Bangkok (Thailand) – March 25, 2020 (travelindex.com) – The “World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list is published annually and recognizes the best restaurants in the world. The selection is made by a panel of experts. The restaurants receive their awards at an annual ceremony.

When Deepak Ohri, the managing director of lebua in Bangkok, the world's first vertical luxury travel destination, received an invitation to be included in the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world, he declined.

“There are countless awards for restaurants, and many of them are not credible in the fine dining sector,” he says. Ohri showed us an invitation from “The World’s 50 Best” and his response to the group, in which he declined inclusion.

After several Michelin-starred chefs returned their stars and refused to be included in the red guide, Deepak, with his gourmet restaurants under the lebua brand, is the first to refuse inclusion in the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world or any other association with it.

Deepak Ohri is unlike most other hotel managers; he is a visionary who has achieved a new level of experiential luxury with exclusive experiences at lebua. When Ohri isn't giving keynote speeches at the Harvard Kennedy School or IIM Bangalore, he mingles with the rich and famous, from Barack Obama and George Clooney to Tony Blair and David Cameron (see below).

After facing criticism in the past, the "World's 50 Best Restaurants" list revised its rules in 2019 to promote greater diversity in restaurant recommendations and a more balanced gender ratio on the judging panel. Does Ohri's refusal indicate that further changes are needed for "World's 50 Best Restaurants"?