Asador Etxebarri Takes World's Best Restaurant Crown in Lima

Asador Etxebarri, the Basque grill destination in Atxondo, Spain, was named the world's best restaurant for 2026 at The 50's awards ceremony Wednesday night in Lima, Peru — pushing last year's winner, Lima's own Maido, into the organization's "Best of the Best" hall of fame, where former champions reside because restaurants can take the top prize only once.

Chef Bittor Arguinzoniz, accepting in Spanish, called the prize "a real honor" and credited his inspiration: "our mothers and grandmothers," who he said were accomplished cooks. His restaurant has built a global reputation on a revelatory grilling technique — fire as precision cooking, not theater.

The rankings come from the votes of the 50 Best Restaurants Academy, a panel of more than 1,100 international restaurant industry experts spanning 28 regions, including food writers and chefs. The 50, formerly known as 50 Best, also ranks the world's top bars, hotels and vineyards, and competes for authority with Michelin and LaListe in the high-end dining rankings business.

What does the top five look like?

The 2026 top five spans three continents:

• No. 1 — Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo, Spain
• No. 2 — Gaggan, Bangkok
• No. 3 — Alchemist, Copenhagen, cited for "extraordinary craftsmanship" and a meal "unlike anywhere else"
• No. 4 — Quintonil, Mexico City, also named Best Restaurant in Latin America
• No. 5 — Wing, Hong Kong, praised for its Chinese heritage and the "untold stories of Chinese culinary history"

That geographic spread marks a shift. Last year, four of the top five restaurants sat in Spanish-speaking countries. The 2026 top five draws from Asia, North America and Europe, with Bangkok alone landing three restaurants in the overall top 15 — Gaggan, Sorn, Suhring — plus Potong at No. 32 and Nusara at No. 18.

Who won for North America?

The highest American entry is Atomix, the Korean restaurant in New York City, at No. 11. It took Best Restaurant in North America, and chef Junghyun Park earned the Chef's Choice Award, with the academy praising him for providing a "window into a culture."

The 50-restaurant list reaches deep into emerging fine-dining markets: Masque in Mumbai at No. 26, Trèsind Studio in Dubai at No. 28, La Colombe in Cape Town at No. 35, Nuema in Quito at No. 37 and Naar in Kasauli, India, at No. 48.

Why the gala matters

For fine dining, the awards function like the film industry's Academy Awards, fanfare included — and Wednesday's ceremony was no exception. "For the past 25 years, we've celebrated the people and places shaping hospitality," said Rikki Tidball, who heads the awards program at The 50, in opening remarks at the Lima gala.

Last year's ceremony in Turin, Italy, crowned Maido, the Peruvian restaurant run by Mitsuharu "Micha" Tsumura, a descendant of Japanese immigrants to Peru who applies Japanese techniques to Peruvian cuisine. The academy says it aims to spotlight not just fine dining but genuinely innovative cooking — which explains a list where a Basque farmhouse grill outranks tasting-menu temples.

With eligibility rules pushing past winners into the Best of the Best program, the 2027 race is already open, and the academy's 1,100-plus voters will decide whether the momentum shifts again toward Asia's fast-rising entries.