Between the flurry of congratulations to Rene Redzepi for his third consecutive win as the best restaurant in the world, tweeps and other online followers took to the web Monday night to express a mix of disappointment, enthusiasm, and skepticism.
As news spread Monday night that Noma had pulled off a hat trick at the World’s 50 Best Restaurant awards in London, chef friends took to Twitter to offer Redzepi their support.
Celebrity TV chefs like Marcus Samuelsson, Tom Colicchio and Daniel Patterson of Coi in San Francisco sent Redzepi instant congratulatory messages from the US.
“Congrats @ReneRedzepiNoma! Well deserved!” tweeted Samuelsson.
Meanwhile, at its peak, the livestreaming of the event from Guildhall attracted an online YouTube audience of about 5,240 hits.
Despite the general consensus on the top winner, however, tweeps took to Twitter to lament the conspicuous absence or oversight of their favorite restaurants and countries.
Wrote one disappointed Canadian restaurant critic: "So not one Canadian restaurant in the #worlds50best list this year. Hear that sound? It's a bunch of chefs throwing in the collective towel."
This year’s edition of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants also disappointed South Africans, who lamented the fact that no South African restaurant was able to crack the top 50, while other foodie fans criticized the list for ‘underrating’ their favorite eateries.
And in a tweet that expressed skepticism at the legitimacy of the final results, another Australian restaurant critic wrote, “So Sweden's Faviken debuts at 34 in #worlds50best. No doubt deserved, but at 12 seats for 800 voters, think it's time to see receipts.”
As for the chef du jour, @ReneRedzepiNoma wrote of his win, “Holy s***...We won.”
