Basque restaurants Mugaritz and Arzak still among world's 10 best

The prestigious UK magazine Restaurant, dedicated to subjects of gastronomy, announced its official list of the world''s best 50 restaurants at an event celebrated at the historic Guildhall in London.''''El Bulli'' restaurant in Catalonia, run by world-class chef Ferran Adrià, 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. The Danish chef was recently invited to Vitoria''s Congress of Fusion Cuisine but was unable to attend due to the volcanic ash cloud. His restaurant ''Noma'' now officially becomes 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.

Ferran Adrià, meanwhile, has said he is ''really happy'' with second place and has stepped down from the competition: "This is very emotional for me because this is the last edition of the (San Pellegrino) in which I will compete now that El Bulli is no longer going to be a restaurant." (El Bulli will now function as a foundation dedicated to culinary investigation). The new number one, ''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.

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. But the Mugaritz team are happy with its place in the rankings: Chef Aduriz joking recalled during the prize-giving that, following the fire that broke out at the restaurant, they were now ''the most important restaurant without a kitchen in the world''. Juan Mari Arzak, meanwhile, appeared ''indignant'' about the relegation of the former number one but delighted with his own ninth position.

Also in the list, the restaurant ''El Cellar de Can Roca'', run by the Roca brothers and situated not far from El Bulli, rose to fourth position this year, where Mugaritz was previously placed.

Parisian establishment Le Chateaubriand run by Basque chef Iñaki Azipitarte rose 29 places to 11th position, while 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.