The 50 Best in the World: Potong, Atomix & Quintonil Chefs in the Future of Dining

Once a year The 50 Best Restaurants in the WorldThe S-list involves luxury, precision and repository experiences, but it’s also about getting customers to revalue food.

So this year, at a prestigious awards ceremony in Turin, Italy, chef Pam Soontornyanakij discussed how her restaurant helped change the dining environment in Bangkok. BodongThis is the 13th place on the list this year and has won the 2025 award for Best Female Chef in the World, serving Thai cuisine to Thai cuisine in Chinatown in Bangkok.

At the world’s 50 Best Restaurants Press Conference, Soontornyanakij talked about how to see Thai locals now “willing to pay more for local cuisine”. Recently, Thai customers have been more inclined to enjoy expensive meals in Japanese, Italian or French restaurants, she said. But around the world, chefs like Soontornyanakij are changing their so-called city conversation and dining habits.

“I wanted to use local ingredients and create authentic flavors, but combined the skills and things I learned in my career,” Soontornyanakij said.

Soontornyanaki’s signature dish is roast duck. She has Chachoengsao, about an hour and a half from Bangkok, created a mixture of Beijing and French ducks.

“I was trained very French, very Western,” she said. “But when I returned to Thailand, I felt like I wanted to create my own path and my own cuisine, which is a food that really represents my legacy.”

One day after the press conference, at a conference chef party, the winner talked frankly about the future of food, Chef JP Park in New York atom (No. 12 on this year’s list) talked about the Seoul Research Center where he made his debut last year.

“The reason we opened a lab in Korea is to look for the foundation of Korean food,” Parker said. “We can take different things like Mexican flavor and mix it with Korean foundation to create something unique.”

Park, for example, made his mole version with gochujang. His Seoul Research Center has been playing with different Korean hot sauces. As always, Park and Atomix are both familiar and brand new contaminated dishes.

Of course, so many quality dining is a balanced act.

Eric Kragh Vildgaard, chef in Copenhagen Restaurant Jordnær (No. 56 in this year’s 51-100 list) was asked how he balances sustainability and luxury.

“It’s a good question because I’m a luxury person,” he said. “I can do better by using less luxurious ingredients. But since I’m eager to be a quality restaurant, only the best restaurant for my guests, I have to make some compromises. However, the best products usually come from the most sustainable sourcing.”

Vildgaard talks about Jordan It is a place to work together and his team is happy and has an impact on the restaurant.

“We promote more inclusiveness and social sustainability,” he said. “For me, it’s more important than being hyperlocal. My chef lives a great life.”

(After meeting with the chef event, Vildgaard jumped on the media shuttle instead of calling Uber: “I’m going to save money so I can buy more caviar,” he quipped.

At the top of the game is hard work, so balance is important. Chef Jorge Vallejo Quintonil (Third place on this year’s list) I want to make it clear that long-term dedication is a key part of the secret to success.

“We started with a very modest start,” he said. “We don’t have any investors. We’ve been in the restaurant for 13 years. It’s a life project. It’s not a business. We think part of Quintonil is part of us.”

When asked what advice he had for a chef who wanted to strike alone, Vallejo stressed that it was important to put in the work.

“I started in the kitchen when I was 16 and opened a restaurant when I was 30,” he said. “I think the younger generation needs to understand that it takes time. I believe people need to commit to learning, go their own journey because cooking is not only about talent. It has to do with discipline. It is about morality. It is about teamwork. If you don’t understand that you need people to build teams, it’s going to be hard for us all to grow.”

So, where will the food in the future be?

“I think it will be very personal,” Atomix’s Park said. “In the past, it was more about Soigné service. But now people are more excited to understand the philosophy behind the chefs, restaurants and teams.”