50 Best Restaurants list launch guide to rival Michelin and Zagat

The organizers behind 50 Best Restaurants and 50 Best Bars lists have launched a new online guide, meant to compete with the likes of Michelin and Zagat.

The new guide is called 50 Best Discovery and includes a database of every top-ranked restaurant and drinking establishment that has been featured on the popular list series.

It also includes recommendations by the organizations network of 1,700 contributors over the years.

Much like the Michelin guide, users can look up top-marked restaurants and bars for many cities around the world. At launch, it features 1,600 restaurant reviews over 75 countries, including here in Dubai and other cities in the Middle East.

Currently, features are restaurants ranging from 3 Fils to Carnival by Tresind and Coya. Restaurants in Beirut and Abu Dhabi are also featured.

"Gastronomic tourism has become a cultural phenomenon in recent years, evident in the rapid expansion of our social media followers to more than two million and the continued growth of our global events," says William Drew, the content director of the 50 Best organization.

"For the first time, we are now able to offer a comprehensive library featuring a vast number of restaurants and bars. For food and drink lovers, this is the ultimate map of the world; essential for planning gastronomic adventures."

For comparison’s sake, the 50 Best Discovery ranks locations based on service, food and atmosphere. Michelin tends to favour restaurants with high-end cuisine, while Zagat is crowd-sourced from the public.