Central: which restaurants were chosen before the Best in the world?

The Peruvian restaurant Central was chosen the Best in the world in the 2023 edition of The World’s 50 Best. In this way, a Latin American establishment manages for the first time to be at the top of the prestigious ranking that has been carried out since 2002.

The list was born in the British magazine “Restaurant Magazine”, from the media group William Reed Business Media, but is currently developed independently of the publication. The results are based on the votes of a panel of 1,040 experts from 27 regions of the 5 continents.

According to the Gastroeconomy portal, this panel is made up of “34% are cooks and hoteliers, 33% are journalists and gastronomic writers and 33% are traveled gourmets”. Also, since 2019, to promote equity, 50% of voters are women and 50% are men.

The list of the 50 best restaurants in the world has been made without interruption since 2002, with the exception of 2020, when the ceremony was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The complete list of winners throughout the years can be found on the official website of The World’s 50 Best. Until 2006, no Latin American restaurant had entered the list. The first to enter was the Brazilian DOM in 2006 and in position 50. The following year it climbed to position 38. In 2010 the Mexican Biko joined the list (in position 46). And in 2011, the first Peruvian restaurant appeared on the list: Astrid & Gastón, which ranked 42nd. In 2013, the Central restaurant entered the list for the first time in 50th place.

These have been the 21 restaurants that have been placed in the first place of the list of the best in the world:

As we mentioned, since 2006 Latin American participation in the list of The World’s 50 Best has been growing. In 2013, the 50 Best Latam edition was even launched to highlight only the gastronomy of this part of the world.

In the first edition of this ranking, which can be consulted on the official website, whose ceremony was held in Lima, Peru, the Astrid & Gastón restaurant ranked first. Followed in the Top 5 by DOM (Brazil), Pujol (Mexico), Central (Peru) and Maní (Brazil).

This 2023, Spain, Italy, France and Peru were the countries with the most restaurants on the list:

And in the Latin American case, Peru was the country with the best representation on the list, followed by Mexico and Colombia: