Asador Etxebarri Is the World's Best Restaurant for 2026: a Basque Farmhouse, Grills the Chef Designed Himself and a 300-Euro Menu

At the awards ceremony in Lima on Wednesday, November 4, The World's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2026 got a new winner: Asador Etxebarri, a restaurant in the village of Axpe, in the Atxondo valley in the Basque province of Biscay. After finishing second in 2024 and 2025 and spending more than a decade in the top ten, it takes over from last year's winner, Peru's Maido.

The restaurant is housed in an 18th-century farmhouse at the foot of Mount Anboto. Chef Bittor Arginzoniz is self-taught. His philosophy is almost cheekily simple: top-quality produce, fire and flavour that nothing gets to cover up. One sentence sums up his approach best: haute cuisine "doesn't need big tricks".

Simple doesn't mean easy. Arginzoniz designed the grills and utensils himself, so he can control the heat and cooking time with precision. He uses a different type of wood for each ingredient. Fish, shellfish, meat, vegetables and even some desserts are cooked over the embers. Signature dishes include red prawn from Palamós, aged beef chop, egg yolk with truffle and reduced-milk ice cream.

The price matches the title. The tasting menu costs 300 euros per person including VAT, drinks not included, and there's also an à la carte option. Reservations are requested through the website, confirmed depending on availability and paid in advance. The restaurant is open for lunch only and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Also on the podium are Gaggan in Bangkok and Alchemist in Copenhagen. Spain also has Dabiz Muñoz's DiverXO in Madrid in ninth place, Albert Adrià's Enigma in Barcelona at 29 and Elkano in Getaria at 33. Bangkok has five restaurants in the fifty. The Balkans have none.

Anyone who's had spit-roast lamb in a Balkan village has known this rule for centuries: good produce, embers and patience. Arginzoniz just took it all the way to number one in the world. How far is it from here to a Balkan grill on that list - and is anyone even trying?