World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023: Why Melbourne’s Gimlet — and no other Australian restaurants — didn’t make the list

The prestigious annual rankings of the world’s best restaurants have been released— and there was a glaring omission from this year’s list.

Melbourne restaurant Gimlet, run by chef Andrew McConnell, has been snubbed at the 2023 World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards. Picture: David Caird

No Australian restaurants made the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list this year, the first time since 2018.

Our city’s only likely hope was Melbourne restaurant Gimlet at Cavendish House, which ranked No.84 last year, but failed to score a mention.

Central in Lima was named the World’s Best Restaurant, followed by Disfrutar in Barcelona and Madrid’s Diverxo in a lavish awards ceremony in Valencia.

Last fortnight The World’s 50 Best released its 51-100 long-list, which included 12 new entries from 11 different cities — from Quito and Panama City to Istanbul and Paris — with restaurants in 22 territories across five continents.

Andrew McConnell’s CBD venue made its surprise debut in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants extended 100-51 ranking in 2022 — earning him his first nod in the prestigious list in his 20-year career as a chef.

Aside from Gimlet, no other Australian restaurant made the World’s 50 Best list last year.

There was also hope Attica and Brae would be named in the 50 to 1 ranked restaurants, but neither made the cut.

“It was an incredible surprise, for all of us,” McConnell told the Herald Sun, at the time.

“These last couple of years of operating we were really stuck in the moment of navigating Covid and surviving. We weren’t looking internationally or that far ahead.”

At least McConnell has something to keep him busy.

Earlier this month he opened new cocktail bar, Apollo Inn, located next door to Gimlet.