Asador Etxebarri claims culinary crown

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Asador Etxebarri’s rise to the top of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants is a powerful reminder of the value of quiet mastery. The rankings announced in Lima, together with the discussions at 50 Best Talks, raised a compelling question about the future of gastronomy: Does true excellence lie in creativity or in depth?

I was in Lima, the capital of Peru, last week for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards. This year, Asador Etxebarri, in Spain’s Basque Country, claimed the top spot, followed by Gaggan in Bangkok, Alchemist in Copenhagen, Quintonil in Mexico City and Wing in Hong Kong. Eleven new restaurants entered the top 50, with São Paulo’s Tuju making its debut at No. 16. Copenhagen’s Kadeau, meanwhile, climbed an impressive 33 places to No. 8. Once again, the rankings saw considerable movement. But for me, the most meaningful result of the evening was the restaurant that took first place.

Bittor Arginzoniz, the chef behind Asador Etxebarri, is one of gastronomy’s quietest masters. He feels no need to constantly explain himself or turn his cooking into a spectacle. For years, in the Basque countryside, he has stood before the fire pursuing the same question: Just how good can an ingredient taste? His attention to detail is such that he has developed his own cooking equipment. He has transformed the management of fire into an extraordinarily precise technique, adapting it to the character of each ingredient. For years, the gastronomic world associated innovation with technical complexity.

Interestingly, third place went to Alchemist, a restaurant that transforms gastronomy into a multilayered, theatrical experience. On one side, there is fire and the ingredient in something close to its purest form. On the other, a culinary world where art, technology and stage design are intricately intertwined. To me, this contrast speaks volumes. The future of gastronomy is not moving in a single direction. What matters is not simplicity or spectacle, but how authentic and coherent a restaurant’s chosen approach truly is. The impact a restaurant makes and the noise it generates are two very different things.

As always, I ate exceptionally well in Lima. I have plenty to say about Peru’s extraordinary diversity of ingredients and its culinary culture, but those stories deserve an article of…

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