Last night in London, El Celler De Can Roca in Girona, northern Spain, was named The World's Best Restaurant at the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards. These prestigious awards  take place annually and feature some of the planet’s biggest names in cooking. The whole world, divided into sections, is scoured and searched by an Academy of designated professional food writers, critics, chefs and restrauteurs, who vote to distill their dining experiences  into a list of just fifty establishments worthy of being included in the global top fifty.  This year,  the brothers Roca – Joan, Josep and Jordi, have taken the top slot, with  their much acclaimed Spanish dining room based on the foods of their childhood and the dishes served by their parents at the original family business, Bar Restaurant Can Roca, just outside  Girona. The El Cellar de Can Roca website describes how the boys grew up amid the busy workings of the restaurant kitchen, played there, did their homework, watched tv, while their mother cooked fragrant traditional Catalan dishes for the restaurant menu. What an idyllic vision we now have of the formative years of these three brothers, living in an environment where great food and culinary magic seeped through their pores by osmosis on a daily basis, subliminally creating the three Head Chefs of the World’s Best Restaurant 2015,(also the winner in 2013), and the possessors of three Michelin stars. (One may conclude three stars is only fair – there had to be one each.)

In second place, comes Osteria Francescana, in Modena, Italy, (the home of Balsamic Vinegar) with Head Chef Massimo Bottura at the helm.  Reni Redzepi’s Scandianvian restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, (last year's winner) took third place. From here, the remaining top ten spots were awarded to restaurants in Lima Peru,New York, San Sebastian in Spain,  London, Tokyo, Sao Paulo,and Bangkok. No French restaurants in the top ten. And sadly, no Irish ones in the whole top fifty. Why? Do the judges think Ireland does not have the quality or prestige to be on the same level with these international contenders?  We think it does  – but then we may be biased. Which is your favourite from the top fity world’s best in the list on the link above – the one you would most like to visit if you have not done so already? Do you agree with the judges on their winning choices? To our diligent chefs at home, we say keep up the good work already being done – and better luck next year.  Which of our Good Food Ireland restaurants would you have liked to see featured in this momentous line up?