The latest in a line of global culinary extravaganzas, the IMG-backed World Restaurant Awards launched with some predictability and a long road of challenges ahead
It was like a who’s who of the culinary world. At the party that was the World Restaurant Awards—which took place in Paris on February 18—in walked Virgilio Martínez, the Peruvian star chef behind Ichu Peru in H Queen’s and Central in Lima. He was swiftly followed by Mauro Colagreco from Mirazur on the Côte d’Azur and Kyle Connaughton from SingleThread in Sonoma— both recently awarded a third Michelin star for their respective restaurants—who melted into the throng knocking back cocktails.
If the parade of superstar chefs with multiple awards sounds predictable, then the World Restaurant Awards (WRA) in Paris turned that idea—at least partly—on its head.
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The latest in a line of global culinary extravaganzas seeking to mark a departure from Michelin and the 50 Best Restaurants series, WRA has set the tone by claiming to champion restaurants, chefs, cuisine and organisations otherwise at risk of being overlooked. It largely made for a compelling narrative, and served as a reminder that the world of food is far broader than tweezers and sous-vide machines. The key question, of course, is whether this new wave of culinary togetherness can be sustained in the longer term as the event grows, commercial imperatives intervene and it loses its initial shine as the new kid on the culinary block.
The night’s biggest prize, Restaurant of the Year, was won by Wolfgat, a tiny 20-seat restaurant in a remote fishing village two hours’ drive from Cape Town. Its victory neatly supported the awards’ mission to celebrate unsung places and people. The winner was so unsung, in fact, that many I spoke to in the room hadn’t heard of it, let alone eaten there.
Cynics could suggest that Wolfgat perfectly ticked all the boxes: it’s a restaurant in a country otherwise unheralded by global dining awards. Their cuisine represents the definition of hyper-local and seasonal. It boasts a majority female kitchen team—albeit with a male founder, chef Kobus van der Merwe, who accepted the award on the night.
The winner was so unsung, in fact, that many in the room hadn't heard of it, let alone eaten there
Looking genuinely like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights, he explained afterwards: “I’m a little bit speechless. We’re a small team, a total of six, we all do everything with no distinctions. There’s no kitchen hierarchy so it’s all about collaboration and learning from one another. I’m incredibly proud of them. They don’t come from any formal food background, so this achievement is all the more amazing.”
No one could begrudge him his moment in the sun, especially as a timely reminder of how food in Africa has indeed historically been so overlooked elsewhere.
Out of eighteen categories awarded on the night, winners represented ten countries across four continents. Despite the global spread, however, there were still murmurings. Vigilio Martinez told Eater that while he was glad there was one South American winner (Mocoto from Brazil in the No Reservations Required category), he felt overall that the awards were “too Eurocentric.” For real change to happen, he said, “it takes time.”
