The Unpaid Food Critic

The S.Pellegrino World's Best Restaurants

2007-10-10T20:41:00.000+08:00

If there's any to go by, the S. Pellegrino World's Best Restaurants lists the best among the best. I kind of look at the list each time I travel overseas and hope for the opportunity to be able to dine at one of them. Thankfully (but not enough), I had the opportunity to dine at a few of them.

First published by Restaurant magazine in 2002 and now in its sixth year, The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants (in fact they list up to 100) is recognised around the world as the most credible indicator of the best places to eat on Earth. As with all such lists, The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants stimulates fervent debate and sometimes controversy, but the excitement it generates amongst those who aspire to make the list, and the massive interest it brings to the restaurant industry in general, have seen it grow into an eagerly anticipated, internationally influential event.

The list is compiled by The Nespresso World's 50 Best Academy , a group of prominent food writers, critics, publishers and commentators, who each represent a different global region and chair a carefully selected voting panel for that region. This ensures a truly authoritative list and one which is becoming more and more globally representative each year.

Highlighted in Red are the one's we should be proud of. They are our home grown local products to which, sadly, I have not dined there before. (To the owner of these restaurants reading my blog, you can send me an invite via email.) Those highlighted in Blue are the ones I've been to.

The S.Pellegrino World's 50 (100) Best Restaurants List for 2007

1. El Bulli - Spain
2. The Fat Duck - UK
3. Pierre Gagnaire - France
4. The French Laundry - USA
5. Tetsuya's - Australia
6. Bras - France
7. Mugaritz - Spain
8. Le Louis XV - Monaco
9. Per Se - USA
10. Arzak - Spain
11. El Celler de Can Roca - Spain
12. Gambero Rosso - Italy
13. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon - France
14. Hof van Cleve - Belgium
15. Noma - Denmark
16. Le Calandre - Italy
17. Nobu London - UK
18. Jean Georges - USA
19. Hakkasan - UK
20. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée - France
21. L'Astrance - France
22. Can Fabes - Spain
23. L'Ambroisie - France
24. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay - UK
25. Troisgros - France
26. Le Bernardin - USA
27. Martin Berasategui - Spain
28. Le Gavroche - UK
29. Le Cinq - France
30. Charlie Trotter's - USA
31. Dal Pescatore - Italy
32. Daniel - USA
33. Rockpool - Australia
34. St John - UK
35. Chez Dominique - Finland
36. Alinea - USA
37. Bukhara - India
38. DOM - Brazil
39. Oaxen Skärgårdskrog - Sweden
40. Chez Panisse - USA
41. Enoteca Pinchiorri - Italy
42. Cracco Peck - Italy
43. L'Arpège - France
44. River Café - UK
45. Oud Sluis - Netherlands
46. Combal Zero - Italy
47. Le Quartier Français - South Africa
48. Taillevent - France
49. Bocuse - France
50. Les Ambassadeurs - France
51. De Karmeliet - Belgium
52. Le Meurice - France
53. San Pau - Spain
54. La Pergola - Italy
55. Maze (Gordon Ramsay) - UK
56. Masa - USA
57. Comme Chez Soi - Belgium
58. Schwarzwaldstube - Germany
59. Restaurant Dieter Müller - Germany
60. Iggy's - Singapore
61. Spondi - Greece
62. Pushkin - Russia
63. Guy Savoy - France
64. L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon at the Four Seasons - USA
65. Turandot - Russia
66. Cal Pep - Spain
67. Zuma - UK
68. Abac - Spain
69. Peter Lugar - USA
70. Pic - France
71. Vue de Monde - Australia
72. Astrid y Gast-n - Peru
73. Vendome - Germany
74. Wasabi - India
75. Indigo - India
76. Etxebarri - Spain
77. Helen Darroze - France
78. Sketch Lecture Room & Library - UK
79. El Poblet - Spain
80. Bagatelle - Norway
81. Bosman's - South Africa
82. Caprice - Hong Kong
83. Les Amis - Singapore
84. F12 - Sweden
85. 48 - Greece
86. Lou Lou - Hungary
87. Verre - Dubai
88. Café Kor - Hungary
89. Nobu New York - USA
90. Gramercy Tavern - USA
91. WD~50 - USA
92. Le Grand Vééfour - France
93. L'Arnsbourg - France
94. Humble House - Singapore
95. Don Alfonso - Italy
96. Bécasse - Australia
97. Tantris - Germany
98. Zuni Café - USA
99. Hunkar - Turkey
100. Alex at Wynn - USA

Website: http://www.theworlds50best.com/

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen

2007-10-02T14:28:00.000+08:00

It is early Aug 07 and we are scheduled to attend a design workshop in London at end Aug 07. We scrambled to get our air tickets and sent off emails to our consultant in London informing them about our scheduled visit. Adding to that email is also a "favour" to get a table at Jamie Oliver's restaurant Fifteen.

The word got passed around and our ever resourceful guy Paul got in touch with one of his staff whose wife works in the restaurant business, pulled some strings, and 1 week before we are scheduled to fly, a phonecall came in... we were all fixed for 10 persons to dine at Fifteen, 6.30pm on 29 Aug 07.

My colleague Kenneth and I are kind of like food buff. We've always watched Jamie in cooking shows on Discovery Travel and Living. Who knows, we are now set to dine at his restaurant.

Its 5.30pm, 29 Aug 07. We had just finished our workshop and now making our way to Fifteen with lots of anticipation.

We were greeted by our waitress for the evening, ordered some drinks to start off with and was introduced to the tasting menu for the day.

We understand from the waitress that the tasting menu changes on a daily basis, so what you eat today will kind of be like history tomorrow. Cool!!!

My selection:

Insalate: Carpaccio of Buccleuch beef (hung for 28 days) with radish salsa, watercress and pecorino al tartufo nero

Primi: Cuttlefish ink tagliatelle 'allo scoglio' with clams, mussels, chilli, flat leaf parsley and bottarga di muggine

Secondi: Seared breast of Telmara duck with fresh cannellini beans, grilled radicchio Trevisano and orange-balsamic dressing

Dolci e Formaggi: Baked apple and calvados tart with truffled honey ice cream

The dinner was a delight. To be honest, I had expected something more, considering the "brand name" of Jamie Oliver. It didn't turn out what I had expected, but something different and very pleasant I would have to say. I salute Jamie's effort in providing the necessary training to these group of street kids and giving them a skill to survive upon. I also salute the chefs on the night of my dinner in accepting and making the best out of the training (and also for signing a copy of the menu for the night).

My ranking out of 5 stars: 3.5

15 Westland Place, N1 7LP

Reservation: (44) 870 787 1515

Website: http://www.fifteen.net/

A Glutton's Blog

2007-09-09T10:26:00.000+08:00

Food is something which we can't live without. Like they say, some live to eat and some eat to live. I guess I'm the former. Not only myself, but my wife, son and a group of colleagues and friends.

In my live to eat journey, I shall try and document, and hopefully deliver some good recommendations locally and overseas.

Thanks to my current job that I get to travel overseas quite often. I have been to some really good restaurants overseas and I shall try to "backdate" it and list them here.

Now, to start this blog off, my birthday is in about 2 weeks time and as I will be away on a business trip in Africa, my wife has decided to bring forward our traditional "Its your birthday, I'll buy you dinner" treat. This year's dinner was at this place called Jang Shou Korean Charcoal BBQ.

As the name suggests, its a korean bbq place (think Seoul Garden), but on a more classier and quality environment. No buffet spread here. All items are a-la-carte off the menu and the BBQ'ing is done by the waiting stuff.

We ordered 4 things. The beef ribs, the chicken, a sliced beef hotpot and bibimbab. To keep it short, there was only 2 things that I liked. The beef ribs (or correctly known as Galbi) is a "die-die-must-try". It was well seasoned and when barbequed to the correct consistency, it simply delivers the taste and melts in your mouth. My son asked for a second serving but we simply had too much on our table.

The next dish that was to my liking was the beef hotpot. Thinly sliced beef was introduced to a pot of boiling broth containing vegetables, mushrooms, etc. The ingredients fused with each other and the outcome was a tasty broth and tender beef slices.

I would recommend visiting this restaurant. Do not be too greedy when ordering. The beef rib is good for 2 adults (+ 1 child) and the beef hotpot is good for 3 or 4. In addition, a-la-carte bbq orders comes with abt 8 side dishes such as kimchi, seasoned pickles, macaroni salad, etc.

My ranking out of 5 stars: 3 (For the Galbi alone: 3.5 stars)

Jang Shou Korean BBQ
#01-13A/B Esplanade Mall
Tel 63378880