Sawt Falasteen - Peru's Maido named world's top restaurant on 50 Best list

Founded 16 years ago, Maido features a Japanese-Peruvian fusion menu, and lunchtime diners in the sleek Lima dining room were ecstatic about the win, shouting "Maido, Maido!"

"The fusion of flavors at Maido is spectacular," Valentina Mora, 33, told AFP.

Restaurants from three continents made the podium of the World's 50 Best, which was launched by a British press group to compete with France's Michelin red guides.

Asador Etxebarri -- which offers Basque cooking in Atxondo, Spain -- won second place and Quintonil in Mexico City was third.

Maxime Frederic, at the helm of the Cheval Blanc Paris pastry shop and head pastry chef at Plenitude, was named Best Pastry Chef.

The 50 Best award has been presented since 2002 by media group William Reed, based on reviews by one thousand "independent experts" such as chefs, specialist journalists and restaurant owners.

The list has been criticised above all by French chefs, who accuse it of being clubby and opaque, but it is generally considered to be ahead of the Michelin guide in identifying the latest food trends.

Its detractors -- French, but also Japanese and American - launched The List in 2015, a ranking of 1,000 restaurants across the world that uses an algorithm to aggregate and analyse data from more than 400 international sources.

Q.Bulbul--SF-PST