World’s top 50 restaurants for 2011

by Justin Delaney on

Every year San Pellegrino shakes down the world’s best eateries to anoint a reigning gastronomic king. In the competition for the top restaurants of 2011, an old king keeps the throne. Noma, in Denmark, is considered the top restaurant in the world for the second year in a row according to San Pellegrino. Noma (video above) first took the top spot in 2010, dethroning legendary El Bulli of Spain. The chef of Noma, René Redzepi, is no stranger to El Bulli and migrated over from the Spanish institution in 2004. Noma is best described as new Nordic cuisine and is noted for being exceptionally clean and inventive.

Of the top fifty, the French are not among the top eight, but rule the teens with nonchalance. The top five all hail from Europe, and in fact, thirty-three of the restaurants on the list are from the European continent. Six continents are represented in the top fifty with the inclusion of a new entry, Peruvian restaurant Astrid y Gaston, representing South America along with D.O.M. in Brazil. Eight restaurants from North America are represented and five from Asia. The fastest climber year over year was Nihonryori Ryugin in Tokyo. The Japanese eatery rose twenty-eight spots to number twenty on the list. Here are the top twenty restaurants from the San Pellegrino top fifty:20. Nihonryori Ryugin – Japan
19. L’Arpege – France
18. Le Bernardin – USA
17. Oud Sluis – Netherlands
16. Pierre Gagnaire – France
15. Hof Van Cleve – Belgium
14. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon – France
13. L’Astrance – France
12. Les Creations de Narisawa – Japan
11. Daniel – USA
10. Per Se – USA
9. Le Chateaubriand – France
8. Arzak – Spain
7. D.O.M. – Brazil
6. Alinea – USA
5. The Fat Duck – England
4. Osteria Francescana – Italy
3. Mugaritz – Spain
2. El Cellar De Can Roca – Spain
1. Noma – Denmark

The full list can be viewed here.

Video – noma from pocketfork on Vimeo.

25 Haunting Shipwrecks Around the World

by Chris Owen on
Twisted Sifter is a web site with three simple goals. Provide content that is interesting, funny or creative, use BIG pictures whenever possible and to keep their readers up-to-date with what’s popular online. Gadling found this gallery of 25 haunting shipwrecks at Twisted Sifter who tells us

“Fellow blogger Tom Moran from Urban Ghosts inspired this post. His excellent article on ‘Ship Graveyards: Abandoned Ships, Boats and Shipyards’ sent me on a quest to find some incredible photographs of shipwrecks around the world.

The United Nations estimates that there are more than 3 million shipwrecks on the ocean floor [Source: Wikipedia]. These once mighty vessels, both sunken and beached, are a haunting reminder that nothing lasts forever. These beautiful ships used to rule the seas they traveled. Now they serve as a window into our past.”


In the gallery below, 25 Haunting Shipwrecks From Around The World, there are shipwrecks everywhere from the Canary Islands to Grand Cayman to Portugal in all shapes and sizes.

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Three Cups of Tea author under scrutiny

by Kraig Becker on

His books have inspired millions with their tales of generosity, both given and received, but following a scathing 60 Minutes segment that aired this past weekend, author and philanthropist Greg Mortenson finds himself at the center of a controversy. The investigative piece put together by the staff at CBS alleges that Mortenson has fabricated key parts of his stories and profited from his charitable organization, the Central Asia Institute.

For those not familiar with Mortenson’s story, back in 1993 he was climbing in the Karakoram mountain range of Pakistan. After a failed attempt to climb K2, he found himself lost, and wandering in a remote region of the country. Mortenson says that at one point he stumbled into the village of Korphe, where the villagers welcomed him warmly, sharing their food and water, and helping him to regain his bearings so he could find his way home. The mountaineer was so moved by their generosity that he vowed to repay their kindness by building them a school.

Fast forward a decade and Mortenson would write his bestselling book Three Cups of Tea, which shared the details of his story with the world. He would follow it up with another bestseller, Stones into Schools, and then building CAI into a $20 million a year non-profit organization. The charity is credited with building a number of schools throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan, enriching the lives many children in both countries. Mortenson has been lauded for his work the world over, and many people donate to his organization based on the stories they are told in his books.

But what if those stories weren’t exactly true? What if elements of them were exaggerated to enhance their dramatic value? What if the author too major liberties with his own exploits?That’s exactly what 60 Minutes alleges in their story. So does bestselling author, Jon Krakauer of Into Thin Air fame, who says of Mortenson’s tale “It’s a beautiful story. And it’s a lie.” Krakauer says that at first he supported Mortenson and bought into his amazing story, even donating some of his own money to CAI. But the more he got to know him, the more he began to question Mortenson’s recollection of events. Krakauer would later speak to other mountaineers who were with Mortenson on his 1993 expedition, and they say that much of what is described in Three Cups of Tea never took place, and that Mortenson didn’t even visit Korphe until several years later.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg however, as the 60 Minutes story goes on to say that other elements of Mortenson’s tale don’t add up either. For instance, the author says that he was once kidnapped by the Taliban, and even offered up a photograph of himself with gun toting men as evidence. But the investigative reporters at CBS discovered that that wasn’t true at all. In fact, the armed men who were seen in the photograph, were actually his security detail charged with protecting him while traveling in Pakistan.

Worse yet, there are lingering questions about how the Central Asia Institute spends the funds that are donated by fans of Mortenson and his books. The organization isn’t very fourthcoming with details on their operations, but it seems that they spent more money last year on promoting Mortenson than they did on building schools. 60 Minutes had a look at the financials and found hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on travel on private jets alone.

The laundry list of charges doesn’t end there however. There are some indications that the charitable organization has built far fewer schools than it claims, and that Mortenson uses it as vehicle for making money for himself.

Krakauer does say that Mortenson has done a lot of great work in Pakistan, and it is undeniable that he has helped hundreds, if not thousands, of children get an education there. But the fear is that all of that philanthropic work could come tumbling down because the author has been less than honest about his own story and has taken liberties with the funding of his organization. Krakauer seems baffled as to why Mortenson would feel the need to enhance his stories when he has done so much good in the public eye.

While Mortenson has enjoyed a lot of mainstream success and garnered a lot of fans from his inspiring tales, the questions about his background have been a not-so-well-kept secret in the mountaineering community for some time. While he is respected for the work he does in the Himalaya, his tall tales about his own exploits are taken with a large grain of salt. The question is, should the fact that Mortenson has taken liberties with his story over shadow the great things he has done for people in Pakistan and Afghanistan? The man has dedicated a good portion of his life to building schools and medical facilities for the poor mountain villages in the land he loves. A noble pursuit indeed.

Personally, I still respect Mortenson for those wonderful charitable acts and I hope these allegations to over shadow those deeds. But I also can’t help but wonder about some of his other motivations. Motivations that have brought him a great deal of fame and money.

What do you think? Check out the 60 Minutes segment by clicking here, and post your thoughts below.

[Photo credit: Central Asia Institute]

Cruise ships on the move as traveler demand changes

by Chris Owen on

It was not all that long ago that cruise lines were boasting massive deployment to European waters for 2012 and into 2013. Now, it appears those waters across the pond might not be quite as attractive as at least one cruise line thought. Royal Caribbean is bringing one of their ships back to the U.S. On the other hand, some lines are expanding even beyond Europe as Celebrity Cruises heads to Australia and New Zealand and Carnival Cruise Lines hints at plans to court the UK cruise market. Let’s take a look.

The big news is that Royal Caribbean will redeploy Navigator of the Seas, scheduled to cruise in the Mediterranean, to the Caribbean for the 2011-2012 cruise season and sail out of Port Everglades, Florida.

“We are responding to vacationers’ demand for more Caribbean options this coming winter (and) spring,” Royal Caribbean spokesman Harry Liu told USA Today.

That’s good news for the U.S. cruise market as Navigator of the Seas will offer a unique series of five- to nine-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries between November 20, 2011 and April 14, 2012 when she goes back to Europe.Disney Cruise Line, who will complete the process of doubling it’s fleet soon, will move out of Vancouver after just one season. Sailing from Seattle next year, the line appears to be reacting to “the cost of flying” says the Regina Leader-Post who notes “Flying costs, especially with Disney’s high proportion of children, are important”.

Also, Celebrity Cruises plans to have six ships in the Caribbean during the winter of 2012-13, down from eight this coming winter. Celebrity is sending Celebrity Solstice to Australia and New Zealand and Celebrity Millennium will go to Asia for the first time calling in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Halong Bay.

Even All-American Carnival Cruise Lines which has had a minimal presence in Europe is looking to the UK market for new passenger sourcing.

“We have a desire to source more people from the UK because of the common language we share,” Carnival chief executive Gerry Cahill told TTGLive.

Indeed, with new Carnival Magic debuting on May 1, 2011 and next-up Carnival Breeze coming out next year, the line will have plenty of experience and hardware in the area. Still, no announcements have been made on exactly how the Funship line will go after UK passengers.

“The UK market is a key priority for us, but how we try to attract it will be decided at a later date,” Cahill said, adding “There are a lot of options, and basing a ship in the UK could be one of those options.”

Flickr photo by Heroiclife

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The future of Japanese fishing

by Jon Bowermaster on

Given the hammering Japan’s fishing towns took thanks to the earthquake/tsunami and the continued leaking of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant it is legitimate to question the future of fish in the region.

Just like the fishermen in the Gulf after the BP spill, seafood providers across Japan are concerned about an inevitable public relations fall out even if its fish stays available and safe, i.e. non-radioactive.

While the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, the world’s biggest — selling more than 400 species of fish six days a week, a $5.5 billion a year business providing 40 million Japanese fish-lovers – has not yet backed off selling anything, buyers have fallen off due to a lack of fish.

The most immediate concern is that so many of the small towns in the north – and their boats, docks, jetties, nets, tackle and fishermen – are gone. Fish farms and onshore processing plants have been wiped out, hundreds of thousands of wild fish washed onto shore, dead. As a result, scallops, sardines, oysters, seaweed, bonito and even shark’s fin have largely disappeared from Tsukiji in the past week.

The normally packed aisles of the sprawling market – the equivalent of 200 football fields under one roof — are quiet. “We’re not selling anything because there are no customers,” one wholesaler at the market reported. Sales to restaurants have fallen off too.” Sushi restaurants near the market are suffering too, in part due to the lack of tourists.Tsukiji’s general manager, Tsutomu Kosaka, told the New York Times, “It’s not like the brand is just damaged now – it’s over. At least for now, the brand is finished. Gone. It’s hopeless.”

The early consensus based on what’s happened so far at the struggling nuclear plant is that fish pulled from the sea off Japan should be safe, given that winds and currents will disperse any potentially dangerous particles before they can pollute. But Japan’s seafood export business – $2.4 billion last year – will definitely take a hit.

South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Singapore and the Philippines announced more intense screening of seafood from Japan. Many restaurants across Asia have stopped buying seafood from Japan. “Until the situation stabilizes in the country, it seems unlikely that guests will feel comfortable consuming Japanese products,” said the manager of the Hong-Kong-based Mandarin Oriental International hotels. The Four Season Hotel’s, also Hong Kong-based, has suspended import of all Japanese food, including scallops and abalone, buying instead from New Zealand and Australia, Scotland and Indonesia.

While dairy products (milk and eggs), grains, vegetables and meat might be susceptible to radioactivity exposure experts suggest that the impact on fish will be “negligible.”

Far from Japan, in Mumbai, caution was being taken. “You don’t know which fish is contaminated and which one is not. So the precautionary principle is to ban all fish coming from there,” said one nuclear expert.

The reality is that relatively little Japanese seafood makes it to the U.S.; your corner sushi restaurant is more likely to get its fish from China, Chile or Thailand. Most imports were stopped before the nuclear plants started leaking. Still the FDA said it may “increase and target product sampling” of goods from Japan for contamination.

One market that will most likely grow? Export of seafood from the U.S. to Japan, currently a $750 million a year industry. The 127 million Japanese depend on seafood as a staple, consuming twenty percent of the world’s seafood. But for the moment almost all exporting to Japan is on hold as the country rebuilds its infrastructure; simply delivering goods to many corners of the country has stopped.

But the short-term future of Japan’s fisheries may be most affected by perception rather than reality. The market for Gulf seafood is way off, nearly one year after the BP spill. Given the massive destruction along Japan’s coastline, the impact on its fishing grounds – and fish — could be felt far longer.