50 Best Discovery: selection criteria

50 Best Discovery, an exciting database for eating and drinking, operates as an extension of the annual 50 Best rankings of restaurants and bars. The venues featured on 50 Best Discovery have all received votes from the experts who create the rankings of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and The World’s 50 Best Bars, as well as Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, Asia’s 50 Best Bars and Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants. The digital collection is compiled from the results of these five annual 50 Best rankings but extends far beyond the elite establishments celebrated in each list. The result is a more diverse range of expert-recommended restaurants and bars across the world, offering everything from emerging talent and local favourites through to fine dining and fine drinking establishments.

The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy comprises more than 1,000 international restaurant industry experts, with a 50/50 gender split. The Academy is made up of food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs and well-travelled gourmets across the globe. The World’s 50 Best Bars Academy comprises more than 500 international drinks experts, including bar owners and bartenders, drinks writers and cocktail aficionados.

To qualify for 50 Best Discovery, a restaurant or bar needs to receive a significant number of votes in the most recent round of polling for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants or The World’s 50 Best Bars or feature on one of our annual regional rankings. 50 Best is ultimately responsible for the curation of the database. Restaurants and bars cannot apply to be part of 50 Best Discovery.