Arguably the biggest food news story this week is that a French restaurant has been named The Best In The World!!!!

Mauro Colagreco’s Mirazur in Menton on the French Riviera has been anointed number one by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2019. The Mirazur team are pictured above.

The 2019 list includes restaurants from 26 countries worldwide with the entries decided by a thousand-strong panel of judges from all over the world.

While this blogger has no doubts that Mirazur is a fantastic restaurant and that Monsieur Colagreco is an amazing chef, I can't help but feel that this sort of list is so subjective that it lacks real meaning.

On previous occasions when the awards have been announced, we have grumbled that it is little more than a checklist used by very wealthy jetsetters to show off to one another.

That still holds true.

Of course, we reserve the right to change our mind should a Scottish or British restaurant ever hit the top spot.

This year, the highest placed Brit entry is The Clove Club in Shoreditch, London at 27.

Cooking on gas in Spain

Let's just say that we're more interested in the trends which the list illustrates. The strongest is that Spain has cemented its position as a gastronomic powerhouse with seven restaurants in the Top 50 and three in the Top Ten.

Interestingly, the USA has six restaurants in the Top 50. That is one more than France, a stat which will have numerous French chefs spluttering their croissants into their café au lait this morning.

Having said that, the knowledge that a French restaurant has been named top dog may be some consolation.

Rhubarb wine hits the sweet spot

While on the subject of France, a piece in The Times reports that the rhubarb wine made by a French pig farmer is now stocked in the cellars at the Hotel de Crillon, one of the most grand hotels in Paris.

When he started making the country wine in 1989, it was intended to be drunk only by friends and family.

However, Mr Moine and his family now sell 40,000 bottles a year of the rhubarb wine at around £17 a bottle.

Unlike wine which will oxidise and go off within a couple of days of being uncorked, the rhubarb wine will easily last three to four weeks in the fridge after being opened.

And French gourmands can't get enough of it.

The 5pm Food blog wishes Monsieur Moine every success. Having made gallons of foul home brew wine as a teenager, we know how hard it can be to create anything drinkable from rhubarb.

Or indeed cartons of grapefruit juice, potato peelings, rosehips, rice, nettles and so on.

Breaking news: celery not calorie-negative

In other news, earlier this week, The Independent carried a story about the top twelve food myths that British people believe.

Apparently, eating celery does not burn more calories than the celery contains. 

Which perhaps explains why my celery, cake and gin diet has yet to show any results...