Yahoo: How the inaugural World Restaurant Awards is shaking up the food world

Feb. 19, 2018

When the winner of Restaurant of the Year was announced at the inaugural World Restaurant Awards in Paris Monday night, a palpable hush of surprise swept the auditorium. 

Heads turned and attendees seemed to ask each other, "Wolfgat who?" as a largely unknown chef of a small 20-seater restaurant in a fishermen's village in South Africa made his way down the aisle and took to the stage. 

But that, organizers say, is the whole point of the awards: to shine the light on off-the-radar dining destinations that get little air time in an industry where the same chefs and the same restaurants can often monopolize the media spotlight. 

No one was, perhaps, more surprised than the 38-year-old chef of Wolfgat, Kobus van der Merwe, who was visibly moved by the win. 

"I'm a little bit speechless," the chef said after accepting his award.

More at https://news.yahoo.com/inaugural-world-restaurant-awards-shaking-food-world-120259012.htm9