China's restaurants on rise

Japan and China have more of the world's best restaurants than anywhere else, according to the La Liste ranking, which will be published next week.

Although the French-based list will declare Guy Savoy's flagship Paris riverside restaurant the best in the world for the second year running - and French cooking dominates the top 100 - the big trend is the climb of Chinese haute cuisine.

"The rise and rise of China is the big story," said Jorg Zipprick, who crunched the numbers for the "guide of guides", which was set up as a "more scientific and reliable" rival three years ago to the British-based 50 Best Restaurants.

Japan still tops the country table with 138 restaurants in the top 1,000 of the French classification, which aggregates reviews from guides, newspapers and websites including TripAdvisor, but China is closing the gap fast with 123.

"Up to now China has been one of the most difficult countries to get data from," Zipprick told AFP, but a boom in local gastronomic guides has changed all that.

"Asia has a lot more restaurants than Europe and it is only logical that La Liste will reflect that," he added.

Tokyo institution Kyubey, whose sushi is renowned for being both "extraordinary and reasonably priced", took third spot after Le Bernardin, a New York fish restaurant run by Emmy award-winning US television chef Eric Ripert.

Two other restaurants in the Japanese capital made the top 20, the minuscule Kyo Aji and French chef Joel Robuchon's plush dining room in a reconstructed French chateau.

They were followed by the highest-placed Chinese restaurant, the Huai Yang Fu at Andingmen in Beijing, whose specialty is a roast pork dish adored by Chairman Mao.

While there is no dramatic change at the summit of the list, there were three newcomers to the top 10, including The French Laundry, a former saloon in California's Napa Valley. "Kitchen Confidential" author Anthony Bourdain has called it "the best restaurant in the world, period".

Afp