Not a single Israeli establishment has made it to this year’s edition of the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants list, in what the publishers this week said was the result of travel issues connected to the war between Israel and Hamas.
This year will be the first time that no Israeli restaurants made the list since its inception in 2022.
The Jewish state will therefore not be represented at the awards ceremony set to take place next week in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News.
The event has previously showcased top restaurants from Israel, the UAE, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and neighboring countries, with Israeli establishments enjoying a strong presence.
Last year, amid escalating conflict, the awards ceremony was canceled, and the rankings were published online.
In an official statement to Israeli restaurants previously included in the rankings, “50 Best” explained: “We acknowledge this may well come as disappointing news. However, given the recent conflict in the Middle East, voters from other parts of the region have been unable to travel to Israel and, as a result, the country’s restaurants have inevitably been affected in the voting.”
The “50 Best” Middle East regional rankings were introduced in 2022 with sponsorship from the San Pellegrino beverage company. The ranking system is based on 250 voters from 19 countries. Each voter selects 10 restaurants—six from their own country and four from other regional countries.
Over the past three years, Israeli restaurants had made an impressive mark on the “50 Best” list, with six establishments featured annually, second only to Dubai.
OCD, a progressive cuisine restaurant in Tel Aviv, had reached third place overall in previous lists, and “George & John” secured sixth place.
A spokesperson for “50 Best” told Channel 12 that the absence of a few dozen international voters who previously evaluated Israeli restaurants likely affected the results.
