Madison Park named world’s best restaurant

MELBOURNE: Contemporary New York eatery Eleven Madison Park was crowned the world’s best restaurant of 2017 at a glitzy ceremony in Melbourne on Wednesday, edging out last year’s winner, Italy’s Osteria Francescana.

Run by chef Daniel Humm, the Manhattan institution came out on top at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, widely seen as the Oscars of the food world.

Spain’s El Celler De Can Roca was third.

"I don’t know how I feel right now but I’m overjoyed," said an emotional Humm, who was praised for his fine dining menu inspired by the agricultural bounty of New York and its culinary traditions.

"I’m so proud to be up here. When I first started cooking 25 years ago, I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I’d find myself in this position.

"It’s an unbelievable time to be a chef," he added.

The top 10 was rounded out by restaurants in France, Peru, Spain, Thailand and Austria.

The awards this year were held outside of London or New York for the first time, with Australia fast earning a reputation as a serious food destination and attracting some of the world’s top chefs to open restaurants Down Under.

The move to Melbourne was part of an ongoing strategy to make the event more global, organisers said.

In other awards, Spanish eatery The Disfrutar in Barcelona was picked as the One to Watch while Ana Ros of Hisa Franko in Slovenia was named the world’s best female chef.

Top pastry chef was French-born Dominique Ansel -- known as king of the cronuts -- and his bakery in New York, while a nod for sustainability went to France’s Septime.

Acclaimed British chef Heston Blumenthal, whose restaurant The Fat Duck is a former winner of the top award, was handed a lifetime achievement gong.