Mossy menu serves up success for Danish restaurant Noma in food industry “Oscars”

A Danish restaurant known for offering moss on its menu has been named as the world's best for the second year running in the food industry's equivalent of the Oscars.

Noma, a dockside establishment in Copenhagen specializing in radical reworkings of Nordic cuisine, topped the S.Pellegrino survey, a list compiled by 800 international restaurant experts.

"We feel pretty good about it, Noma's 33-year-old chef, Rene Redzepi, told Reuters.

"I think now we are as successful as we can be. Now we are working for the momentum of our region. It will be good for the other great chefs that are yet to be discovered. I think that will be the big impact."

Noma rose to prominence last year after claiming the title held by Spain's elBulli restaurant for the past four years.

The restaurant's eclectic menu boasts offerings such as moss, lichen and bone marrow.

William Drew, editor of award organizers Restaurant magazine, said Noma's achievement was all the more impressive due to an expanded geographical spread including "fledgling" culinary nations such as Peru and Russia.

This year's winner of the Chefs' Choice award, voted for by chefs, was Massimo Bottura from Osteria Francescana in Italy.

"Massimo is rapidly gaining an international reputation for his avant-garde cuisine which although unashamedly modern, reflects traditional techniques and always pushes the boundaries of what's new," a Restaurant magazine spokesman said.

The full list of the world's top 10 restaurants as listed by S.Pellegrino is:

1. Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark; 2. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain; 3. Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain; 4. Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy; 5. The Fat Duck, Bray, U.K.; 6. Alinea, Chicago, United States; 7. D.O.M., Sao Paolo, Brazil; 8. Arzak, San Sebastian, Spain; 9. Le Chateaubriand, Paris France; 10. Per Se, New York, United States