The World’s 50 Best in 2024

Disfrutar in Barcelona takes the top spot, while Spain’s Asador Etxebarri and Paris’s Table by Bruno Verjus round out the top three

by Eater Staff  Jun 6, 2024, 1:28am EDT

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants List was announced tonight at an awards ceremony in Las Vegas, with Disfrutar in Barcelona, Spain, named to the top spot in the annual restaurant ranking. Rounding out the top five: Asador Etxebarri in Atxondo, Spain at No. 2; Table by Bruno Verjus in Paris at No. 3; Diverxo in Madrid at No. 4; and Maido in Lima at No. 5.

Chefs Eduard Xatruch, Mateu Casañas, and Oriol Castro opened Disfrutar in December 2014, and it’s held spots on the 50 Best list in several years since. According to Eater’s 2021 guide to Barcelona, the restaurant is considered one of the city’s “most lauded fine dining destination[s] for good reason,” featuring an “elaborate brand of molecular cuisine packed with pomp and circumstance.” The restaurant’s march to the top of the World’s 50 Best list was a steady drumbeat in recent years: It took the No. 2 spot on the 2023 list, and was No. 3 in 2022.

Every Restaurant That’s Ever Topped the World’s 50 Best List

Overheard at the 2024 World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards

The U.S. notched two entrants in this year’s top 50: NYC’s Atomix climbed two spots from last year’s placement to land at No. 6, while Healdsburg, California’s Single Thread re-entered the list this year at No. 46 (a jump from its No. 68 ranking in 2023).

As ever, the 50 Best list aims to rank the world’s global culinary output. Since a rule change in 2019, any restaurant that ascends to the top of the list is removed from contention in following years, ending the onetime grip that restaurants like Noma and elBulli (which have both since closed or announced closures) once had on the top 10. The so-called “back half” of the 2024 list, numbers 51 to 100, was released last week and included NYC’s Cosme (No. 99) and Le Bernardin (No. 71, a drop from its 2023 placement at No. 44), and Chicago’s Smyth (No. 90).

Font: eater.com
Image: World’s 50 Best