French Michelin-starred Chef Alain Passard has already been bestowed the Lifetime Achievement award by the organizers of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, and, this time, the vege-centric chef has scored another accolade by being ranked the best restaurant in Europe for the list by Opinionated About Dining (OAD). OAD is the handiwork of food blogger Steve Plotnicki, drawing from an international community of critics and tallying their scores together. France remains the dominant country (as it is on most lists, with the notable exception of 50 Best), with 48 restaurants, while UK and Italy stand close behind at 28 and 27 respectively.
Arpège Interior
Passard is notable for switching his focus to vegetables, despite a background as a top-tier roast chef. This was largely because of Mad Cow disease originally but it has continued to current times. He is also known today for sourcing his ingredients from organic gardens, ensuring the highest quality meals reach the table. “Ingredients of a quality so high they make your head feel like exploding are cooked with the greatest care and respect in this restaurant known for fostering the vegetable-oriented, minimalist cuisine movement,” says the review for the restaurant on OAD.
Strawberries and onions at Arpège
Arpège jumps in front of a few other notable restaurants on the list, including the famous Danish restaurant Noma (ranked at 5). Rene Redzepi from Noma was one of the chefs inspired by Passard’s vegetarian stance to create his own vegetarian menu for his restaurant. Ranking in second and third place are Spanish restaurant Azurmendi, known for using technologies such as ultrasound in their cuisine, as well as Belgium restaurant In De Wulf, specializing in organic and natural Flemish cuisine (chef Kobe Desramaults was also inspired by Passard).
If you want to see the full list, you can check it out at OAD’s website over here.
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