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The 50 Best Restaurants 2026: Asador Etxebarri Is Number One

Asador Etxebarri, Bittor Arguinzoniz’s grill in Axpe, is the best restaurant in the world in the 2026 ranking announced in Lima. Bangkok places five restaurants in the top 50, more than any other city.

Eva Winterer

Asador Etxebarri, the wood-fired grill of Bittor Arguinzoniz in Axpe, in the Basque valley of Atxondo, has been named the best restaurant in the world. The 2026 ranking, now published as The 50 Best Restaurants, was announced at the Teatro Municipal de Lima on 4 November, the first global ceremony held in South America. Etxebarri first entered the list in 2008 and finished second in 2024 and 2025, behind Disfrutar and Maido, which the rule for former winners now keeps off the list.

● In brief

The chef. Arguinzoniz, 66, opened Etxebarri in 1990 in a stone house on the village square. He is self-taught, builds his own grills and cooks over oak embers rather than charcoal, for a dining room of eight tables. He accepted the award on stage in Lima and dedicated it to “our mothers and grandmothers, great cooks” who handed down what he knows.

Asia. Gaggan in Bangkok is second, the highest place an Asian restaurant has reached. Bangkok has five restaurants in the top 50: Gaggan, Sorn, Sühring, Nusara and Potong. Ru Yuan in Hangzhou and Meet the Bund in Shanghai bring mainland China back to the list, while Japan has none in the top 50.

Europe and the Americas. Alchemist in Copenhagen is third and Quintonil in Mexico City fourth. Europe holds 21 places, against 27 a decade ago, and the United States one, Atomix in New York.

New names. Tuju in São Paulo is the highest new entry at 16 and wins the Art of Hospitality award. Naar, in Kasauli in the Indian Himalayas, enters at 49 with the Sustainable Restaurant award.

The stone house of Asador Etxebarri at the end of the village road in Axpe, below the limestone peaks of the Atxondo valley; Asador Etxebarri tops The 50 Best Restaurants 2026
Asador Etxebarri stands at the end of the road into Axpe, below the peaks of the Atxondo valley. Courtesy of The 50 Best Restaurants

● Why it matters

The winning kitchen works with fire, a short list of ingredients and eight tables, and its chef has cooked for 36 years in the village where he was born. It is close to what slow hospitality means at the table. In New York, Daniel Humm has opened HUMM, where an open kitchen and a monumental wood-fired oven give the room its structure.

The ranking itself is changing. William Reed renamed the brand The 50 in September and gathered its restaurant, bar and hotel lists under one name. Lima replaced Abu Dhabi as host in July, and the organisers gave no reason. Critics, among them the Slovenian chef Ana Roš, argue that visibility through events and press trips weighs too heavily in an anonymous vote.

The next verdict is regional. Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants follows on 1 December in Guadalajara, where Lima, Mexico City and São Paulo compete again.

Sources

  • The 50 Best Restaurants, Asador Etxebarri named The World’s Best Restaurant 2026: the50.com
  • The 50 Best Restaurants, announcement of Lima as host city, July 2026: the50.com
  • PR Newswire, The 50 Best Restaurants 2026 list release: prnewswire.com
  • El Español, Bittor Arginzoniz in Lima: elespanol.com
  • The Objective, Asador Etxebarri: theobjective.com