Tl;dr – World’s 50 Best Restaurants released the back half of its 2025 list. The complete list will be released on June 19, 2025.
Last week, the World’s 50 Best dropped half of its World’s 50 Best Restaurants List for 2025, revealing the eateries that ranked 51-100.
Perusing the list, I counted three restaurants that I’ve eaten at – Leo (Bogota), Clove Club (London), and Evvai (Brazil). Given the occasion, I’ll do a brief little retrospective on each.
For what it’s worth, I don’t put too much stake as to whether the restaurants on the list are truly the ‘best in the world’ or the methodology behind the list. Instead, I find the list helpful in identifying spots that ‘might be worth checking out.’
Case in point: back in 2018, Mrs. Blackbeard and I took what was probably the best food trip I’ve ever taken, and it’s definitely in the top 5 of all the trips I’ve taken. We took (what I’ve coined) the ‘B-to-B’ Michelin tour, a two-week Michelin tour from Barcelona to Bilbao (Basque Country), focusing on exploring as many 2- and 3-starred Michelin restaurants as possible. (Full archive review of that trip coming soon!) Collectively, those regions of Spain are known for having the highest concentration of such restaurants in the World. The second meal we had on that trip? Disfrutar – which had just made its debut on the list at #18.
Disfrutar, of course, would go on to claim the #1 ranking in 2024. To date, Disfrutar still stands as my favorite coursed-menu-fine-dining-Michelin-style meal I’ve ever sat down for, and I’ve enjoyed quite a few. The point is, I probably wouldn’t have known about Disfrutar early on if I hadn’t perused the list before the trip. Reservations for Disfrutar were a breeze to make back then. Now? Not so much.
Leo
Leo is another one of the most enjoyable Michelin-style meals I’ve had. From acclaimed Colombian chef Leo Espinosa and daughter-business partner-beverage-director Laura Hernández Espinosa, ‘Leo’ is a gastronomic journey through indigenous and afro-Colombian foods, driven by chef Espinosa’s signature ‘Ciclo-bioma’ style. Here are a few photos from our meal back in November 2022.
Clove Club
I ate at Clove Club way back in 2017 during an ‘on a whim’ trip to London. I enjoyed this meal. This meal was a celebratory one, as it was after Mrs. Blackbeard and I had gotten engaged. Another solid affair here. The food was great and I remember the service being particularly on point.
Evvai
Not my favorite. I won’t keep writing about this one so as not to relive the taste of the sub-par dining experience again. Instead, you can peep my review for Evvai here.
The rest of the list drops this coming week, and I’ll circle back when it does!
