Top 10 best restaurants in Europe 2013

Compiled by popular food blog The Daily Meal, the list is an interesting departure from one of the best known restaurant rankings, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants: the dining destination ranked the best on the planet in that list, El Cellar de Can Roca, is ranked 11th on the Daily Meal’s European list.

Rounding out the top five restaurants are Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana in Italy; Taillevent in Paris, L’Arpege also in Paris and Noma in Copenhagen.

France and the UK tied, each boasting 23 addresses on the list: 15 of the French dining destinations can be found in Paris, 16 of the British restaurants in London.

Overall, 19 countries are represented, from Austria to Croatia, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia.

For the ranking, editors whittled down an initial list of 314 restaurants across 31 countries with the help of restaurant critics, food and lifestyle writers, industry professionals and the Michelin guide.

But editors weren’t “slaves” to the venerated Michelin guide or other rankings, omitting several starred restaurants and including more casual eateries off the beaten trail, like Fishy Fishy in Kinsale, Ireland and Da Fiore in Venice, for their “local character, ingredients and culinary traditions.”

The list also includes dining destinations in unexpected locales such as Fosa in the Croatian port of Zadar, The Yeatman in the Portuguese town of Vila Nova de Gaia.

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park London elevates traditional British classics into two Michelin-starred fare.

Main courses include an 18th century dish of spiced pigeon with ale and artichokes and a recipe of “chicken cooked with lettuces” taken from 1670, served with spiced celeriac sauce and oyster leaves.

Here are the top 10 restaurants in Europe according to The Daily Meal:

1. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (London)

2. Osteria Francescana (Modena, Italy)

3. Taillevent (Paris)

4. L’Arpège (Paris)

5. Noma (Copenhagen)

6. St. John Bar & Restaurant (London)

7. Le Grand Véfour (Paris)

8. Le Louis XV at Hôtel de Paris (Monte Carlo)

9. Arzak (San Sebastian, Spain)

10. The Fat Duck (Bray, Berkshire, UK)