned best restaurant in Europe in the Opinionated About Dining list released on Monday evening. This is the first time ever that a Danish restaurant tops the OAD-Europe list.
Second was Restaurant Frantzen in Stockholm, Sweden followed by Etxebarri in Axpe, Spain, Andreas Caminada in Furstenau, Switzerland and Lido 84 in Gardone Riviera, Italy.
Speaking about the top award, Steven Plotnicki, founder of the OAD-list said “it an amazing accomplishment for someone who is only 30 years old. Diners are lucky they will be able to enjoy Rasmus’s cooking for decades”, said Steven Plotnicki, founder of the OAD-list, after the livestreamed launch of the 2021 list.
The OAD-list is a restaurant system that determines the experience level of the people that vote for the restaurants. Each reviewer is assigned a weight that reflects the number of restaurants he/she has visited and those restaurants’ rank in the list.
“I couldn’t in my wildest dreams think that we would advance this far in such a short time. I am deeply grateful for all the votes from our guests in the past year, I am quite frankly blown away by this news”, said Head Chef Rasmus Munk after the revelation of the list.
After almost two years of excruciating times for the restaurant industry, where Alchemist has faced eight months of lockdown in total, Rasmus Munk is relieved to finally be operating the restaurant on an almost normal level and to start developing the experience even further.
“We are still only starting to discover the potential of Holistic Cuisine, and I hope that this acknowledgement will contribute to creating an even larger platform for us to raise awareness about social issues, sustainability and animal welfare. It also reinforces my belief that it is possible to operate outside of the given boundaries and definitions of what a restaurant is, and that it is doable to merge the worlds of gastronomy and art”, says Rasmus Munk.
Victor’s Fine Dining by Christian Bau placed sixth followed by Ernst in Berlin, Quique Da Costa in Spain, De Librije in Zwolle, Netherlands and Geranium in Copenhagen.
Ana Ros with her restaurant Hisa Franki in Kobarid, Slovenia is the only female chef that features in the top 50 positions with a number 26 placing.
The OAD Europe 2021 casual list crowned Elkano in Getaria, Spain as its top restaurant in the casual dining category. The list is dominated by Spain and Italy in the top 10 places with eight Spanish and 2 Italian restaurants in the top 10 places. Mannix in Campaspero, Spain placed second, Pepe in Grani a pizzeria in Caiazo, Italy placed third.
Trattoria Trippa in Milan was fourth while Gueze Mar in Spain and Estimar in Barcelona were fifth and sixth respectively.
You need to go down to the 16th place to find the first non-Spanish or non-Italian restaurant. This is Le Baratin in France. In total Spain has 16 out of the first 20 places.
The Classical Europe 2021 list was slightly more geographically balanced. Hôtel de Ville de Crissier from Switzerland placed first followed by Regis et Jacques Macron in France and Troisgros in France. The top 10 places were shared by Switzerland, France and Germany with the first Italian restaurant Dal Pescatore placing 11th in the list. Karen Torosyan’s Bozar in Brussels features in 38th place.
There is also a Cheap Eats list which features six countries in the top 10. Copenhagen takes the top three places with Moller Kaffe, Hart Bageri and Juno the Bakery respectively. It is followed by Caffe Sicilia in Sicily, Italy followed by Abu Hassan in Israel.
The full lists can be found here:
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