It just got harder to book a table at Brae

The World's 50 Best Restaurants rankings for 51-100 have been announced, with Sydney's Quay taking 95th place, and Victoria's Brae anticipated to crack the top 50.

Representing Australia in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list are chefs Ben Shewry of Attica (left) & Dan Hunter of Brae. Source: Visit Melbourne

The “Spot the World’s Best 50 Chefs” season has just officially opened, with more than 90 chefs from around the globe beginning to touchdown in Australia to attend the prestigious awards ceremony, World’s 50 Best Restaurants. The Oscars of the restaurant industry will be hosted in Melbourne, next Wednesday 5 April, the second time the event has been held outside of London. 

Grant Achatz from Chicago’s progressive Alinea (ranked #15 in 2016) has just landed in Melbourne:

As a taster to the top 50 main event, restaurant rankings 51-100 were announced yesterday. 

Sydney’s Quay, coming in at 95th, is the only Australian restaurant to place in the list so far, but ex-pat Dave Pynt came in at 53rd with his Singaporean restaurant Burnt Ends.

We’re expecting Ben Shewry’s Attica in Melbourne to hold its ranking in the top 50 (ranked #33 in 2016) and high hopes are pinned on Dan Hunter from Brae in Victoria to crack the top 50 this year (ranked #65 in 2016). We’re also expecting Aussie ex-pats Brett Graham (the ledbury, London) and David Thompson (Nahm, Thailand) to hold their ground in the top 50. 

Acknowledging the breadth of gastronomic talent across the globe, the 2017 list includes new entries from Mexico (Sud 777, #75), Russia (Selfie, #88), South Korea (Mingles, #89), Denmark (Kadeau, #94), Japan (Sushi Saito, #97 and Florilège, #99) and Brazil (Olympe, #100). 

You can read the full 51-100 list here. 

A nod to global diversity is not the only statement at this year’s awards. Female chefs have edged in on the list, including: Ana Roš of Hiša (Slovenia) coming in at #69 and also taking out World’s Best Female Chef, and Dominique Crenn of Atelier Crenn (USA) makes her debut at #83. 

The top 50 will be released on Wednesday 5 April; but if you’re lucky enough to be in Melbourne’s Federation Square, you can watch the ceremony live on the big screen, or via livestream.

 

Get in on the action and celebrate with the hottest world chefs in #50BestTalks, across Sydney (1 April; sold out) and Melbourne (3 April, featuring Daniel Humm, Will Guidara, Gaggan Anand, Jordi Roca and Grant Achatz; tickets still available). Or take part in Melbourne Food And Wine Festival's MasterClass program on 1-2 April.