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SINGAPORE – French fine-dining restaurant Odette at the National Gallery Singapore has dropped 10 spots to No. 24 on the 2024 World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.  It also lost its Best Restaurant in Asia crown to Bangkok’s Gaggan restaurant, which is ranked No. 9 – up from No. 17 in 2023.  Three-Michelin-starred Odette remains Singapore’s only restaurant on the prestigious list, which was announced on June 5 at a ceremony in Las Vegas. It was No. 14 in 2023. In a statement to The Straits Times, chef Julien Royer, 41, who attended the ceremony, says: “Being recognised on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list has been a dream come true. Since 2017, we have been deeply humbled and honoured to find ourselves among giants, friends and industry greats on this prestigious list.  “Their talent and dedication have challenged and inspired us to continually strive for excellence.”  The list ranking the 51st to 100th restaurants, announced on May 22, has three representatives from Singapore: Burnt Ends in Dempsey at No. 68 (down from No. 65 in 2023), modern Singaporean restaurant Labyrinth at Esplanade Mall at No. 92 (up from No. 97 in 2023) and Meta at No. 95 (down from No. 84 in 2023).  Restaurant Zen in Bukit Pasoh Road – ranked No. 69 in 2023 – did not make the cut this time. Its sister restaurant in Stockholm, Frantzen, is No. 35 (down from No. 30 in 2023).  Taking top spot is Barcelona restaurant Disfrutar, rising a notch from second place in 2023. Led by chefs Oriol Castro, Eduard Xatruch and Mateu Casanas, it also maintains its title as Best Restaurant in Europe.  At No. 2 is Asador Etxebarri, also from Spain. It was ranked No. 4 in 2023.  Ascending to third place is Table by Bruno Verjus in Paris (up from No. 10 in 2023), while Madrid’s Diverxo dropped a notch to No. 4.  Rounding off the top five is Maido from Lima, Peru, which was lauded as Best Restaurant in South America. Its chef Mitsuharu Tsumura also won the peer-voted Chef’s Choice Award, which went to Royer in 2023.  Lima’s famed Central restaurant, which was the top restaurant in 2023, joins the Best of the Best hall of fame of establishments that attained No. 1 in previous years. These include New York’s Eleven Madison Park and Copenhagen’s Geranium and Noma.  Several Asian establishments made their mark.  Hong Kong’s Wing restaurant – which debuted at No. 20 – is the Highest New Entry, while the Highest Climber Award went to The Chairman. The famed Hong Kong restaurant catapulted 24 spots from 2023 to No. 26.  South Korea’s Mingles made its debut at No. 44, while Bangkok’s Suhring and Sorn re-entered the list at No. 23 and 38 respectively.  The rest of the 11 Asian entries on the list are Bangkok’s Le Du at No. 40 (down from No. 15 in 2023), Tokyo’s Den at No. 32 (down from No. 21 in 2023), Florilege at No. 21 (up from No. 27 in 2023) and Sezanne at No. 15 (up from No. 37 in 2023).    Accolades were given to Nina Metayer of Parisian pastry shop Delicatesserie, who won Best Pastry Chef, and Janaina Torres of A Casa do Porco (down from No. 12 in 2023 to No. 27) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was named World’s Best Female Chef.  The annual list – in its 22nd edition in 2024 – is produced by British media company William Reed. It is based on voting by a panel of 1,080 restaurant industry experts from around the world.