18 hours ago
I travelled to Italy for the restaurant world's most influential global awards and it was mind-blowing
I'm on a dance floor in Italy surrounded by chefs from over 100 of the world's best restaurants, and wondering how I got here.
Weeks before the news that a local Quebec restaurant won a first-ever North America's 50 Best Restaurants award, this Canadian was flown to Torino, Italy, to discover the wonderful region of Piemonte—and experience what a World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards ceremony is actually like.
Just as I'm thinking the dancefloor beats can't get any more bomb, a deafening 'ka-boom!' sounds as two confetti cannons explode multicoloured paper strips all over the writhing crowd at the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 afterparty.
Squeals ring out, and the energy hits a new zenith as I watch renowned chef Massimo Bottura, receiver of the Icon Award earlier that night, at the decks, thinking he could easily segue into DJing if ever he gets tired of all those Michelin stars.
Italy's inaugural host city
There are five Italian restaurants listed on the World's Best 50 Restaurants 2025—Lido 84, Reale, Le Calandre, Uliassi and Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler—but 2025 was the first year the event's been hosted in Italy.
Torino, home to the famous shroud, is off the beaten track to the west of Milan in the region of Piemonte, palpably near both France and Switzerland (architecturally speaking) and buttressed by the majestic Alps.
It turns out that Italy's first ever capital city is at the epicentre of its own brand of Italian gastronomy, so it's no surprise the 50 Best team chose it as its 2025 host city.
Torino is the birthplace of vermouth. It's also in the midst of a hazelnut growing haven that spurred the invention of gianduja (that luscious chocolate-hazelnut paste that resulted in Nutella and bunèt), the greatest risotto-rice producing area in the country and a preeminent destination for both black and white truffle hunting.
And did I mention the wines?
Cheers to bright, bold reds
It may be 10 a.m. but I've had the perfect rest at Hotel Victoria and I'm ready for some vino.
The resident chihuahua (named Grappa) at the Gattinara region wine producer Travaglini has assisted the lovely tour leader in getting me excited to try the bright notes of strawberries and roses and astringent freshness of their youngest vintages, and the richer, more cherry-balsamic-stone side of the reservas, like the Gattinara DOCG 2021.
All their wines are made from 100% nebbiolo grapes grown on the surrounding foothills.
Some of the bold local tipples' best characteristics were revealed over the week at casual trattorias and streetcorner ristorantes, like the historic Baratti & Milano (founded in 1875) or the casually hip Ristorante Tre Galli, where the veal steak drizzled in charcoal oil brought the bottle of Generaj La Tur Barbera d'Alba 2021 to tannic, fulsome life.
As I dined one night in the hills of Tigliole at the third-generation Michelin starred Ristorante Ca' Vittoria, presided over by silver fox Chef Massimiliano Musso, I raised a glass of 2021 Nervi Conterno Il Rosato to thank the goddesses for the region's no-nonsense, honest flavours.
His Tomato in Essence, a double-stuffed tomato whose jellied outer layer bursts into a fleshy, fruitful mouthful accented with thyme leaves, orange zest and basil oil, was the perfect foil to this bright blush vintage.
As expressed the next day by Chef Eric Kragh Vilgaard of Norway's Jornær (number 56 on the list this year), 'the best dish in the world is the one there isn't enough of.'
With the memory of that tomato fresh in my mind, I knew just what he meant.
Vermouths worth celebrating
The stars of the local booze scene are the world-famous vermouths: Torino is home to the Martini brand, but negroni lovers, you haven't tasted anything like the more boutique labels Montarano and Chazalettes Bianca, best enjoyed simply on ice with a twist of lemon, a free afternoon and a view on Piazza San Carlo.
Martini was a sponsor of this year's World's 50 Best Restaurants events, which ranged from welcome cocktails to a lecture series (the Flavour Files) featuring world renowned chefs including female chef of the year Chef Pam from Bangkok's Potong, Mindy Woods from Australia's Kukola, Jeremy Chan from Ikoyi in London and Virgilio Martínez Véliz from Central in Lima. (Lima's the next bucket list venue: that's where you'll find Maido, the Number 1 restaurant on the 2025 list. But good luck for resos!)
And the 50 Best event venues: each more fantastic than the next. A sit-down dinner hosted by the Piemonte region at the Royal Residence of Venaria trumpeted its magnificence (you can visit the site anytime to see a range of art exhibitions) to the tune of The Four Seasons by Vivaldi, animated by the fountain just outside the great hall windows.
Where nueva meets hardcore storica
The richest thing about the whole experience was the coexistence of this future-of-fine-dining vibe, brought by the avant-garde perspectives of these 100-plus inventive, industry-shaping chefs, and the no-nonsense centuries-old local cuisine.
Torino's classics are simple. Take the most famous local dish, vitello tonnato, starring pink-roasted veal served cold in thin slices and paired with a creamy tuna paste, flavoured with capers and black pepper and sometimes anchovies. I had it five ways over the week and am now a bona fide expert.
Veal-stuffed agnolotti smothered in a beef-sausage ragu is the classic local pasta, with tagliolini served in a buttery sauce topped with shaved truffle for those lighter days.
Risottos shine bright in snappy red sauces like at Costardi or creamy wine sauces made with Acquarello's uniquely aged carnaroli rice—longer, chubbier, starchier and so much more toothsomely satisfying than arborio. Who knew?
All those dishes are a perfect match for, say, a 100% albarossa varietal Sofia di Bricherasio by Castello di Uviglie. On my last evening, I raise a glass to timeless food traditions, to the next generation of groundbreaking chefs who are looking to turn the palate party up to 11 and to my next trip to Torino.
