• Review: Never mind the ranking drop, Attica is still world class
• Is lunch at the new Noma worth $700?

Mirazur in Menton, France, is the number one restaurant in the world, according to the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, announced in Singapore overnight.

This is the first time chef Mauro Colagreco and his sunny Provencal dining room have clinched the top spot; previously the restaurant was No.3.

"What a great year. Three Michelin stars and No. 1 all in the same year," said Colagreco while accepting the award. "It's a year I shall remember forever."

That's in part because executives behind the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, made a profound change to the rules this year, decreeing that no previous winner can be number one again – or even be ranked on the list.

Previous winners have now been relegated to a 'Best of the Best' category. That includes Osteria Francescana, Massimo Bottura's modernist restaurant in Modena which has won the award twice; Eleven Madison Park, which took the top spot in 2017; El Cellar de Can Roca; and the original Noma.

But the 2.0 version of Noma, which is set in a different location in Copenhagen with a new menu format, is eligible for the top spot and in fact sky-rocketed to the Number 2 place on the list.

William Drew, group editor of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, says the criteria they used, which included location and menu concept, was not just to allow Noma, one of the world's highest profile dining spots, to be in contention.

"The aim is to have an objective set of criteria that prevails over time," he says. Leading up to the announcement, Noma was an insider favourite to clinch the top spot.

The Best of the Best is a convenient landing place for some formerly top ranked restaurants that have been falling on the list, such as the Fat Duck in Bray in England, which last year came in at number 74. Nonetheless, owner-chef Heston Blumenthal is sanguine about the experience: "If you get on the list, lap it up, bathe in the warmth of it, but just do your work. Nothing is permanent."

The restaurants appearing on the list from 51-120 were released last week ahead of the awards ceremony. .

A lot of the buzz around the awards are the drops. Among the notable demotions on the list were Attica in Melbourne, which tumbled 64 spots, to 84 from 20. Also eyebrow raising were perennial favourites Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain, to 53 from 31, and D.O.M. in Sao Paulo, which fell to 54 from 30.

The World's 50 Best Restaurants list is organised and compiled by William Reed Business Media. It is created from the votes of 1,040 restaurateurs, chefs, food writers and foodies. The voters are split into 26 separate regions around the world; each region has its own panel of 40 members. The awards started in 2002 as a feature in Restaurant, a U.K. publication, based on the picks of journalists and chefs. The founders compare it to a music magazine compiling a best-albums list.

Here are the 2019 winners (with last year's place in parentheses):

1. Mirazur, Menton, France (3)

2. Noma*, Copenhagen

3. Asador Etxebarri, Axpe, Spain (10)

4. Gaggan, Bangkok (5)

5. Geranium, Copenhagen (19)

6. Central, Lima (6)

7. Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain (9)

8. Arpege, Paris (8)

9. Disfrutar, Barcelona, Spain (18)

10. Maido, Lima (7)

11. Den, Tokyo (17)

12. Pujol, Mexico City (13)

13. White Rabbit, Moscow (15)

14. Azurmendi, Larrabetzu, Spain (43)

15. Septime, Paris (40)

16. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athenee, Paris (21)

17. Steirereck, Vienna (14)

18. Odette, Singapore (28)

19. Twins Garden, Moscow (72)

20. Tickets, Barcelona (32)

21. Frantzen, Stockholm (65)

22. Narisawa, Tokyo (22)

23. Cosme, New York (25)

24. Quintonil, Mexico City (11)

25. Pavillon Ledoyen, Paris (29)

26. Borago, Santiago (27)

27. The Clove Club, London (33)

28. Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, U.S.(12)

29. Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy (16)

30. Elkano, Getaria, Spain (77)

31. Le Calandre, Rubano, Italy (23)

32. Nerua, Bilbao, Spain (57)

33. Lyle's, London (38)

34. Don Julio, Buenos Aires (55)

35. Atelier Crenn*, San Francisco

36. Le Bernardin, New York (26)

37. Alinea, Chicago (34)

38. Hisa Franko, Kobarid, Slovenia (48)

39. A Casa do Porco, Sao Paulo (79)

40. Restaurant Tim Raue, Berlin (37)

41. The Chairman*, Hong Kong

42. Belcanto, Lisbon (75)

43. Hof Van Cleve, Kruishoutem, Belgium (63)

44. The Test Kitchen, Cape Town (50)

45. Suhring, Bangkok (54)

46. De Librije, Zwolle, Netherlands (51)

47. Benu, San Francisco (53)

48. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai (24)

49. Leo, Bogota, Colombia (99)

50 Schloss Schauenstein, Furstenau, Switzerland (47)

*new entry

Bloomberg