The World's
Top 20 Chefs

Twenty people who define what a table can be today. Chosen by our editors for craft, influence and the courage to cook like nobody else, from Modena and Girona to Singapore and São Paulo.

01
Riviera French · Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Alain Ducasse
Le Louis XV
The most decorated chef alive, and the reference point for French haute cuisine.
02
New Nordic · Copenhagen, Denmark
René Redzepi
Noma
The chef who made the world look north and changed how fine dining thinks about place.
03
Modern Italian · Modena, Italy
Massimo Bottura
Osteria Francescana
Italy's memory, rewritten on the plate, twice named the best restaurant in the world.
04
Catalan · Girona, Spain
Joan Roca
El Celler de Can Roca
Technique in service of emotion, from the house the Roca brothers built.
05
Avant-garde · Roses, Spain
Ferran Adrià
elBulli (legacy)
The man who reinvented what a restaurant can be; every tasting menu owes him a debt.
06
Experimental British · Bray, United Kingdom
Heston Blumenthal
The Fat Duck
Science, memory and theatre, the chef who made dinner a story.
07
Modern European · London, United Kingdom
Gordon Ramsay
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Three stars held for over two decades, and a global empire built on standards.
08
Modern French · Paris, France
Pierre Gagnaire
Pierre Gagnaire
The poet of French cuisine, still composing at the highest level.
09
Modern French sauces · Paris, France
Yannick Alléno
Pavillon Ledoyen
The sauce master who turned a Paris pavilion into a constellation of stars.
10
French aromatic · Valence, France
Anne-Sophie Pic
Maison Pic
Three generations of stars, and the most decorated female chef in the world.
11
Poetic Californian · San Francisco, United States
Dominique Crenn
Atelier Crenn
The first woman in America to earn three Michelin stars; dinner written as poetry.
12
Modern British · London, United Kingdom
Clare Smyth
Core by Clare Smyth
From Ramsay's kitchen to three stars of her own, British produce at its most refined.
13
Nordic Japanese · Stockholm, Sweden
Björn Frantzén
Frantzén
The only chef with three-star restaurants on three continents.
14
Modern French · Singapore, Singapore
Julien Royer
Odette
Asia's most celebrated table, named for his grandmother, run on grace.
15
Farm-to-table · Pocantico Hills, United States
Dan Barber
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
The chef who made the farm the menu and changed how America eats.
16
Progressive American · Chicago, United States
Grant Achatz
Alinea
America's great culinary innovator; dinner as art, emotion and surprise.
17
Spanish American · Washington D.C., United States
José Andrés
minibar
A chef who feeds the world, from two-star tasting counters to disaster zones.
18
Brazilian Amazonian · São Paulo, Brazil
Alex Atala
D.O.M.
The chef who put the Amazon on the world's plate.
19
Japanese Peruvian · Worldwide, Japan
Nobu Matsuhisa
Nobu
One name, fifty restaurants, and a style of Japanese cooking the whole world knows.
20
Californian · Beverly Hills, United States
Wolfgang Puck
Spago
The original celebrity chef, still defining how America dines out.