The annual Le Chef list of the 100 best chefs in The World has been released with Alain Passard and his L’Arpege restaurant in Paris, France, coming out on top.
Martin Berasategui is in second and Pierre Gagnaire is in third. Five of the top 10 on the list are French, which is is created by asking two and three-starred Michelin starred chefs to provide a list of five names they think best represent the cooking profession and which one they would like to see at the top of the list.
In 2016 we noted there wasn’t one Latin American chef listed, this has been rectified, kind of, with the inclusion of Virgilio Martinez and Gaston Acurio.
Le Chef launched the list in 2015 with Paul Bocuse taking the top spot. The results have come under criticism for being largely dominated by French names and for the fact that no one knows exactly who the over 500 Michelin-starred chef voters actually are, or where in the world they are from.
35 chefs on the list are based in France, by far the highest count, with 12 based in Japan and eight in the US. Below is the full list of the 100 best chefs in the world.
Best chefs in the world - top 10
1. Alain Passard - L’Arpège (Paris, France)
2. Martin Berasategui - Restaurant Martin Berasategui (Lasarte Oria, Espagne)
3. Pierre Gagnaire - Restaurant Pierre Gagnaire (Paris, France)
4. Michel Bras - Le Suquet (Laguiole, France)
5. Seiji Yamamoto - Nihonryori Ryugin (Tokyo, Japan)
6. Éric Frechon - Épicure (Paris, France)
7. Jonnie Boer – De Librije (Zwolle, Pays-Bas)
8. René Redzepi - Noma (Copenhagen, Denmark)
9. Emmanuel Renaut - Flocons de Sel (Megève, France)
10. Joan Roca - El Celler de Can Roca (Girona, Espagne)
