Paris restaurant Arpège named best dining destination in Europe

French chef Alain Passard’s vegetable-centric restaurant Arpège in Paris has bagged the top spot on the list of Europe’s best dining destinations, decided by foodies on a popular food website.

French chef Alain Passard’s vegetable-centric restaurant Arpège in Paris has bagged the top spot on the list of Europe’s best dining destinations, decided by foodies on a popular food website.

Arpège has managed to maintain its triple Michelin-starred status over the last two decades and fetes its 30th anniversary this year. (Arpège/World’s 50 Best Restaurants)

Food blogger Steve Plotnicki has released the 2016 edition of the Top 100+ Restaurants in Europe, based on the reviews of active diners on his website, Opinionated About Dining (OAD).

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This year’s list is dominated by France, which landed 48 restaurants in the top 200 spots, followed the UK (28) and Italy (27).

The win is the latest honor bestowed upon the Paris chef. Last week, organisers of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants named Passard the 2016 recipient of their Lifetime Achievement Award.

Chef Alain Passard. (Douglas McWall)

Passard is best known in the upper echelons of gastronomy for taking meat off his menu as long ago as 2001 and giving vegetables center stage. The move was all the more surprising given that Passard was known as a maitre rotisseur.

Vegetables are sourced from one of three organic gardens located outside Paris.

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“Ingredients of a quality so high they make your head feel like exploding are cooked with the greatest care and respect in this restaurant known for fostering the vegetable-oriented, minimalist cuisine movement,” says OAD.

Arpège has managed to maintain its triple Michelin-starred status over the last two decades and fetes its 30th anniversary this year.

Strawberries and onions as served at Arpège. (Arpège/World’s 50 Best Restaurants)

Before starting OAD in 2003 and earning a reputation as one of the most influential “king of food bloggers,” Plotnicki was a music executive whose biggest claim to fame was discovering Run-DMC through his label Profile Records.

Here are the top 10 restaurants in Europe according to OAD:

1. L’Arpege – Paris, France

2. Azurmendi – Larrabetzu, Spain

3. In de Wulf – Heuvelland, Belgium

4. Faviken – Järpen, Sweden

5. Noma – Copenhagen, Denmark

6. La Marine – Noirmoutier, France

7. Etxebarri – Axpe-Marzana, Spain

8. Diverxo – Madrid, Spain

9. Vendome – Bergisch Gladbach-Bensberg, Germany

10. Restaurant Quique Dacosta – Dénia, Spain

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Other notable winners:

Best new restaurant in Europe: Disfrutar - Barcelona, Spain

Highest new entry: Restaurant Kadeau Bornholm - Aakirkeby, Denmark

Special culinary achievement: Noma - Copenhagen, Denmark

For the full list visit: www.opinionatedaboutdining.com/2016/europe.html

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