After summing up the votes of the members of the Academy of Good Food, for the third time in cooperation with the sponsor - iittala, a brand of tableware and interior details, the annual list of the "30 best restaurants" was compiled, and the first ten were announced today during a special event at Pirklių majesti in Vilnius, which was attended by a large number of gastronomy professionals.
"This year's results show that the role of the chef, his influence, in creating exceptional restaurant experience and emotion are the essence. It is also great fun to see the global trend in Lithuania that, in order to be successful, it is no longer enough to make an impressive dish - it is very important to adhere to sustainability and other principles of responsible consumption, to use as many local products as possible", - in 2018. Linas Petrukaitis, founder of the Good Food Academy, summarizes the results.
What is it in 2018? the best of the best?
First place according to all criteria in 2018. was rated by chef Martynas Praškevičius in the rating restaurant "Joy". This is already the second such win of this chef - in 2016. In the "30 best restaurants" list, his restaurant "Stebuklai" also finished in first place.
Even before the final of the project, M. Praškevičius said that the last years with "Dziaugsmu" were the most wonderful for him: "I am now happy to come to work every day," he said. And almost every second chef in his thirties, during preliminary interviews, when asked where he would invite foreign guests (besides his own restaurant), also mentioned "Dziaugsma".
"Nevertheless, having two restaurants ("Stebuklų" is no longer on the list this year - author's post) with different cuisine and customer expectations, but equally high, is not easy. As for "Dziaugsma", my goal here is simple - to serve people dishes from the best quality products grown in Lithuania. I've been waiting for this opportunity for a long time, it was my dream," says the chef about his second restaurant-bistro and natural wine bar, which opened its doors last year.
By the way, it happened coincidentally that the winners of "World's 50 Best Restaurants" and "30 Best Restaurants in Lithuania" changed positions in the top five. Last year's second best restaurant rose to first place ("Dziaugsmas" - in Lithuania, "Osteria Francescana" - in the world), and first place fell to fourth ("Gastronomika" - in Lithuania, "Eleven Madison Park" - in the world).
Changes in this year's table
Briefly summarizing the results, 30 restaurants from last year's list are no longer among the top 8 this year. But, of course, there were just as many new names. Among them there are even 5 newcomers who were not present either in 2016 or 2017. in the rankings: "Amandus" in Vilnius (7th place), "Ertlio namas" (17th place), "Selfish" (21st place), "El Mercado" (28th place) and "Ieti" in Kaunas (24th place).
This year we also have 3 restaurants that returned to the top thirty, that is, in 2016. they were rated as one of the best in the country, and last year, although "by a hair", they were off the list for a year: "Böff" (20th place), "Stikliai" (23rd place), MEAT (27th place)
In this year's final table, the highest rise occurred in 18 positions. This was achieved in Trakai for the "Round Table Club". The biggest drop, but not falling out of the ranking, occurred in 13 positions (Palanga restaurant).
"However, it should be emphasized that everyone is evaluated in this project restaurants are the elite of Lithuanian gastronomy, distinctive, creative and exclusive. They are the ones who got the most points out of more than 100 academy members this year. When evaluating the latter, they had to take into account the quality of the food and the creativity of the dishes, the level of service, the environment, the drinks menu, and even more criteria defined in the project regulation," says L. Petrukaitis.
Who votes?
This project is continuous and its goal is to unite the largest possible circle of food and beverage experts for a unified vote, which will eventually become a starting point for following the map of Lithuanian gastronomy and its changes.
In total, more than 30 representatives of the world of gastronomy participate in the "100 best restaurants" voting: Lithuanian chefs, as well as foreign chefs working in Lithuania, restaurant owners, bloggers and journalists writing about the industry, sommeliers and other gastronomy experts.
"30 best restaurants" is organized by the Academy of Good Food together with the Lithuanian Hotel and Restaurant Association, the Association of Head Chefs and Pastry Chefs of Lithuanian Restaurants, the State Department of Tourism under the Ministry of Economy and the magazine "Geras Skonis". The main partner of the project is iittala, a brand of tableware and interior details.
in 2018 the thirty best restaurants in Lithuania
1st place. Joy, chef Martynas Praškevičius
2nd place. Monks, chef Vytautas Samavičius
3rd place. Sweet Root, Chef Justin Misius
4th place. Gastronomy, chef Lutauras Čeprackas
5th place. Storm lighthouse, chef Česlovas Žemaitis
6th place. La Esperanza, Chef Justin Kapkovic
7th place. Amandus, chef Deivydas Praspaliauskas
8th place. Dine, chef Donatas Šatkauskas
9th place. SOMM, chef Mindaugas Saulis
10th place. Gaspar's, Chef Gaspar Fernandes
11th place. Nüman, DJ Pennell, D. Kaupas, P. Zuoza, K. Liukaitytė
12th place. Round table club, mentor team
13th place. Monte Pacis, chef Rokas Vasiliauskas
14th place. Momo Grill, chefs Valdas Anusevičius, Vytautas Samavičius
15th place. Saint Germain, chef Gediminas Švenčionis
16th place. Da Antonio, chef Dmitry Babenko
17th place. Ertlis namas, chef Tomas Rimydis
18th place. Ti'ana, Chef Jaroslav Girdzijevski
19th place. Nerija, chefs Jonas Bilotas, Klaudijs Urbonas, Lukas Makarevičius
20th place. Böff, Chef Mher Gevorkjan
21st place. Selfish, chef Tadas Vibrantis
22nd place. uoks, chef Artūras Naidenko
23rd place. Glasses, chef Linas Bražinskas
24th place. Ieti, chef Inga Turminienė
25th place. Telegraph, chef Vytautas Alekna
26th place. Palanga, chef Raimundas Dambrauskas
27th place. MEAT, chef Artūras Butkūnas
28th place. El Mercado, chef Martynas Maciulevičius
29th place. Sofa de Pancho, chef Vitalis Čižauskas
30th place. Velvetti, chefs Snieguolė and Remigijus Žižiai
