Britain tops culinary league

It is a frequent boast that London is the restaurant capital of the world. But today it has been shown without a doubt to be true.

According to a panel of international experts more than one in five of the best restaurants in the world are in London.

The jury of more than 500 chefs, critics and journalists voted for the 50 best restaurants in the world - and chose 11 from London.

That is an increase of two on last year - even though this year's panel includes far more restaurateurs from abroad. Fourteen British restaurants made the top 50, an increase of one on last year.

To underline the capital's supremacy in the world's gastronomic rankings, one London restaurateur even has two establishments in the top 50. He is Alan Yau, whose Hakkasan - number 14 last year - is joined this year by Yauatcha, which opened a year ago.

Yau, who was born in Hong Kong and raised in Lincolnshire, where his parents ran what he describes as a "typical chop suey house", first came to attention when he founded the Wagamama chain in 1992.

His move into the world of top- end restaurants came with Hakkasan, a temple to stylish if pricey modernity which got its first Michelin star - the only Chinese restaurant at the time to have one - two years ago. Yauatcha, which specialises in dim sum, got a Michelin star 12 months later.

Ella Johnston, editor of Restaurant magazine, which organised the list, said a wide range of London restaurants were in the top 50.

"It reflects the diversity of the city itself in terms of the type of high-end dining experience you can have. There's Sketch and Yauatcha, which are really glamorous environments, metropolitan and sexy. Then you've got something very wholesome and seasonal like St John, which focuses on the ingredients, and fine dining establishments like Le Gavroche, which are just classics."

Last year the poll was won by The French Laundry in California. Second place went to The Fat Duck at Bray, where Heston Blumenthal explores the boundaries of molecular gastronomy.