El Bulli knocked off world's best restaurant top spot

''El Bulli'' restaurant in Catalonia, run by world-class chef Ferran Adrià, has lost its position as official world number one, being replaced at the top by the restaurant ''Noma'' located in the Danish capital Copenhagen under the direction of Adrià disciple Rene Redzepi. ''Noma'' has now officially become the latest restaurant to be awarded the San Pellegrino prize by the British magazine Restaurant, which annually draws up a list of the fifty most outstanding restaurants on the planet.

The establishment in Copenhagen, which values and promotes Nordic cooking with home-grown products, heads this year''s list ahead of the famous Catalonian restaurant, winner of the last four accolades as well as fifth on a previous occasion in 2002, the year in which ''Noma'' first opened.

Also in the list, the Basque Country''s Mugaritz, under chef Andoni Luis Aduriz, gained fifth place, one down from last year, while Arzak maintains its ninth position.

Meanwhile, the restaurant ''El Cellar de Can Roca'', run by the Roca brothers and situated not far from ''El Bulli'', rose to fourth place this year.

One more Basque chef, Martín Berasategi also remains in the top 50, specifically in 33rd position, the same as last year. No more Basque restaurants feature in the latest top 50, although the chefs of Mexican restaurant ''Biko'', in position 46, are Basques Bruno Oteiza and Mikel Alonso, who trained at the culinary college owned by Arzak.

Now fallen from the top 50, Bittor Arguigóniz (''Etxebarri''), dropped from 39 to 61; Basque chef Pedro Subijana of Akelarre, meanwhile, remains in the top 100 in 63rd place.

''Noma'' favours a ''naturalist'' approach to cooking, which has a lot in common with the styles of cuisine developed by Michael Bras and the Basque Country''s own Aduriz.

The new San Pellegrino top 10 as it now stands:

1. Noma, run by René Redzepi, in Copenhagen (Denmark).

2. El Bulli, run by Ferran Adrià, in Rosas, Girona.

3. The Fat Duck, run by Heston Blumenthal, in Bray (Berkshire, England).

4. El Celler de Can Roca run by Joan, Jordi and Josep Roca, in Girona.

5. Mugaritz, run by Andoni Luis Aduriz, in Errenteria, Gipuzkoa.

6. La francescana, run by Massimo Bottura, in Modena (Italia).

7. Alinea, run by Grant Achatz, in Chicago (USA.).

8. Daniel''s, run by Daniel Boulud, in New York (USA.).

9. Arzak, run by Juan Mari Arzak, in Donostia-San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa.

10. Per Se, run by Thomas Keller, in New York (USA.).