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El Bulli has lost the top spot to Noma, a Nordic restaurant in Copenhagen which won the number one spot in S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2010.

Danish restaurant Noma, which was number three last year, has removed the Spain’s El Bulli from the first place of the Best Restaurants list. El Bulli, which, until last year, had occupied the top slot for four consecutive years, is now on second place, pushing last year’s number two restaurant, The Fat Duck, down to third place.

The restaurant in Copenhagen, run by head chef Rene Redzepi,first appeared in the list in 2006 at 33rd position and became one of the most talked-about restaurants in the list last year after jumping up to third place.

Ferran Adria, who did not get the top place this year, was , however, called up to the stage to receive a special award: Chef of the Decade. He said: “I feel very, very emotional. Today’s a very special day, because it’s the last time I’ll get a prize from the gastro world. El Bulli will never be a restaurant again, but don’t think I’m going to leave you. Thus the great chef once again officially confirmed that the iconic Ell Bully will be closed for good.

Few other restaurants picked up special awards on the night :

Best in World and Europe: Noma
Best in North America: Alinea
Best in South America: D.O.M
Best in Africa: La Colombe
Best in Asia: Les Créations de Narisawa
Best in Australasia: Quay
Highest climber: Daniel, USA
Highest new entry:Schloss Schauenstein, Switzerland

I’m delighted that Japan, with two restaurants, makes a showing, though it is still grossly under-represented. I also like the fact that Chateaubriand is the highest ranked French restaurant, voted ahead of all the over-gilded gastro-palaces, it feels like a breath of fresh air. It is a low key bistro, with apparently fabulous food (I’ve never been) and when the food is what matters more than the decor then that has to be a good thing.

The S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2010:

Rank	Change	Restaurant	Region	Awards
1	Up 2	Noma	Denmark	The S.Pellegrino Best Restaurant in the World, The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in Europe
2	Down 1	El Bulli	Spain	Restaurant Magazine Chef of the Decade
3	Down 1	The Fat Duck	UK	The Chef’s Choice sponsored by Electrolux
4	Up 1	El Celler de Can Roca	Spain
5	Down 1	Mugaritz	Spain
6	Up 7	Osteria Francescana	Italy
7	Up 3	Alinea	USA	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In N.America
8	Up 33	Daniel	USA	The Highest Climber sponsored by Cocoa Barry
9	Down 1	Arzak	Spain
10	Down 4	Per Se	USA
11	Up 29	Le Chateaubriand	France
12	Up 26	La Colombe	South Africa	The Acqua Panna Best Restautant in South Africa
13	Down 4	Pierre Gagnaire	France
14	Up 2	L’Hotel de Ville – PhilippeRochat	Switzerland
15	—	Le Bernardin	USA
16	Down 5	L’Astrance	France
17	up 9	Hof Van Cleve	Belgium
18	Up 6	D.O.M.	Brazil	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in South America
19	Up 10	Oud Sluis	Holland
20	Up 29	Le Calendre	Italy
21	Up 9	Steirereck	Austria
22	Up 3	Vendome	Germany
23	Down 2	Chef Dominique	Finland
24	Down 4	Les Creations de Narisawa	Japan	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in Asia
25	Up 25	Mathias Dahlgren	Sweden
26	Up 5	Momofuku Ssam Bar	USA
27	Up 19	Quay	Australia	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in Australasia
28	Up 17	Iggy’s	Singapore
29	Down 11	L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon	France
30	New Entry	Schloss Schauenstein	Switzerland
31	6	Le Quartier Francais	South Africa
32	Down 20	The French Laundry	USA
33	Down 4	Martin Berasategui	Spain
34	New Entry	Aqua	UK
35	Up 7	Combal Zero	Italy
36	Up 12	Dal Pescatore	Italy
37	New Entry	De Librije	Netherlands
38	21	Tetsuya’s	Australia
39	New Entry	Jaan Par Andre	Singapore
40	New Entry	Il Canto	Italy
41	Re-Entry	Alain Ducasse Au Plaza Athenee	France
42	Down 10	Oaxen Krog	Sweden
43	Down 29	St John	UK
44	Re-Entry	La Maison Troisgros	France
45	New Entry	wd~50	USA
46	New Entry	Biko	Mexico
47	Down 24	Die Schwarzwaldstube	Germany
48	New Entry	Nihonryori RyuGin	Japan
49	New Entry	Hibiscus	UK
50	New Entry	Eleven Madison Park	USA