The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022: Copenhagen’s Geranium tops list - but only two London spots make cut

No UK restaurants outside of the capital were featured in this year’s selection
Winner winner fancy dinner: Geranium in Copenhagen
Claes Bech Poulsen
Ben McCormack19 July 2022

A meat-free Copenhagen restaurant on the eighth floor of Denmark’s National Football Stadium was last night named as the world’s number one place to eat.

Geranium topped the list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants held at Old Billingsgate in the City of London. The glitzy awards ceremony was attended by the crème de la crème of global gastronomy and hosted by Stanley Tucci, an actor who is now as famous for his taste in food and drink as his discernment in choosing Hollywood roles.

“Food is a connector, uniting people from different continents, sharing tradition, culture and creativity,” Geranium’s chef and co-owner Rasmus Kofoed said when the number one was announced. “I feel so damn grateful to be a part of that.”

The Geranium team celebrate their victory in London
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants

The 50 Best list, which is voted on by 1,080 independent experts, was founded in London in 2002 but only two restaurants in the capital made this year’s list. The UK’s highest entry, down two places at number 35, is The Clove Club, opened by Scottish chef Isaac McHale in Shoreditch in 2013.

“The 50 Best list is as flawed and as good as any other list that is out there,” McHale told the Standard. “People now come to see me at The Clove Club from all over the world. I’ve gone from looking up to my heroes to them becoming my peers, mentors and friends.”

The UK’s other representative on the list is Ikoyi in St James’, last year named as the 50 Best ‘One to Watch’ and now number 49. “It’s been an intense year,” chef and co-founder Jeremy Chan said. “We got our second Michelin star and now we have this. We’re working in a tiny, boiling-hot, dilapidated kitchen, with a broken hob and a dishwasher that is constantly out of use. To appear on the 50 Best list at this most gruelling time feels like the hard work has paid off, especially when the ceremony is held in my home city.”

Who knows whether either restaurant will make the list in 2023, but there is one thing we can predict with confidence: Geranium is now this year’s hardest to book restaurant.

The full list is below:

  1. Geranium - Copenhagen
  2. Central - Lima
  3. Disfrutar - Barcelona
  4. Diverxo - Madrid
  5. Pujol - Mexico City
  6. Asador Etxebarri - Atxondo
  7. A Casa do Porco - São Paulo
  8. Lido 84 - Gardone Riviera
  9. Quintonil - Mexico City
  10. Le Calandre - Rubano
  11. Maido - Lima
  12. Uliassi - Senigallia
  13. Steirereck - Vienna
  14. Don Julio - Buenos Aires
  15. Reale - Castel di Sangro
  16. Elkano - Getaria
  17. Nobelhart & Schmutzig - Berlin
  18. Alchemist - Copenhagen
  19. Piazza Duomo - Alba
  20. Den - Tokyo
  21. Mugaritz - San Sebastian
  22. Septime - Paris
  23. The Jane - Antwerp
  24. The Chairman - Hong Kong
  25. Frantzén - Stockholm
  26. Restaurant Tim Raue - Berlin
  27. Hof Van Cleve - Kruishoutem
  28. Le Clarence - Paris
  29. St. Hubertus - San Cassiano
  30. Florilège - Tokyo
  31. Arpège - Paris
  32. Mayta - Lima
  33. Atomix - New York
  34. Hiša Franko - Kobarid
  35. The Clove Club - London
  36. Odette - Singapore
  37. Fyn - Cape Town
  38. Jordnær - Copenhagen
  39. Sorn - Bangkok
  40. Schloss Schauenstein - Fürstenau
  41. La Cime - Osaka
  42. Quique Dacosta - Dénia
  43. Boragó - Santiago
  44. Le Bernardin - New York
  45. Narisawa - Tokyo
  46. Belcanto - Lisbon
  47. Oteque - Rio de Janeiro
  48. Leo - Bogotá
  49. Ikoyi - London
  50. SingleThread - Healdsburg

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