The most beautiful restaurants in the world
Danilo ScarpatiRistorante Cavallino, Italy
A considered pit stop in Italy's hallowed land of speed
Enzo Ferrari may have been the king of the Formula One racetrack, but his favourite place to eat was his factory’s canteen, later the Ristorante Cavallino, a few miles outside Modena in Maranello. He could be found there daily from the late 1940s to his death in 1988 – a simple plate of risotto or tortellini in front of him, a bottle of Lambrusco on ice, and often accompanied by the racing star of the day or a visiting royal figure. But now there’s been a shift of gear. With a little assistance from chef Massimo Bottura and architect India Mahdavi, the Cavallino has been remodelled, keeping its sense of history – pristine engines are showcased like artworks around the dining room – while playing with Ferrari’s red-and-yellow palette and prancing horse motif, a pixelated version of which trots across wallpaper and mosaic-tiled columns. Lacquered chairs have been upcycled from a nearby hotel; the terracotta floor mimics the pattern of trattoria tablecloths. As for the menu, Italy’s seemingly inexhaustible culinary champion is having fun with the region’s heritage: Bottura has revived a generations-old recipe of baked pasta with ham, elevating it with edible silver leaf, while the emblematic tortellini del Tortellante is made by young adults from the local autism project that he runs with his wife Lara Gilmore. The Cavallino has been a place of petrol-head pilgrimage for decades, but now foodies can join in on the action too. Erica Firpo
Website: ferrari.com
Hanru Marais @hanrumaraisphotographyKlein Jan, Kalahari
A wildly ambitious subterranean space in the heart of the Kalahari
If anybody can package local provenance provocatively, it’s Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, the first South African chef to achieve a Michelin star, for his namesake restaurant in Nice, France. And while Cape Town would have been the obvious choice for his home-turf debut, instead he opted for the meatier task of creating a ground-breaking restaurant, Klein JAN, in Tswalu game reserve in the southern Kalahari. The initial challenge of tracking down Northern Cape ingredients involved driving for days (sourcing within 300 miles is considered close in these parts) to meet small-scale farmers growing pecans, pistachios, grapes and organic grains to mill into unrefined flour for bread. Then there were the cheesemakers, fourth-generation butchers and craft distillers creating not just gin and vermouth but local favourite witblits. The restaurant’s architecture is brilliantly elemental, taking its design cues from native creatures that seek refuge by burrowing underground. Here, nobody sits in a chair for hours on end. Guests are given different courses in different spaces; built beneath a dune, most of Klein JAN remains unseen until you descend into the cathedral-like root cellar. Try biltong-dusted savoury lamingtons on the stoep, or a mug of butternut-squash soup cooked on Jan’s grandmother’s old stove. The 10-plate main course is delivered at once, as if for a photoshoot, in the glass-fronted long room and might include dry-aged beef from Kuruman sizzling on a hot rock and mini sweet-potato mille-feuille. After pudding and local cheeses (served with brandy-steeped raisins), everyone ends up on the roof to stargaze while sipping coffee made from the roasted, ground roots of a shepherd’s tree. By Jane Broughton
Dinner included for guests at the Tswalu camps; lunch tasting menu and wine pairing, about £125 per person
Website: janonline.com
Chris SchalkxTax Bar, Bangkok
A sharp Bangkok bar is combining shrimp paste with drinking vinegars
‘Nothing is certain but death and tax’ reads the sign above a dimly lit staircase on the fringe of Bangkok’s Chinatown. It marks the entrance to Tax bar, a concrete-clad, paint-smeared loft, which was opened last November by mixologist Niks Anuman-Rajadhon – the brains behind gin-centric Teens of Thailand and the foraged cocktails at Asia Today, both down the street. While shrubs (or drinking vinegars) are becoming more popular in late-night hangouts across the globe, Tax is moving the syrupy mocktails on with a more irreverent take. House-made from stout, Riesling or brut Champagne, its innovative vinegars are meant as a leftfield joke on the killjoys in charge in a country where draconian laws mean advertising alcohol is an offence punished more severely than driving under the influence. Even craft breweries face so many regulatory obstacles that it’s more cost-effective to shift production across the border to Cambodia and import their beers back in. The tongue-in-cheek angle here is that although Tax’s vinegars lose their alcoholic kick in the brewing process, they are at least derived from booze, and lend an umami punch to gin and rum cocktails alongside unconventional additions such as bell-pepper-infused vermouth and shrimp paste. Free of frills – decorations are dismissed as ‘cocktail ketchup’ – and more savoury than sweet, they offer an antidote to the flower-flecked drinks found around town. This envelope-pushing den adds a whole new flavour to Bangkok’s bar scene. By Chris Schalkx
Website: facebook.com/taxbarbkk
Nicolaj DidriksenLyst, Copenhagen, Denmark
A bold Danish newcomer pairs elemental dishes with striking architecture
Copenhagen has been the restaurant capital of the world for a number of years, but now there are some exciting things happening outside the city, too. Forty miles south of Aarhus, on the first floor of Fjordenhus – the extraordinary gesamtkunstwerk designed by installation artist Olafur Eliasson together with architect Sebastian Behmann – Lyst is a no-expense-spared, ‘build it and they will come’ kind of a place. Constructed at a rumoured cost of more than £100 million, the three conjoined towers also house Kirk Kapital, an investment fund run by three grandsons of Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen – the restaurant was the passion project of one of the brothers, the late Morten Kirk Johansen. With chef Daniel McBurnie, who spent time in a handful of Copenhagen’s top kitchens, at the helm, it’s intended to rival achievements such as Geranium and Noma. The course that perhaps best epitomises it – the name means both ‘desire’ and ‘to be light’ – is, ironically, its simplest: a glass of Krug Champagne accompanied by a slice of sourdough and a rectangle of butter. The Krug (when I dined, a Grande Cuvée Edition) shows that Nina Højgaard Jensen, silver medallist at the 2019 sommelier world championships, is in charge of the cellar; the salty butter is locally sourced, like pretty much everything else on the menu, from the Lyskvad caviar to the Limfjord oysters and the langoustines from the Kattegat strait; and the bread is made with water from the owner’s natural spring. That it comes midway through the 20-course feast adds an aptly discombobulating touch. Diners move from the circular glass-topped bar – having tasted snacks such as a small salt-baked beetroot shattered with a silver hammer cast from the mould of a forest twig – to the dining room with its sail-like table dividers, via the oyster bar and grill out on the balconies. Eliasson has said they aimed to create a restaurant at ‘the intersection of food, architecture, design and people’. Along with a sizable dose of chutzpah. By Michael Booth
Price: Tasting menu about £280
Website: restaurantlyst.com
Felix AdlerCéu Dining, Leipzig, Germany
How the legendary architect's vision turned a factory canteen into an incredible place to eat
A year before his death in 2012 aged 104, architect Oscar Niemeyer received a letter from Ludwig Koehne, a German crane manufacturer, requesting he design ‘an intimate yet spacious restaurant with a special view’ in Leipzig. The letter was part of Koehne’s plan to hold on to his brilliant canteen chef Tibor Herzigkeit who was growing tired of cooking for 100-plus employees daily and wanted to move into the restaurant world (he was already drawing an excited crowd of paying customers to the cafeteria set in the factory’s old boiler building). Surprisingly, perhaps, the Brazilian architect said yes and the space-age sphere is believed to have been one of his final sketches. It took almost nine years to create, but now a curved staircase leads visitors from a lower hemisphere bar to the bright, open room in the upper half of the gravity-defying space that looks out over the city. At Céu (sky in Portuguese), Herzigkeit finally has the opportunity to experiment. Using ingredients from a rooftop garden next door, he shines a light on vegetables in his seasonal 10-course menu that spans the globe – hopping from a local allerlei pot stew to a black-bean feijoada in honour of Niemeyer and an exhilarating dish of pear juice with shaved ice and chilli, which recalls memories of summer popsicles. Not only is this the region’s most exciting new architectural landmark but the most talked-about restaurant to open here in a decade. By Florian Siebeck
Website: technesphere.de /ceu
Ilana FreddyeOutstanding in the Field, USA
A back-to-the-land roving restaurant without walls
When pioneering chef and artist Jim Denevan hosted his first supper club in a California orchard in 1999, his idea – to bring the kitchen to the source while reconnecting diners with the land – was simple yet trailblazing. More than 20 years later, the venues keep getting cooler. This year, among others, is a mezcal distillery in a remote Oaxacan agave field, a seaside retreat on Nicaragua’s Emerald Coast and a wooden pier in Malibu with the waves breaking below. With each dinner, Denevan’s 150-person tablescape creates an otherworldly artwork: stretched across a ridge overlooking the Pacific on a ranch in Australia’s Byron Bay or arching through a golden pasture in Texas, pictured. But what ensures its cultish popularity is the killer food: ambrosial lamb curry cooked amid the foothills of Virginia, bowls of stracciatella di bufala with tomatoes from a fourth-generation farm in Connecticut. Keep a keen eye out for location releases because most of the family-style feasts sell out within an hour. By Lauren Matison
Website: outstandinginthefield.com
Art SanchezBotanic, Mallorca
Veg-centric cooking in Palma’s loveliest hotel
The forces of nature seem irrepressible at Botànic, a restaurant in a restored 16th-century mansion turned hidden-away place to stay. Ivy creepers wheedle their way back through parlour walls, bird cages swing from the ceiling, everything chirps with vitality. The vision of spritely chef Andrés Benitez (ex Michelin-starred Bou) is an ode to Mallorca’s horticultural wonders. For his smart take on healthy eating, he invents, deconstructs and recalibrates recipes to deliver a nutritious score of flavours. The steamed avocado, for example, sits on a colourful cushion of pumpkin puree, broccolini and grapefruit. Set on the edge of Palma’s largest private garden, this is the most life-enhancing feast in the Balearics right now. By Stephanie Rafanelli
Address: Forn de la Glória 14 - 07012 Palma de Mallorca, Baleares, Spain
Telephone: +34 871 871 202
Website: canbordoy.com
Claes Bech PoulsenAlchemist, Copenhagen
A six-hour sensory supper of snowballs and edible plastic from a firebrand Danish chef
In a former warehouse that's entirely sealed from natural light, Alchemist takes dining to epic proportions: 50 immersive courses served in five rooms over six hours. One space replicates the sights and sounds of New York City; in another, guests watch the chefs working with hi-tech, lab-like equipment in front of jars of freeze-dried ingredients (pictured). There's an air of rebellion at this Copenhagen joint. Young-gun chef Rasmus Munk's experimental plates range from fun – solid G&Ts; white fermented-tomato snowballs – to shocking and confrontational. Cod jaw is topped with pickled dill and edible plastic; chicken feet protrude from a tiny cage; lamb's brain is sliced at the table; a dish of sharp ice chunks floating in red liquid is named 'blood diamond'. Everything can be made for vegans, including the brain, replaced with Jerusalem-artichoke purée and coated in cherry sauce. In the domed main room – where dreamlike overhead projections change from an aurora borealis-filled sky to jellyfish drifting beside plastic bags – diners are invited to kiss strawberries and edible petals off a rubber tongue. Elsewhere, apple-sauce 'antibiotics' are injected into a morsel of pork. In an age when food consumption has become an environmental issue, Munk is using the plate as his platform to speak out. A night here might just spark the most interesting dinner conversations you've ever had. By Clare Vooght
Address: Alchemist, Refshalevej 173C, DK-1432, Copenhagen
Telephone: +45 31 71 61 61
Website: alchemist.dk
Vespertine, Los Angeles
LA's next-generation tasting menu
Having worked at some of the finest kitchens in the USA – Alinea, French Laundry and Per Se – chef Jordan Kahn made his solo debut with LA’s minimalist, much-loved Destroyer. His follow-up, Vespertine, is just across the road in Eric Owen Moss’s teetering Waffle Building. A lift deposits diners straight into the kitchen to meet Kahn himself, before being escorted to the rooftop to begin in the 20-something-course experience against the backdrop of a Culver City sunset. At a time when every other chef on the planet is raving about local ingredients, Kahn is doing the opposite: eat at Vespertine and you won’t know what’s on your plate, let alone where anything has come from. The otherworldly ceramics might bear bright red spinach or a slab of soft fruit laminated with sunflower petals, sparkling curls of something bright and white that turn out to be asparagus, or a fish dish with no sign of fish at all. The waiters, wearing uniforms seemingly inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale, are instructed to let guests puzzle through the menu by themselves. Kahn’s latest project is certainly the most controversial, talked-about restaurant among foodies right now. By Tabitha Joyce
Address: Vespertine, 3599 Hayden Avenue, Culver City, California, USA
Telephone: +1 323 320 4023
Website: vespertine.la
Erin LittleCervo's, New York City
NYC's buzziest after-work haunts
In a hip, lively block on the edge of New York City’s Chinatown, Cervo’s feels like a hangout for wine lovers who also need to eat. The seafood-focused, Iberian inspired restaurant is headed up by Nialls Fallon, Leah Campbell and chef Nick Perkins, the same team behind always-rammed Brooklyn joints Hart’s and The Fly, which pour killer natural wines and serve unpretentious dishes. Almost everything at Cervo’s is to be shared, and preferably soaked up with lots of sourdough, with small plates including meaty prawns a la plancha, juicy scallops drizzled in chilli oil and paper-thin serrano ham with cucumber. There are also more substantial mains to tuck into, such as half a piri-piri chicken served with a heap of fries and a tender lamb burger topped with vinegary anchovies. But people are really here to sit at the sleek, minimal bar and sip Portuguese orange wine while snacking on crispy shrimp heads. You could almost be in Lisbon if it weren’t for the sound of the F train rumbling in the distance. By Lale Arikoglu
Address: Cervo's, 43 Canal Street, New York, NY 10002, United States
Website: cervosnyc.com
Warren Heath / BureauxWolfgat, South Africa
A foraged find in South Africa
The 20 seats in this humble cottage above a beach in Paternoster, two hours from Cape Town, get snapped up months in advance. Here, chef Kobus van der Merwe has gained a cult following for his foraged beach vegetation menu. But success didn’t arrive overnight. He has been pioneering sustainable cooking on South Africa’s west coast for a decade – first at Oep ve Koep (the tiny bistro he still runs in his parents’ farm stall) and now at Wolfgat, pictured, named after a nearby cave which contains remnants of an early civilisation. Today, he uses ingredients typical of the ancient diet of the nomadic Strandlopers, who combed the shores of this stark coast. Seasonal foods include bokkoms (dried fish), veldkool (flower buds) and pickled slangbessies berries. Wild oysters are whipped into a pâté with housemade fynbos-infused vermouth and foraged purslane. And for pudding there might be crispy kelp served with sweet pear ice cream. This off-the-beaten-track spot is worth the significant detour out of the city. By Jane Broughton
Address: Wolfgat, 10 Sampson St, Kliprug, Paternoster, 7381, South Africa
Website: wolfgat.co.za
Chris SchalkxFV, Bangkok
A rustic no-waste Bangkok arrival
‘I take what’s undesired and make people want it,’ says Opas Chantkam, founder of FV (Fruits and Vegetables), a low-key, high-concept juice bar in Bangkok’s Chinatown. The Thailand native left a career as a creative director in London and New York to return home to where, he says, ‘the balance was off’.
Irked by the fact that local farmers could barely make ends meet because modern food consumption requires unblemished, highly modified goods, he set out to make a difference. Working with natural farms and research groups, he re-grows Thai crops to prevent them dying out. The produce (shogun oranges, guavas, red tamarind) ends up in FV’s kitchen, where pulpy drinks bring out the fruit’s flavours. Even the ultimate unwanted flora make it onto the menu in weed juices, made from ivy gourd and sleeping grass.
This anti-industrial ethos extends to the interiors. Beneath the mirrored ceiling stands a reconstructed original, stilted Isaan dwelling; Buddhist art hangs on the walls; glasses are fashioned from discarded bottles. FV’s mission is admirable – it walks the locavore talk and provides a much-needed antidote to the city’s increasingly over-polished restaurant scene. By Chris Schalkx
Address: FV, 827 Song Wat Road, Bangkok
Telephone: +66 81 866 0533
Steve HerudBar Shuka, Frankfurt
A taste of Tel Aviv in Frankfurt
Though new Israeli flavours have taken root all over the globe it’s still a surprise to find some of the most exciting iterations in Germany’s financial capital. Frankfurt’s Bahnhofsviertel, a red-light district long avoided by locals, is home to the majority of the city’s 180 nationalities — arguably the most international quarter in the world. It has become a bit of a foodie hub, too, ever since the arrival of German-Jewish entrepreneurs David and James Ardinast and their restaurant, Stanley Diamond, and deli, Maxie Eisen. For their latest brainchild, Bar Shuka (shuk means ‘market’ in Hebrew), the Ardinast brothers enlisted chefs Stephan Kaiser and Yossi Elad — the mastermind behind The Palomar in London — to create a standout menu. Dishes include shared plates spiced up with homemade harissa and za’atar; pillowy pita; roasted cauliflower with tomato salsa and almonds; oxtail ravioli with polenta; and crispy aubergine with mango puree. There’s also a velvety speakeasy sake bar, but the action is in the restaurant where neon letter spell ‘friendship’ in Hebrew and Arabic. It’s a lively spot — the volume ramps up as the night unfolds, with dancing on tabletops actively encouraged. By Florian Siebeck
Address: Bar Shuka Niddastraße 56, 60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Telephone: +49 69 2566772280
Website: barshuka.com
Il Pescatore, Sardinia
Sardinia's original honeypot buzzes again after a shiny bright upgrade
When the Aga Khan turned Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda into a millionaire’s paradise in the 1960s this rugged north-eastern coast quickly became a place for mega-yachts to dock. Since then, Beyoncé, Rihanna, the Clooneys and the Obamas have all dropped anchor. While restaurants in high-glamour destinations can often be more show than substance, Il Pescatore, surrounded by pine trees and with a wooden terrace that juts into the sea, has always been a charmer. Designed by Jacques Couelle in the 1960s, it was the first smart place to eat in the seaside town of Porto Cervo and has been dishing up simple fish dishes ever since. Now, following an overhaul by London designers Blacksheep modelled on a fisherman’s adobe hut, it has a roof of bleached logs, terracotta tiles and a raw-stone-bar-turned-DJ-booth lit by blown-glass bubble lampshades. But it’s not just a new look; with it comes a new chef, Antonio Mellino of two-Michelin-starred Amalfi favourite Quattro Passi. And with him, a new name: Quattropassi al Pescatore. The menu is still centred on seafood, but it’s more refined. There’s amberjack tartare, calamari sliced into ribbons of fettucine and the chef’s famous lobster spaghetti. People come for the oysters, but stay for the dancing. This old-time Porto Cervo legend is back in the spotlight – the only place to be on Sardinia this summer. By Sebastian Marc Graham
Address: Il Pescatore, Costa Smeralda, 07020 Porto Cervo OT, Italy
Telephone: +39 0789 931624
Website: ilpescatorerestaurant.com
Jacs PowellSaddles, Australia
A bush restaurant from the man who put Bondi icebergs on the map
In a most unexpected location, an hour’s drive from Sydney on the Central Coast, is a new no-expenses-spared restaurant. Anywhere else, its boot-scootin’ cowboy aesthetic might be on the wrong side of kitsch. But here, on 25 acres overlooking a large dam and surrounded by thick and dry, sepia-toned bush landscape, it works. Saddles was opened by John Singleton, the most moneyed advertising big shot in Sydney – if not Australia – who once owned Bondi’s scene-stealing Icebergs.
Here it feels like the Man from Snowy River has retired in prosperity and turned his ranch into a daybreak escape for city-slickers. There are grand sandstone fireplaces and leather saddles doubling as bar stools – crafted at a cost of up to £4,000 each by artisanal master saddler Heath Harris. The food is simple and hearty, and completely unpretentious: whole roast chickens, tender lamb shoulder and meat pies packed with rich, slow-cooked beef chunks steeped in red wine. Everything from the tomato sauce to the still-warm sourdough is made here, and native ingredients such as finger limes, lemon myrtle and Davidson plums are picked from the restaurant garden; the drinks list, bar the Champagne, is all-Australian, too. Saddles has injected some oomph into the go-slow coast, a once lo-fi spot that’s now attracting a savvy Sydney crowd every weekend. Among a smattering of new openings in the area, this is certainly the place to be for Sunday lunch – worthy of a motorway detour in its own right. By Chloe Sachdev
Address: Saddles, 20 Ashbrookes Road, Mount White, New South Wales, Australia
Telephone: +2 4370 1152
Website: saddlesmountwhite.com.au
Douglas FriedmanChe Fico, San Fransisco
West coast pizza pioneers tempt purists with the ultimate cheesy crust
From dough to toppings, pizza can be a divisive topic in the USA. Adherents usually fall into one of two camps (New York thin-base vs Chicago deep-dish), so imagine the collective surprise when a small taverna in San Francisco proposed a whole new type: a distinctively wide crust – at least an inch all around – roasted at a low temperature, with a charred finish, then sprinkled generously with Parmesan.
Che Fico’s pizzas are visually thrilling, but the use of local Californian produce is what really hits the mark: the changing menu may involve pizza with mortadella, ricotta, pistachio and avocado-blossom honey, or piquant pineapple, red onion and fermented chilli. Ex-Eleven Madison Park chef David Nayfeld’s menu has been an instant success. Since opening, the same team have launched Theorita downstairs, an old-school diner where the pie obsession is sweet rather than savoury. Social-media attention from early fans including Gwyneth Paltrow ensured that, seemingly overnight, Che Fico became the hardest reservation to get in the entire country. By Todd Plummer
Address: Che Fico, 838 Divisadero St, San Francisco, CA USA
Telephone: +1 415 416 6959
Website: chefico.com
Martin WestlakeRoom 4 Dessert, Ubud, Bali
A Balinese remake by a New York pastry wizard
Will Goldfarb is the Willy Wonka of Bali. His story started in New York: after a stint at Spain’s El Bulli and a few pastry-chef roles, he struck gold with the original Room 4 Dessert, a 20-seater pudding bar in Nolita that quickly obtained rave reviews as well as regulars including film director Wes Anderson.
When it was shuttered following a fallout with his partners, Goldfarb upped sticks and relaunched it in Bali – this time flanked by palm trees, with ingredients such as fresh cocoa, palm sugar and soursop on his doorstep. His all-pudding tasting menu features Incidente Stradale, mixing jamu, a traditional tonic, with coconut and coffee, while Angel’s Kiss is made with jackfruit, pandan and mango. All of his creations are paired with wine or a cocktail – the Planifoglia, a cheesecake-like sabayon, is matched with a vodka-based mangosteen and hibiscus concoction.
From April the surrounding gardens will also be put to work, meaning medicinal herbs will be picked minutes before they’re used. Combining Goldfarb’s skills with his passion for Bali’s local ingredients has been a sweet success – this is the most exciting restaurant in Indonesia, if not Asia, right now. By Anna Chittenden
Address: Room 4 Dessert Jl. Raya Sanggingan, Kedewatan, Ubud Kabupaten Gianyar, Bali 80561, Indonesia
Telephone: +62 813-3705-0539
Website: room4dessert.asia
Line KleinBarr, Copenhagen
The Nordic food revolution continues with an upstart in Noma's old home
After René Redzepi moved his game-changing restaurant, Noma, from its warehouse on Copenhagen’s harbourfront, a restaurant called Barr arrived to inhabit its space. With Redzepi a co-owner, its head chef, Thorsten Schmidt, knew he had to find a way to fill the shoes of its lauded predecessor. So rather than exploring the Nordic region, he embraced flavours inspired by Denmark’s southerly neighbours, the lands of beer and meatballs. But what meatballs! Following epic tasting sessions, Schmidt led with venison and wild duck frikadeller, which have been a huge hit. There are also hauntingly good marrowbone waffles with lumpfish roe, and cod tail glazed in ‘Barr-mite’ (Schmidt’s rich, oniony version of Marmite). The schnitzel, meanwhile, is a Platonic ideal of the dish, with super-tender pork and a coating as crisp as the topping on a crème brûlée. The style is less hair-shirt and more cosseting than New Nordic places tend to be. In a city that sees new openings wither on a wave of short-lived hubris, Barr stands apart for its consistency: it makes the stuff you want to eat, slightly differently than expected and much better than anyone else. Noma might be the once-in-a-lifetime experience, but Barr – which always has space for walk-ins – is the place to become a regular. Lightning can, it seems, strike twice. By Michael Booth
Address: Barr, Strandgade 93, 1401 København, Denmark
Telephone: +45 32 96 32 93
Website: restaurantbarr.comOur review of Noma 2.0
Douglas MerriamPalace Diner, Biddeford near Portland, Maine
A perfectly-edited diner menu in Biddeford
The sheer number of outstanding restaurant openings in Portland, Maine, over the last year means that this small New England city is suddenly in the spotlight. There’s Moxie-braised pork belly at Little Giant, oven-warm biscuits spread with Maine blueberry jam at Tandem Coffee and Bakery, briny bivalves from The Shop at Island Creek Oysters, traditional sushi at Izakaya Minato, and flawless bagels at Jewish deli Rose Foods. But while modern food trends have percolated in downtown Portland, an unpretentious local favourite has patiently stood guard just a few minutes south, in the town of Biddeford. Palace Diner is set in a repurposed railway car, with an open kitchen and a single line of bar stools (no booths), where owners Greg Mitchell and Chad Conley have got rid of any sad frozen ingredients. Consider this a greasy spoon without the grease. Instead, there’s a perfectly edited menu of just 12 dishes, including buttermilk-pancake stacks, house-smoked corn-beef hash and a tuna melt that is so well-executed it’s a winner with both regulars and critics. If you’re flying in and out of Boston and driving up to Portland, the route brings you through Biddeford, so there’s no excuse not to stop. Better yet, stop on your way back too, because this modern distillation of the quintessential American diner is worth a double hit. By Todd Plummer
Address: Palace Diner, 2502, 18 Franklin St, Biddeford, Maine, United States
Telephone: +1 207 284 0015
Website: palacedinerme.com
Jimena AgoisKJOLLE, Lima, Peru
The wife of Lima's most famous chef goes it on her own
Working with her husband Virgilio Martínez at their restaurant Central in Lima, Pía León may just be the most famous chef you’ve never heard of. She’s spent the last decade traversing Peru’s mountains, valleys and rivers sourcing ingredients such as Amazonian pacay (ice-cream bean) for the Mater Elevations menu at Central, ranked number six in the World’s 50 Best list. But, this year – following the launch of Mil, the couple’s ambitious Andean project, 3,500 metres above sea level, as well as the relocation of Central to Lima’s hipster Barranco district – León has opened her first solo joint: Kjolle (pronounced coy-yay).
Where Central focuses on ecosystems on an altitude-by-altitude basis, here León is plating Peru her way. Her monthly-changing eight-step tasting menu fuses ingredients from all over the country, matching the Amazon jungle with the Andean high plateau. Pato curado – duck tartare – stars Pacific baby squid, crunchy onion rings and kañihua, an Andean cereal, while Muchos Tubérculos is a vibrant tart tribute to Peru’s 4,000 root vegetables. The indidivual dishes on the tasting menu can also be ordered as larger sharing platters.
This new Barranco hub is home to a cocktail bar, Mayo, too, as well as the HQ of the couple’s biological and cultural research arm, Mater Iniciativa. Some flavours will tickle taste buds for the first time, such as black mashua – a wrinkled black tuber that tastes like fermented corn juice. ‘Mater does its work, then I do mine,’ explains León. Finally, Peru’s best female chef has taken centre stage. By Sorrel Moseley-Williams
Address: Kjolle, Avenue Pedro de Osma 301, Barranco, Lima, Peru
Telephone: +51 977 476 408
Website: kjolle.com
Ana LuiBottega Il Buco, Ibiza
A tiny open kitchen on Ibiza is the summer's table to book
In 1994 then couple Donna Lennard and Alberto Avalle started serving lunch at their antique shop in Manhattan. Their rustic Italian food quickly led to Il Buco becoming a perennially packed New York City stalwart, where artists, actors and East Villagers still mingle (artist Chuck Closeis a regular). Now the two have reunited to open their first restaurant outside the USA in, of all places, Ibiza. New for summer 2018, Bottega Il Buco is a Roman-style focacceria and wine bar in the curiously smart village of Santa Gertrudis, which, just like the NYC restaurant, is stuffed with vintage furniture and artisan terracotta tableware from Lennard’s home collection.
The tiny open kitchen turns out focaccia, of course, as well as Italian meats and cheeses, homemade pasta and creative crudos (try the red-prawn tartare). There are Spanish influences on the menu too, with dishes such as Ibicencan orange salad with pistachios and chilli. This place has quickly evolved into an insider’s spot, with islanders gathering for morning espressos and in-the-know visitors sipping biodynamic wines under the blue awning in the evening. Once again, Lennard and Avalle’s less is more approach has created a local institution in a matter of minutes. By Meredith Maltby
Address: Bottega Il Buco, Carrer Vénda de Parada, 12, 07814 Santa Gertrudis de Fruitera, Illes Balears, Spain
Telephone: +34 971 19 76 76
Website: bottegailbuco.com
Marie-Pierre MorelQuadri Restaurant, Venice
A grand café reinvented on St Mark's Square
Over the years this grand café gained a list of regulars that included Lord Byron, Alexandre Dumas and Marcel Proust. But the romantic veneer of the square diminished amid the relentless commercialism that swept over Venice at the end of the 20th century (along with pigeon photographers and gondolier hats), and Quadri was no longer quite the place to be seen. Then, in 2011, chef Massimiliano Alajmo and his brother Raffaele arrived, a duo with three Michelin stars at Le Calandre in Padua, and it wasn’t long before Quadri earnt one of its own.
The Max and Raf menus highlight each of the brother’s personalities; Max is the innovative one, Raf the more traditional. But the tasting menu – 16 courses for two – is a combination of both, with dishes such as cappuccino di laguna, a mix of lagoon seafood and moeche, a soft-shell crab only found in the Venetian islands served with green fronds of samphire-like agretti.
Yet it is only this year that the restaurant’s 250-year-old interior caught up with the kitchen’s contemporary attitude. Philippe Starck, the man responsible for projects as diverse as the Mama Shelter hotels, Steve Job’s yacht and the interiors for a new space station, set to launch in 2020, has uncovered the palace’s original stuccowork from beneath layer upon layer of paint. Old-fashioned wall coverings have been replaced with earthy tones modelled on a 16th-century silk brocade – but look closely as there are rockets and satellites as well as portraits of Massimiliano and Raffaele within the fabric. And on shelves above the doors, whimsical taxidermy rabbits and foxes are ready to take flight, a nod to the winged lion that guards the city. Reserve a table by the window on the first floor for a front-row view over the square, high above the crowds – because this is once again the most-coveted spot in Venice. By Erica Firpo
Address: Quadri Restaurant, Piazza San Marco, 121, 30124 Venice, Italy
Telephone: +39 041 522 2105
Website: alajmo.it
Sophia van den Hoek Photography @un_fol_edCarbon, Paris
The French capital's prettiest parilla
The French capital’s coolest restaurant couple Sabrina Goldin and her partner Stéphane Abby (of canal Saint-Martin’s Argentine-inspired Asado Club and Empanaderia) have moved into the Marais for their most recent, and possibly smartest, opening yet. It’s inspired by an Argentine parrilla and practically everything is cooked on a Spanish oak-fed grill. A duck breast on the menu is hay-smoked and oysters are served straight from the parrilla. Start with a rhubarb spritz and finish with the steak, served with crisp, herby roast potatoes – which, in a place dedicated to meat-lovers, is hard to beat. For pudding, even a zesty burnt-lemon tart is topped with a charcoal meringue. The bare flagstone walls and exposed-brick floors were designed with Buenos Aires in mind and the industrial globe lamps, slatted wooden benches and cascade of greenery add to the effect. For a nightcap, follow the smart regulars downstairs to clandestine cocktail bar La Mina (Spanish for coalmine) for more charcoal-sprinkled concoctions. They’ve really run with that fiery theme, and the result is one of the hottest restaurants in Paris right now. By Karin Mueller
Address: Carbón, Rue Charlot, Paris 75003
Telephone: + 33 1 4272 4912
Website: carbonparis.com
Michael GrimmThe French Laundry, California
The restaurant that reinvented Californian cooking has had a fresh spin
A century ago, the stone-and-timber building that now houses the French Laundry was an actual laundry – fitting for a place that helped wipe clean tired notions of haute cuisine. From its first service in 1994, under chef and owner Thomas Keller, this rustic retreat in Napa Valley made French fine dining seem playful, Californian. One dish – oysters and pearls – combined poached shellfish with caviar and tapioca sabayon; another – salmon tartare in a flaky-pastry cone – was inspired by the chef’s fondness for Baskin Robbins. Anthony Bourdain called it ‘the best restaurant in the world, period’. And in 2006, the French Laundry was awarded three Michelin stars, which it has hung on to ever since. Now, in a design overhaul, Norway’s Snøhetta (the studio behind Oslo Opera House and the Times Square reboot, among other projects) has created a huge new kitchen, curved ceilings that mimic the rumples of an unfurled tablecloth, a hearth for wood-firing and a garden shaded by Japanese maple. Ever ambitious, Keller has crafted a nine-course seasonal menu to match, with no ingredient starring twice. Grilled wagyu beef might be served with Dungeness crab; beetroot salad topped with red walnuts and preserved green strawberries. Regulars, though, are grateful that his signature pudding – mini doughnuts with cappuccino semifreddo – remains. Keller’s kitchen has long been a springboard for others (René Redzepi did a stint here) but the restaurant continues to evolve. The laundry feels as fresh as it did 24 years ago. By Josh Sens
Address: The French Laundry, 6640 Washington St, Yountville, California, USA
Telephone: +1 707 944 2380
Website: thomaskeller.com/tfl
Leo's Oyster Bar, San Francisco
An island-inspired design den in San Francisco's Financial District
Leo’s Oyster bar may sit in the hub of the city’s Financial District, but wander through its inconspicuous entrance and you’ll find a space straight out of the 1960’s. It’s a spot for Mad Men-style lunches of oysters, clams, shrimp and New England lobster rolls. But it’s the bespoke leafy wallpaper, glowing onyx bar and rattan furniture that are drawing a clued-in crowd from all over town. The secret weapon is the tiki bar out back, The Hideaway, which serves giant punch bowls of banana Daiquiri to share. The retro cocktail lounge has become the beacon of breezy indulgence for the banking set and way beyond – a place where one rum-and-amaretto cocktail can quickly spiral into four. By Angela Tafoya
Address: Leo’s Oyster Bar, 568 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, California, USA
Telephone: +1 415 872 9982
Website: leossf.com
El Portalon, Dalt Vila, Ibiza
Farm-to-table dining in a 600-year-old palazzo in Dalt Vila
Head to the little hillside restaurant of El Portalon at sunset and it glows an extraordinary pink. This low-key spot is the work of American organic-tomato farmer Anne Sijmonsbergen, who kickstarted the Ibiza's foodie revolution 13 years ago (encapsulated in her essential cookbook Eivissa). Championing all things seasonal and responsibly sourced, for her first restaurant she’s teamed up with restauranteur Justin Mallet and chef Filippo Alberi, both from perennially popular local hangout Babylon Beach Bar, and head chef Joel Bonino, of Jason Atherton’s Pollen Street Social. Opt for a table on the vine-smothered terrace and order the Catalan fried courgette with honey from Sijmonsbergen’s farm or the squid stuffed with spinach and sobrasada. If Babylon Beach is where the party usually ends up, El Portalon is the steal-away spot to start off in. By Francesca Syz
Address: El Portalon, Plaça dels Desemparats, 1, Eivissa, Illes Balears, Ibiza
Telephone: +34 871 110 925
Website: elportalonibiza.com
Marco PinarelliLiza Beirut
The Beirut table everyone's talking about
Beirut was once known as the Paris of the Middle East. Her beauty is still there, though you must look harder for it now. Your reward is to stumble on a jewel such as the Bustros Palace, a lavish 19th century townhouse. Liza Asseily’s restaurant Liza Beirut occupies the first floor. Its intricate interiors respect the past without being stuck in it – each light-flooded room is playfully themed according to its wallpaper of banana leaves, vintage banknotes or skyscrapers. The menu is classic Lebanese, impeccably executed. There are cooler parts of town, but Liza Beirut, in slightly stuffy Achrafieh, is an outstanding example of the growing confidence with which the city is embracing its cosmopolitan history while making it new, with style and a sense of humour.
Address: Liza Beirut, Metropolitan Club Doumani Street, Trabaud, Achrafieh, Beirut, Lebanon
Telephone: +961 1 208 108
Website: lizabeirut.com
Wanda Cafe, Madrid
New-wave health food in Madrid
Can a café sum up the mood of a city? Designer Parolio thinks his latest project, Wanda, does just that. The Spanish capital was hit hard by the financial crisis, but now fresh rays of optimism are peeking through, with funky new hotels and trend-tapping restaurants opening in a flurry. Nowhere is this positivity more visible than right here. ‘After the grey recession years I wanted to communicate the opposite: vitality, joy, colour’ says Parolio. Walls are painted ice-cream shades; fluorescent tones pop from the ikat motifs on cushions below photos of Californian summers. That new-wave healthy West Coast feel extends to the menu too: sea-bass carpaccio and lentil-and-tofu burgers with beetroot houmous. It gets more sinful after dark when bright young things sink frozen Melon Daiquiris. This day-to-night hangout is forging a fresh-faced revolution in the city, with organic market El Huerto de Lucas and juice bars such as the living-wall-covered Fit Food popping up all over town.
Address: Wanda Café, Calle de María de Molina, 1, Madrid, Spain
Telephone: +34 91 737 53 64
Website: wandacafe.com
Thomas AntcliffUlu Cliffhouse, Uluwatu, Bali
A beach club with rooms in Uluwatu
The party scene in Bali has moved from Kuta to Canggu – via Seminyak. But surprisingly, it’s in the serious surf town of Uluwatu that the coolest beach club has just popped up. Ulu Cliffhouse is set over the Indian Ocean, with a huge infinity pool, access to the beach below and with it one of Bali’s most sought-after waves. Naturally, there’s an in-house surfboard sharper, but more exciting still is Peruvian chef Diego Muñoz in the kitchen. Formerly of Lima’s Astrid & Gastón (33 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list), he’s serving small plates inspired by his new home: the shrimp ceviche is cured in chillies from local farms; pomegranates from his kitchen garden add sweetness to the guacamole. The Beastie Boys played at the club’s launch and there’s an on-site recording studio. So head here to find music fans sipping mango Daiquiris with Balinese rum and surfers sinking home-brewed kombucha. By Jade Moyano
Address: Ulu Cliffhouse, Jl. Labuan Sait No. 315, Padang-Padang, Bali, Indonesia
Telephone: +813 3881 2502
Website: ulucliffhouse.com
Dook PhotographyZambezi House, Zimbabwe
A restaurant with the views of a safari lodge
Beneath a knot of ebony trees on the grassy banks of the Zambezi is a site worthy of the smartest safari lodge. Instead, Mark Valentine from antique emporium Amatuli in Johannesburg has teamed up with Beks Ndlovu of African Bush Camps to create Zambezi House, the most exciting standalone restaurant in Victoria Falls. Warthogs graze on the lawns where tables and chairs are set up for plates of peri-peri rotisserie chicken and wood-fired pizzas topped with artichokes and olives. In the courtyard, a wooden deck wraps around trees strung with fairy lights and baskets overflow with jungly plants. Inside are pink velvet sofas, black-and-white photography by David Ballam and curious African artefacts, while upstairs in the shipping-container bar there’s craft beer and South African Chenin Blanc. And from here there are views of elephants feeding on the opposite bank and sounds of African fish eagles and grunting hippos. This is the best place to eavesdrop on where to go and what to see in Africa right now. By Jane Broughton
Address: Zambezi House, Park Way, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Africa
Telephone: +263 213 284 1130
Website: zambezihouse.com
Michelle ParkOtium, Los Angeles
Food that's as creative as the exhibitions at The Broad
There was a time when the best nourishment you could expect after gorging on some of the world's greatest paintings was a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. But now gallery restaurants are upping the game with food that's as creative as the exhibitions. For serious bragging rights, book a table at Otium inside contemporary art museum The Broad. Ex-French Laundry chef Tim Hollingsworth's has a vegetable-driven menu spanning everything from Hamachi ribbons with nori to spinach bucatini pasta.
Address: Otium, 222 South Hope Street, Los Angeles, California, USA
Telephone: +1 213 935 8500
Website: otiumla.com
PartySpaceDesignShugaa Dessert Room Cafe, Bangkok
A dessert bar with Interiors as sweet as the menu
Pudding-only restaurants first became a thing in Melbourne, but now Bangkok café Shugaa is stepping up to the trend. Set in Watthana district, its interiors have been created by Thai studio Party/Space/Design and are an ode to the sweet stuff, with walls splashed in mint-green and candy-floss-pink stools. Reflecting the crystalline structure itself is a rose-gold hanging light sculpture and a spiral staircase made from clear acrylic blocks. Honey and passion-fruit-meringue tarts, dark chocolate and mint brownies, red-velvet sponge and matcha ice cream can be washed down with strawberry and lychee tea or chocolate milk with marshmallow crumble. Or get creative yourself with dessert- and fondant-making classes. By Tabitha Joyce
Address: Shugaa Dessert Room Café, 27 The Residence at 61 Sukhumvit soi Klongtan-nua Wattana Krung Thep Maha Nakhon Bangkok, Thailand
Telephone: +66 2 381 5940
Website: facebook.com/ShugaaDessertBar
MW Photo IncRaw Restaurant, Taiwan
A menu carefully crafted according to the island’s 24 micro-seasons
The Taiwanese capital has always thought with its stomach, but often quantity triumphed quality. Now the island’s star chef, André Chiang – whose restaurants in Singapore and Paris induce wide-eyed wonder – has fashioned a new template for the city with Raw, a gallery-like space where the undulating timber hanging from the ceiling is as striking as his take on the nation’s food. The menu is an enchanting exercise in surprise: a grid of ingredients (kelp jus, Chinese olive) morph into fanciful creations, formed as much by what’s fresh in the market as Chiang’s Asian roots and classic French training. Above all, eating here is undiluted entertainment, from the cutlery that appears from its own little drawer underneath to the finale: a local delicacy of pineapple cake presented as three frozen cubes.
Address: Raw Restaurant, No.301, Le Qun 3rd Road, Taipei City, Taiwan
Telephone:+886 285 01 5800
Website: raw.com.tw
Nicole FranzenThe Lost Kitchen, Freedom, Maine
A 10-course tasting menu lost in the woods
Freedom, Maine: a quaint town located just an hour-and-a-half-drive from culinary capital Portland, and the site of self-taught chef Erin French’s The Lost Kitchen. Situated over a bridge, through the woods by a babbling stream, French has built a true fairytale story in a renovated 19th-century gristmill building. The chef welcomes diners into her home, to eat at wooden tables (made from old barn boards) in her kitchen. And along with her all-female team, she works with the produce (all sourced from local friends) that looks best each day. The 10-course menu might feature fried green tomatoes with buttermilk and flowering herbs. Be sure to book ahead - the space is only open between May and New Year. By Katharine Sohn
Address: The Lost Kitchen, 22 Mill Street, Freedom, Maine, USA
Telephone: +1 207-382-3333
Website: findthelostkitchen.com
Nicole FranzenThe Capri, Marfa, Texas
Food finds its footing in this arty town
Marfa is the tiny Texan town put on the map by abstract sculptor Donald Judd in the 1970s, and home to crazy, dream-catcher outfits such as the El Cosmico trailer park. Despite a population of just 2,000, there are now 23 galleries here and a food scene that’s picking up pace. The Capri is part of must-stay motel Thunderbird and sits inside an old military hangar. Of course, carefully curated artworks hang on the walls, but more exciting still are chef Rocky Barnette’s creations. He spent eight years at the Michelin-starred Inn at Little Washington before moving to the West Texas desert, where he discovered the ancient cooking techniques of the surrounding Chihuahuan wilderness. His pre-Columbian-inspired tasting menu features salads of lettuce, herbs and edible flowers from his kitchen garden, including yucca blossom which he makes into tempura. Green garlic and tomatoes are presented in tortillas made with 6,000-year-old corn varieties and topped with toasted grasshoppers; cocktails are infused with the nectar of cacti. Art may be king in Marfa, but food is finally finding its footing. By Tabitha Joyce
Address: The Capri at Thunderbird, 601 West San Antonio Street, Marfa, Texas, USA
Telephone: +1 432 729 1984
Website: thunderbirdmarfa.com
Julie AnsiauLily of the Valley Cafe, Paris
Paris's prettiest tea bar
France was relatively late on the craft-coffee bandwagon that came from Australia to London via Portland, and finally drew up in Paris at the likes of Holybelly. Now tea is staging its own revival, and Marais café Lily of the Valley was quick to catch on, serving organic blends such as chocolate-roasted yerba mate and milky oolong. The interior resembles a floral cocoon – Alice in Wonderland meets English country garden. It’s a pretty twist on the ubiquitous stripped-back aesthetic.
Address: Lily of the Valley Café, 12 Rue Dupetit-Thouars, Paris, France
Telephone: +33 1 57 40 82 80
Website: facebook.com/lilyofthevalleyparis
Woodstockholm, Stockholm
A furniture business turned supper club in Stockholm
Spontaneous socialising with strangers is not something you’d immediately associate with the sometimes stiff Stockholmers. But now a fresh breed of restaurants, including acclaimed Woodstockholm in the heart of hip Södermalm, is bringing reticent diners together at long tables for a more intimate, communal experience. These are not just any tables either: Woodstockholm started as a furniture business (how very Swedish) and the restaurant’s beautiful, blond-wood pieces, designed by Lars Stensö, are also sold in the shop next door. The chalked-up menu is edgy and dynamic, using sustainable Nordic produce, including wild duck with blackberry sauce, to create themes such as the Forest and the Last Supper, whose intricate food contrasts with the simple, pared-back design.
Address: Woodstockholm, Mosebacke torg 9, 116 46 Stockholm, Sweden
Telephone: +46 836 9399
Website: woodstockholm.com
Butterfly Cafe, Bangkok
Dairy is King at this Thai milk bar
Almost 10 years ago, Christina Tosi made cereal-flavoured milk cool with the opening of New York’s Momofuku Milk Bar. Since then, we’ve seen liquid squeezed out of everything, from almonds, oats and rice to camels and buffalos. At Butterly, the Thai capital’s first all-dairy café, things have gone full circle: organic cow’s milk is used to make chia-seed yoghurt puddings, probiotic drinks and protein shakes. After school, families pile in for chocolate shakes and strawberry smoothies. And to remind diners of the simple taste of whole milk, the interior design is sleek, minimalistic and, of course, pure-white. By Tabitha Joyce
**Address:**Butterfly Café, 23/6 Soi Napha Sap 2, Sukhumvit 36 Rd., North Klongton, Klongtoey, Bangkok, Thailand
Telephone: +66 89 894 3316
Website:butterflyorganic.com
Nicole FranzenMarion, Miami
Miami's hottest new table solidifies Brickell City Centre as a neighbourhood on the up
Brickell City Centre is snapping at the heels of Miami Beach’s Faena District as the city’s hippest new hood thanks to serious investment from heavyweight Hong Kong-based Swire Properties. This high-rise hotspot is home to the first East hotel outside Asia, followed by a string of cool designer shops and restaurants. Ahead of the curve is Marion, a breezy brasserie, bakery and food shop styled on classic café culture. French-lace curtains, copper pans and garlic braids hang above the tiled oyster bar, and chef Jean Paul Lourdes, who has worked with Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, sources inspiration from all over the Med. Dishes include creamy burrata made in Miami Lakes, Galician-style octopus with chorizo and suckling porchetta. Marion’s Mediterranean glow is luring people over the bridge from the beach and into downtown. By Tabitha Joyce
Address: Marion, Brickell, 1111 South West 1st Avenue, Miami, Florida
Telephone: +1 786 717 7512
Website: marionmiami.com
Moritz BernoullyEl Moro, Mexico City
Churros and hot chocolate in Roma Norte
It’s not as if El Moro needs to change: its homemade churros and hot chocolate have been a Mexico City favourite since 1935, when Spanish owner Francisco Iriarte set up shop in Centro Histórico. The original is still open all day and night, but now there’s a chic new offshoot in the creative district Roma Norte. Geometric patterns on the walls reflect the contemporary energy of a neighbourhood that has undergone rapid transformation in recent years. Artists and architects stop by for sweet batons of crispy dough dusted in cinnamon sugar and served with hot dipping chocolate. Order the Consuelo, the latest twist on a classic: ice cream sandwiched between two spiral churros.
Address: El Moro, Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas 42, Centro, 06000 Cuauhtemoc, CDMX, Mexico
Telephone: +52 55 5512 0896
Website: elmoro.mxLike this? Now read:
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