In this fascinating conversation with Mark Sansom, content editor of The World’s 50 Best Bars and 50 Best Restaurants, some of the topics we discuss include:

• How Mark and his academy of experts manage to cover the entire globe in any given year, shedding a flood light not only on bars and restaurants in major markets, but also on regions that traditionally get less attention or acclaim.
• How The World’s 50 Best differs from more traditional hospitality rating indices, like the Michelin Guide.
• Which bars (and bar styles) topped the list this past year, and some fun updates about their new Best Cocktail Menu award.
• We also talk about the difficulties posed by the current pandemic: from cocktails to-go, to the rise of food-and-cocktail pairings, to the 50 Best for Recovery recipe book, which raised over 1.3 million dollars in aid for the hospitality industry.
• Along the way, we cover 50 Best’s new travel planning tool, called “Discovery,” Mark’s morning coffee ritual, the polarizing nature of sea urchin gonads, and much, much more.

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