What is the Difference between the World's 50 Best Restaurants and the Michelin Guide?

Both have become benchmarks in terms of honouring culinary excellence in restaurants each year. Although there are several similarities between the Michelin Guide and the World's 50 Best Restaurants, there are also key differences that distinguish them: from their origins to their geographical scope and even the assessment made by the juries when selecting restaurants.

A Bit of History

This is a tradition that has been going on since 1900 and was born with a first edition to encourage drivers to travel. The acclaimed tyre brand Michelin found a way to reach out with useful information: instructions on how to change a tyre, maps, and recommendations for accommodation and restaurants. Its fame caught on and over the years, it became the guide we know today. Its most prestigious award is its popular star, which is given to restaurants that offer exceptional cuisine.

The 50 Best, on the other hand, is a bit younger; it all started in the UK in 2002. The British magazine Restaurant, the country's leading magazine for the restaurant business, decided to create a list featuring the best gastronomic spots around the world, based on the opinions of 150 food experts. The following year, once the team had been formed, they held the first announcement of the 50 best restaurants and that spirit of celebration and awarding prevails to this day.

Geographical Scope

One major difference between the two is that while the Michelin Guide mainly focuses on European countries, the 50 Best offers a more global approach, dividing the world into 27 regions and making room for the five continents. In this way, dishes from all corners of Oceania and South America also find their place in the ranking.

The big news? The Michelin Guide is coming to Argentina this year, becoming the first Spanish-speaking Latin American country to be awarded such honour. It had already set foot in Brazil in 2015, in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The award-winning restaurants will be announced on 24 November.

Assessment Process

The Voting System: Who votes?

The Michelin Guide voting process involves a group of prestigious inspectors, who anonymously visit the various restaurants and share their opinions after tasting. They visit the restaurants and act like any other customer: no one knows their identity and, in fact, they pay the bill as normal. Most of these inspectors were trained in the best hotel management schools in the world and have travelled the globe learning about the gastronomy and culture of different countries. Experience, therefore, is a key and crucial factor.

In the case of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, there is an Academy formed by 40 members from the 27 regions it covers. Every 10 years, these people are replaced. But who are the members of this Academy? Chefs, food journalists and expert diners in equal measure. Each member of the jury casts ten votes, five of which have to be for restaurants in regions other than their own. The total number of judges is 1040, and it is a requirement to have visited these restaurants in the last 18 months. In addition to this selection process, they also have an external audit carried out by Deloitte.

Which criteria are applied?

Five principles in the famous red bible guide every decision: the quality of the ingredients, the harmony of flavours, the technique used, the chef’s personality as expressed through his or her cuisine, and the consistency of each dish over time. Those that meet these requirements will be worthy of a Michelin star. There are two relevant facts about this: Firstly, the stars are awarded only based on the food on the plate; this means that the restaurant's decoration, attention, service, or formality are not taken into account: the food is the only basis for judgment. Secondly, the stars are awarded to restaurants and not to chefs: if a kitchen changes its hands, the star remains attached to the restaurant and not to the chef who earned it while he or she was working there. The 50 Best list follows a similar approach.

The main difference is that the votes of the Academy members at World's 50 Best Restaurants are not necessarily related to what they taste on the plate: they take into account other generic aspects of the restaurant apart from gastronomy, resulting in an all-inclusive vote. The jury can vote for places around the world no matter their fame, size, or cooking style. The announcement of the best restaurants on this list is made at a gala event, historically held in London, although in 2023 it was held in Valencia, Spain. They also give specific awards by region and for various individual categories, in addition to the usual selection of the top 50. Each year, they create a unique opportunity to bring together an amazing chefs' community from around the world.