In this year's Restaurant magazine poll, Ferran Adria's El Bulli was voted the best restaurant in the world.

Anyone been there?

Bloomberg article

I'm reprinting the article here so as to make sure we have the list should the link above be discontinued:

El Bulli Topples Fat Duck as Best Restaurant in Poll (Correct)

(Corrects location of El Bulli in last paragraph of story originally published April 10. Richard Vines is London food critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)

By Richard Vines

April 10 (Bloomberg) -- El Bulli, Ferran Adria's gastronomic temple in northern Spain, toppled the U.K.'s Fat Duck as the world's best restaurant in a poll published today by Restaurant magazine. Pierre Gagnaire, in Paris, placed third.

The Fat Duck, where Heston Blumenthal serves snail porridge and sardine-on-toast sorbet, dropped to second place in the annual list of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, chosen by 560 chefs, critics and restaurateurs. El Bulli was second last year.

The French Laundry, in California's Napa Valley, finished top in the Americas, while Tetsuya's, in Sydney, was the leader in Australasia. France dominates the Top 50 list, with 10 restaurants included and a total of 24 serving French food.

``Taking the list as a whole, it's the French who have conquered the globe,'' Restaurant said in a statement to coincide with an awards ceremony at the Science Museum in London.

Restaurants in Asia and those serving Asian cuisine barely figure in the list. The sole Asian venue is Bukhara, in New Delhi. I ate there this month and wasn't that impressed. Not a single restaurant in Japan or China makes the list. There's nowhere in Japan or China and the other places serving Asian dishes are in London (Nobu and Hakkasan).

London Losers

To allay concerns that the London-based magazine's list was too centered on the U.K., Restaurant this year appointed panels in 20 regions, each chaired by a food writer, to pick the restaurants. The 20 regional heads together form an international panel, chaired by Joe Warwick, editor of the magazine.

U.K. restaurants that made the list include Le Gavroche and St. John's. Tom Aikens, Sketch, the Waterside Inn, the Connaught, Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons and the Wolseley all dropped out this year. Gagnaire is a partner in Sketch as well as owning his eponymous restaurant in Paris.

El Bulli and the Fat Duck are known for molecular gastronomy, the experimental cuisine also practiced by Andoni Aduriz at Mugaritz, which is in the Basque country of northeast Spain. El Bulli is in Catalonia. The biggest climber was Italy's Gambero Rosso, located in San Vincenzo.

1. El Bulli (Spain)
2. The Fat Duck (U.K.)
3. Pierre Gagnaire (France)
4. French Laundry (U.S.)
5. Tetsuya's (Australia)
6. Bras (France)
7. Restaurant le Louis XV (Monaco)
8. Per Se (U.S.)
9. Restaurant Arzak (Spain)
10. Mugaritz (Spain)
11. Can Fabes (Spain)
12. Nobu (U.K.)
13. Gambero Rosso (Italy)
14. Gordon Ramsay Royal Hospital Road (U.K.)
15. Restaurant Alain Ducasse (France)
16. Jean Georges (U.S., New York)
17. Le Cinq (France)
18. Daniel (U.S., New York)
19. Oud Sluis (Netherlands)
20. Chez Panisse (U.S.)
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I'm aware of the #9 Restaurant Arzak in San Sebastián-Donostia but not #10 & #11. Anyone else familiar with those?

Saludos, MdridMan

Despite of not been there, I know that Can Fabes is located in Sant Celoni, a village in the Barcelona province, just by the Montseny mountain. Its owner/chef is Santi Santamaria.

On the other hand, I have never heard before of Mugaritz

mugaritz has its web site. It's a reataurant in Errenteria (Guipuzcoa), near San Sebastian.

Good to see some Brit restaurants at the top - our reputation needs some restoring food-wise?