World's 50 Best Restaurants Archives

June 22, 2017 by annbenjamin 0

Attica: #32, World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

When we saw the Chef’s Table episode for Attica, I was impressed. And the continued honors for the restaurant and Chef Ben Shewry have been many — as the current Australasia best restaurant (2017), I literally couldn’t wait to enjoy a meal at the venue. Friends, as I always strive for honesty, I have to admit that after the experience, I’m going to take a break from the World’s Top Restaurants for awhile. I think that I need to start doing more research on my restaurant selections when traveling. It’s not that the food was particularly good or bad, or that there was anything wrong with the service (it was professional, but not overwhelmingly personal), it’s more that for the price point and reputation my expectations were considerably high. Were they too high? I don’t know. As Hubs and I had our best meal of the year (so far) at…

Attica Attica Melbourne Chef's Table fine dining Australia Melbourne fine dining World's 50 Best Restaurants

March 25, 2017 by annbenjamin 0

South Africa

The Test Kitchen: #22 World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Imagine the highs and lows of the morning of February 1, 2017. For those who aren’t involved in the high stakes world of world class dining reservations, most venues of this caliber are hotly contested and difficult to get into (even when you make plans and do everything you are supposed to). Thus, at 10:00 AM on the dot, I logged into the website for Test Kitchen. By 10:02 AM all the 2 tops for March 16th were gone (and with a window of only one day, I didn’t have any flexibility in my calendar). Disappointed, I remembered I had requested my hotel (the Cape Cadogan – which I’ll review in a separate post) to make a reservation as well. Holding my breath, I contacted them, and they confirmed they were successful in obtaining the reservation (even if I had to go under the name of someone else)! So, does…

Cape Town dining featured fine dining South Africa The Test Kitchen The Test Kitchen Cape Town World's 50 Best Restaurants

March 8, 2017 by annbenjamin 0

Bangkok

Gaggan, #23 World’s 50 Best Restaurants, #1 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.

It was with a considerable amount of expectation that I went to Gaggan, the #1 restaurant in Asia’s Top 50 Restaurants for the third year in a row (and currently ranked #23 in the world). Let me first mention that the entire service team brought their A Game to the meal, no matter the 4 AM after party from the post-awards ceremony the night before (honestly, you wouldn’t know it — the property was put back to its regular standards with nary a spoon out of place). Warmly greeted, we were seated not upstairs in the lab (which I would go back to try), but in the front left room overlooking the kitchen (the closest appropriation of a chef’s table — complete with glass that can provide an instant screen). And then we were presented with a menu. A menu lacking words of any kind. A menu unlike any other I’d…

Asia's 50 Best Restaurants Bangkok fine dining emoji menu fine dining Bangkok Gaggan Gaggan review World's 50 Best Restaurants

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