A Guide To The World's Best Fine Dining Restaurants

The French People's Love Of Fine Cuisine
All civilizations are not created equal, and so too, are cuisines. The French have had many factors that led to their supremacy in fine dining. These factors include extravagant kings who were unleashed from money constraints and could indulge every whim and develop their fine cuisine and many other arts. The king's excess gave way to the people of France embracing this attitude and passion as best they could. This led to multi-course dinners using the superior ingredients that France had to offer. A high level of creativity also resulted from a significant scarcity of ingredients caused by numerous wars and civil upheavals of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Culinary Giants
Almost all significant dates for fine dining history were established by French chefs and authors (see 'Historical Milestones' section)

Invented Cooking Techniques and Styles
These include mise en place, saute, braise, confit and flambe. Haute or high cuisine began in the mid-19th century when Chef Auguste Escoffier started it. It emphasized smaller portions and more elegant presentations in multiple courses. Nouvelle, or new cuisine, started becoming popular in the 1970s in France that emphasized progressive and lighter offerings.

Superior Ingredients  
Another area of French cuisine that differentiates it from others is the use of high-quality ingredients. This is because they enjoy an ideal geographic location for some of the world's best ingredients, including wines, cheeses, butter, breads, mustards, oils, herbs, truffles, and fish.

More Complex Dishes
The menu of a French-style 3-star shows more daring and skillfulness than the many inflexible and repetitive sushi dishes of a Japanese 3-star. Danish and Scandanavian restaurants have a lot of 'easier to prepare' cold food dishes that the WorldsTop50 list and others have overly hyped. But, again, the level of skill necessary to execute these dishes is typically below their French counterparts.

Elevating the Interior Design & Tabletop
The French also understood the importance of the 'whole' dining experience early on, including going to great lengths for the interior setting and tabletop. It was a natural progression from some of the most famous furniture and interiors in western history by the extravagant 'Louis' kings and their architects and designers to fine dining restaurants. Baccarat crystal, Christofle silver, and Limoge china from France helped lead the way for some of the most elegant table 'accoutrements ' in the world. (see the King's private table at the Palace of Versailles below)