Tuju jumps 54 places to No. 16 on World's 50 Best
Chef Ivan Ralston's research-driven kitchen in Jardim Paulistano made the single biggest climb of this year's ranking, announced in Lima on 4 November.
Tuju, the São Paulo restaurant run by chef Ivan Ralston, climbed 54 places to land at No. 16 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants 2026 list, the single biggest jump of the year and enough for the Highest New Entry Award.
The results were announced on 4 November at the Teatro Municipal in Lima, Peru, where organisers singled out Ralston's kitchen for its rise from 70th place on the 2025 extended list. The leap outpaced every other debut or re-entry on this year's ranking.
Tuju sits in Jardim Paulistano, a residential pocket of São Paulo, and reopened there in September 2023 after a pandemic-era hiatus. Ralston runs the kitchen with Katherina Cordás, the restaurant's hospitality and research director, who oversees a programme built around ingredient research as much as service.
A 54-place jump from the extended list is not luck. It is three years of the same kitchen.
The menu draws on Brazilian biodiversity rather than imported staples, built around ingredients Ralston's team sources and studies before they reach a plate. That research focus, organisers said, is part of what separates Tuju from a conventional tasting-menu restaurant.
Tuju's climb from 70th to 16th
A 54-place jump in one year is unusual even on a list built to reward change. The 50 Best's extended ranking tracks 51st to 100th separately, and restaurants rarely cross from deep in that tier into the top 20 in a single edition.
Tuju had already picked up the Art of Hospitality Award earlier in 2026, the first time a Latin American restaurant has won it. The Highest New Entry Award adds a second honour in the same year, both pointing to the same team rather than a single dish or chef.
Brazil's deepest showing on the list
Tuju was not the only Brazilian name in Lima. Lasai, in Rio de Janeiro, placed 25th, giving Brazil two restaurants inside the top 30 for the first time.
The top of the list went elsewhere. Asador Etxebarri, Bittor Arginzoniz's fire-driven restaurant in Spain's Basque Country, was named the world's best, ahead of Gaggan in Bangkok and Alchemist in Copenhagen. Quintonil, in Mexico City, placed fourth, the highest finish for a Latin American restaurant that did not debut this year.
For Tuju, the harder part starts now: the extended list has plenty of 70th-place restaurants hoping for the same jump next November.
