The San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants Awards

The San Pellegrino 50 Best Restaurants Awards were held yesterday in London and for the fourth year in a row, Spanish restaurant El Bulli was named the world's best restaurant at the ceremony.  The awards are voted for by more than 800 chefs, restaurant critics and industry insiders for Restaurant Magazine.

Spanish restaurants dominated the awards this year occupying three of the top five spots but Ferrian Adria, El Bulli's head chef and owner dedicated his award to the British chef who came in second place.  Heston Blumenthal, who runs the Fat Duck in Bray, has had a difficult year with his restaurant temporarily closing due to a health scare but has bounced back in spectacular fashion.

It was been a bad year for British restaurants, with only four in the Top 50. Le Gavroche, run by Michel Roux Jr, fell down from 22 last year to 58, whereas the Waterside Inn in Bray, ranked 70 last year, has also been voted out of the Top 100 and Gordon Ramsey has disappeared from the list entirely

Good news came from Fergus Henderson’s St John restaurant in Clerkenwell, Central London, who moved up two places from 16 to 14.

Heston Blumethal is a fascinating and insightful keynote speaker on the secrets of his success and joins other excellent chefs who are on the speaking circuit including Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver, Mark Edwards from Nobu, Bryn Williams, John Torode and Michael Caines