Sustainable food took another step towards greater awareness this week as a Sustainable Restaurant prize was awarded for the first time at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards.
Narisawa, a fine dining establishment in Tokyo, was named best restaurant in Asia and 20th overall, but waltzed away with the Sustainable Restaurant award.
The judges assessment was full of praise. It said: ‘Polished, polite, premeditated and theatrical, the dining experience nevertheless remains rooted in nature – a fact reflected in its Sustainable Restaurant Award’.
East meets West
The prize was just reward for the hard work put into the Japanese restaurant. It opened in Toyko in 2003, and gained its first Michelin star in 2009 and its second a year later.
Head chef Yoshihiro Narisawa is classically trained, having studied in some of the finest restaurants in Europe. He is well known for mixing this style with Japanese ingredients.
Wider impact
On a wider scale though, the fact that there was a sustainability award shows that awareness campaigns are making a difference. The World’s Best 50 Restaurants is a list that has been compiled by Restaurant magazine since 2002.
For sustainability to make it into this mainstream after twelve years of awards, it is a major achievement. A lot of this can be put down to the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
It was with the help of their input and their new global sustainability ratings that Restaurant was able to have the award.
Another winner
There was also success for another sustainable restaurant closer to home. Brett Graham’s The Ledbury, in Notting Hill, came home in 13th place overall. The judges praised his ‘extraordinary yet down to earth cooking’.
It moved up one place from last year in the rankings, and has now made the list for three consecutive years.
Eco Eats 