No room at top tables as bookings pour in

S PELLEGRINO TOP 50:EARLIER THIS WEEK they were named the world's top three restaurants, but it might be wise to refrain from trying to visit them just yet. The chances of getting a table, slim at the best of times, have dwindled to next to impossible.

Noma, René Redzepi’s restaurant in Copenhagen, which has just been named the world’s best in the S Pellegrino top 50 (00-45-32963297, noma.dk), is booked out until July 18th, when it closes for three weeks. The restaurant said this week that, the day after the results were announced, it had 100,000 online booking inquiries.

In repeated attempts this week, we could only get through to a voicemail message apologising for the “extraordinary number of calls with people trying to reach us”.

Number two was Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli, in Spain, which had held the top spot for the previous four years (00-34-972- 150457, elbulli.com). Our calls were met by an answerphone message in four languages that the restaurant is closed until June 15th; according to the restaurant’s website, El Bulli is booked up for the whole of the season, and requests to take cancelled tables will be “impossible to fulfil” for most people.

The good news closer to home is that the Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal’s 14-table restaurant in the English town of Bray, near London, still has some availability (00-44-1628- 580333, thefatduck.co.uk).

The bad news for anyone who likes the idea of a romantic meal there is that the three-Michelin-star restaurant has no tables for two for the next two months, which is as far ahead as it takes reservations. It has no tables at all at weekends.

“We have some tables of six available in May. We also have some tables available for June for four or six for lunch on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, but that’s it,” said spokeswoman Nikki Breaks.