The 2002 debut of Th
e S.Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants (SP World’s 50 Best) might have done something deemed impossible years back. The influential guide has inadvertently swiveled the culinary spotlight away from the world’s de facto culinary capital of Paris in favour of Spain, England and, recently, Denmark. Only one restaurant in Paris made it to SP’s top 10’s club in 2011, a dramatic decline from 2004 when five French restaurants (four in Paris and one in Monaco) swept away half of SP’s top 10 spots.
Yet many top rated chefs from around the globe continue to make frequent gourmet pilgrimages to Paris for culinary inspiration. “In my view, Paris has never lost its magic when it comes to food,” says Michel Roux Jnr of two Michelin-starred Le Gavroche Restaurant, “I visit Paris four times a year, and I can see that French gastronomy is enjoying a rich vein of form; the restaurants and cuisines on offer there have broadened and can rival any major cities in the world.”