The Next Noma (Rest.)

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BY F&W Editors | POSTED MAY 2, 2012 AT 11:30AM EDT

Critics weigh in on which restaurant will join the famed Danish spot, and reigning number one restaurant in the world, Noma, on the pilgrimage circuit.

Benu, San Francisco (left)
The San Francisco Chronicle’s Michael Bauer praises Corey Lee’s breathtaking East meets West modernist cuisine (Lee makes a mock shark’s-fin soup using thin strands of hydrocolloids).

Attica, Australia
Melbourne’s Ben Shewry serves “emo” cuisine, built on personal memories and foraged foods. “It’s the best expression of Oz’s terroir,” says The Age’s Matt Preston.

Aponiente, Spain
Ángel León’s umami-packed risotto with plankton makes him “the René Redzepi of the sea,” says F&W correspondent Gisela Williams.

Fäviken Magasinet, Sweden
A modern primitive dining experience—aged meats hanging in the dining room, fried lichen on the plate. Time’s Lisa Abend calls Magnus Nilsson’s food “intensely perfect.”

Noma, Denmark (left)
“Noma’s the next Noma, isn’t it?” says the L.A. Times’s Jonathan Gold. “Redzepi is writing symphonies while everyone else is playing chopsticks.”