France Ranks 1,000 Top Restaurants From Around the World

For those who were dissatisfied with the controversial World's 50 Best Restaurants list, France is offering an alternative. Time reports that France's Foreign Ministry for the first time has released La Liste, restaurant rankings for 1,000 top dining establishments around the world. Three Michelin-starred Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville in Crissier, Switzerland clinched the top spot on the list followed by Per Se in New York, and Tokyo's Kyo Aji in third place.

According to The New York Times, La Liste represents restaurants in 48 countries and features 101 U.S. establishments, 118 from France, and 126 from Japan, and 69 from China. The list was compiled using a computer algorithm, shrewdly named Ciacco after a gluttonous character from Dante's Inferno. The system analyzed data from 200 dining guides in 92 countries including Michelin and Zagat and also drew on information from sites like TripAdvisor and OpenTable. French food and wine historian Jean-Robert Pitte and German food writer Jörg Zipprick are among the experts who consulted on the €300,000 ($329,000 USD) project that judged restaurants based on a variety of criteria including food, ambiance, service, and wine and spirits selections. Eater has reached out to Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville for comment on its top ranking.

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La Liste won't be the last word on the world's top restaurants and is unlikely to have any significant impact on a group of already celebrated establishments. Still, there's plenty of room to debate the findings and compare them against the World's 50 Best, which largely ignores Africa, the Middle East, China, Japan, and India as well as woman chefs. Take a look at the top 10 restaurants on La Liste below:

1. Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville, Crissier, Switzerland

2. Per Se, New York

3. Kyo Aji, Tokyo

4. Guy Savoy, Paris

5. Schauenstein, Fürstenau, Switzerland

6. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain

7. Kyubey, Tokyo

8. La Maison Troisgros, Roanne, France

9. Auberge du Vieux Puits, Fontjoncouse, France

10. Joël Robuchon, Yebisu Garden Place, Japan