Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant, The Fat Duck, in Bray, Berkshire, has been declared the best place in the world to eat, by a panel of 600 chefs and critics.

Blumenthal – who is self-taught – scooped both the World’s Best Restaurant and Best In Europe at this year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.

The Fat Duck champions molecular gastronomy – a scientific approach to creating new flavours, involving dishes such as green tea and lime mousse dipped in liquid nitrogen, sardine on toast sorbet and bacon and egg ice cream.

Blumenthal said he was ‘humbled’ by the awards. He has since been booked to appear at the Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados, at its L’Acajou restaurant on 29-30 May to showcase his culinary talents.

In total, 14 British restaurants were included in the World’s 50 Best list – including Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Tom Aikens, St John, The Gallery at Sketch, Hakkasan and Nobu.