Travelling chefs

THEY have all topped the Restaurant Guide's World's 50 Best list at one time or another. El Cellar de Can Roca is the current number one, pipping Noma from the hot spot it held for three years running. Fat Duck, in turn, was number two from 2006 to 2009 (it never reached number one on that list, and went into free fall after 2010, although it's always retained its three Michelin stars).

When you're idolised as the culinary Holy Grail, what else can you do to up your game? Perhaps in the same way that great minds think alike, the chefs of all three restaurants have taken on what could well be the ultimate culinary challenge - they're closing shop and relocating in a totally different country. Not for good, but long enough to make an impression, and it won't be long before it becomes a trend.

The Roca brothers of El Celler de Can Roca were the first to start the ball rolling last December. They quietly announced on their blog that they would spend the whole of August in South America to kick off its Roca and Roll World Tour 2014. But this news was eclipsed just two weeks ago, when Noma's Rene Redzepi and The Fat Duck's Heston Blumenthal announced within days of each other that they would be relocating their restaurants next year - two months in Tokyo for Noma and six months in Melbourne for The Fat Duck.