Why is this the world's best restaurant

Don't knock it just because the award's from TripAdvisor, says Richard Vines

I’ve eaten at six establishments that have held that title. My travels have taken me to glorious locations, from a hillside villa overlooking the sea in Catalonia to the back streets of Modena, Italy.

I never expected to journey to a village pub deep in the countryside of northern England — reached by a narrow and winding road — where the first thing you see when you finally arrive is a group of locals enjoying a pint of beer on a bench outside.

The Black Swan at Oldstead scooped the title last week in the TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Restaurants awards