Dabiz Muñoz, Number 1 at The Best Chef Awards for 3rd Consecutive Year

The results are officially in for The Best Chef Awards. This prestigious culinary ranking has, for the third year in a row, given top honors to the Spanish chef Dabiz Muñoz.

Muñoz currently has 3 Michelin stars. His restaurant DiverXO in Madrid was ranked number 3 in the world in 2023. He also runs a more informal version of that restaurant, StreetXO, and RavioXO, another restaurant that holds a Michelin star.

But Muñoz is not alone on top: five out of the top chefs are from Spain, a clear demonstration of the unbeatable moment that Spanish cuisine is going through, making it the most relevant worldwide.

Albert Adrià (Enigma, Barcelona) was ranked 2nd on the list, Andoni Luis Aduriz (Mugaritz, San Sebastián) Came in 5th, the trio of chefs behind the restaurant Disfrutar (Barcelona)—Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch, and Mateu Casañas—were ranked 7th, and Joan Roca (El Celler de Can Roca, Girona) was 8th. 

Elsewhere on the list was Angel León, 13th; Javier and Sergio Torres, 20th; Eneko Atxa, 26th; Quique Dacosta (Quique Dacosta Restaurante), 30th; Diego Guerrero (dSTAgE, Madrid),42nd; Bittor Arginzoniz (Etxebarri, Axpe, Vizcaya), 51st; Paco Roncero (Paco Roncero restaurante, Madrid), 60th; Paco Morales (Noor, Córdoba)), 82nd; and Fina Puigdevall and Martina Puigvert (Les Cols, Olot, Girona), 91st.

Two other Spanish chefs also took home distinctions: Ferran Adrià received The Best Chef: Legend Award, and Jordi Roca from El Celler de Can Roca received The Best Pastry Chef Award.

To determine the winners, a shortlist of 100 chefs was created by a group of industry professionals such as food critics, journalists, and photographers, among others. The list was then voted on in an effort to identify the best chefs based on passion, sustainability, innovation, intelligence, and creativity.

Originally created in 2017, The Best Chef created these awards as a way to shift the focus away from restaurants and to highlight the people behind them, their unique approaches to food, and the qualities that make them stand out.