Delta, Spondi, Etrusco, and Varoulko Seaside put Greek gastronomy on the same map as Paris, Tokyo, and New York
La Liste, the French ranking created as a “response” to the World’s 50 Best, has revealed this year’s Golden 1000. For the 10th anniversary edition, ten restaurants from nine countries share the top spot with an almost perfect score of 99.5/100 – from Guy Savoy in Paris and Le Bernardin in New York, to Lung King Heen in Hong Kong, Matsukawa in Tokyo, Mart?n Berasategui in Spain, and Da Vittorio in Italy. The top ten are completed by Schwarzwaldstube (Baiersbronn, Germany), Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl (Basel, Switzerland), SingleThread (Healdsburg, USA), and Robuchon au D?me (Macau, China).
What this year’s top ten shows
The fact that ten restaurants from nine countries share the same, almost perfect score is perhaps the most interesting message: the “aristocracy” of fine dining remains, but it is no longer monopolized by a few countries. France maintains a strong position, Japan and China are consistently at the forefront in terms of number of restaurants, while the USA, Spain, and Italy complete the mosaic of gastronomically strong countries.
La Liste speaks of a “global distribution of excellence” and a “new international balance of taste.” Behind the words, one can see a shift toward cuisines deeply connected to place, working with local products and telling terroir-driven stories—even when served in the most upscale settings.
The Greek presence: four restaurants, one narrative
Within this Golden 1000, Greece appears with four names: Delta, Spondi, Etrusco, and Varoulko Seaside. All have undergone La Liste’s evaluation process, confirming that Greek restaurants can stand on the same map as gastronomic temples in Paris, New York, or Tokyo.
Delta – already awarded by La Liste as “Best Restaurant in Greece” in the 10th anniversary edition, with a score of 86 – represents the new generation of Greek haute cuisine: sustainable philosophy, thematic menus, Greek terroir interpreted in a futuristic way.
Spondi, with over two decades of history and a La Liste score of 84.75, is perhaps the most “classic” Greek name on the global map, a school of French technique in Athens.
Etrusco in Corfu (included for the first time) and Varoulko Seaside in Piraeus complete the puzzle: Corfiot creativity on one hand, and refined seafood cuisine on the other.
Together, the four restaurants tell an interesting story: Greek gastronomy is no longer just “Greek salad and moussaka” for foreign guides, but a field where avant-garde tasting menus, classic fine dining, island cuisine, and creative seafood coexist.
From the Golden 1000 to the Greek taste map
This year’s La Liste shows that Greece has already entered the frame of international haute cuisine, and that the potential for growth is enormous. If the next decade sees more restaurants in Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, the Peloponnese, and the islands working consistently with origin-based products and solid storytelling, then the Golden 1000 could become a mirror reflecting not just a few isolated addresses, but the entire gastronomic wealth of the country.
What La Liste really is
La Liste is not just another ranking; it is an algorithm. It collects data from over 700 guides, culinary media, and review platforms (from Michelin and Gault & Millau to TripAdvisor and Yelp) and “condenses” them into a score from 80 to 100. The closer to 100, the more stable and timeless the recognition of the restaurant, not only from critics but also from the public. This explains why the top of the list today appears more eclectic: excellent restaurants are no longer only in Paris or Tuscany, but are shared across Europe, Asia, and the USA.
All restaurants on the official website: https://www.laliste.com/
