SPAIN is set to host the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards – considered the 'Oscars' of the culinary and catering industry – for the first time ever.
Next year will see the Basque city of Bilbao welcoming representatives from top eateries all over the planet – and some of the best in Spain will be there, too.
Six Spanish restaurants will collect awards – El Celler de Can Roca, in the province of Girona; four from the Basque Country, Arzak (San Sebastian), the pictured Azurmendi (Larrabetzu, Vizcaya province), Asador Etxebarri (Atxondo, Vizcaya province), and Mugaritz (Rentería, Guipúzcoa province); plus Tickets, in Barcelona.
Past awards ceremonies have been held in London, New York and Melbourne (Australia), but this time, a region home to some of the best-rated restaurants in Spain will get the honour for 2018.
In fact, El Celler de Can Roca, along with El Bulli, have both taken the top prize in the World's 50 Best Restaurants in past years.
The news of Spain's playing host was first announced at Basque chef Eneko Atxa's London restaurant, Eneko at One Aldwych, and editor of the World's 50 Best Restaurants Group William Drew says he is 'delighted' that the northern Spanish region, with its 'unbelievably delicious cuisine' and in a country that has 'always been at the cutting edge' of the culinary industry will be the venue for the 2018 awards.
Drew waxed lyrical about the pintxos bars in Bilbao and San Sebastián – pintxos being tapas on cocktail sticks, which are then counted up at the end and the customer charged per stick – and calls both Basque cities 'some of the best foodie destinations in the world'.
The announcement at Eneko at One Aldwych was made in the presence of chefs who run some of the most famous restaurants on the awards list, including Brett Graham, Isaac McHale, and Atxa's fellow Basque, Elena Arzak.
