By Codelia Mantsebo

The wait is over as the winners of the Elite Traveler Top 100 Restaurants 2016 are finally announced today.

For the fifth consecutive year Elite Traveler readers have voted for their favorite fine dining destinations in the world.

The top spot went to Chicago’s renowned Alinea for the fifth year running, while Spanish restaurant Azurmendi came in second and New York’s Eleven Madison Park coming in third.

Alinea’s Head Chef Grant Achatz said: “It is an amazing honor to be selected as the best restaurant in the world five years running by Elite Traveler. Alinea strives every day to produce the best possible experience and it is incredibly rewarding to be recognized by the dining public as doing so.”

A delighted Eneko Atxa of Azurmendi said: “We know the importance of this acknowledgement as its relevance helps us to continue growing and for more people to know us. We feel honoured, grateful and motivated to continue working hard”.

Thomas Keller received the Lifetime Achievement Award while Gordon Ramsay was crowned Chef of the Year.

Young Chef of the year went to Esben Holmboe Bang, Head Chef of Maeemo – the Nordic’s highest ranking restaurant, with Curtis Duffy in second place and new entry Mirazur’s Mauro Colagreco in third place.

The USA topped the list overall with a staggering 21 restaurants, followed by France with 15 and Spain with eight. By city, New York came top of the list with ten restaurants featured while Paris boasts eight in second place followed by London with five.

There are 13 new globe-spanning entries on the 2016 list, including Sepia in Australia, Quintonil in Mexico, T’ang Court in China and Restaurant Locavore in Bali.

The highest new entry on this year’s countdown is Grace in Chicago, which ranks at number 40.

To read the full list of winners in the Elite 100 Restaurants 2016, click here.