20.) Lurra (Kyoto - 2023)
There are many amazing options for fine dining in Kyoto, the home of the Kaiseki cuisine. Most are deep into the higher end of Kaiseki pricing. Instead I opted for a place run by a Norwegian with a staff of various ethnicities, and cooking up incredible fare with Japanese precision, ingredient inspiration and the rest. The only real knock is that the primary main was a absolutely ludicrously good mushroom, but mushroom the same. Still, their dishes like ricotta balls made to look like pumpkins in a delectable soup, or an incredible watermelon and caviar dish, and so much else, was crafted with the precision one would expect for Japanese cuisine. I was honored to see that Phil Rosenthal went there in his latest trip - for me once going to a place before him. It isn't the msot prominent but in a place of food royalty, it's two Michelin stars are a showcase of how worthy it is overall.
19.) Canis (Toronto - 2019, 2020)
The last restaurant on the list to have closed during the pandemic might be the saddest loss of all. Toronto's Canis became a refuge for me a few times when I had flights cancelled returning from Toronto. It was a small tasting-menu only spot with a seven course beautiful meal with Canadian ingredients and inventive preparations. It was proper tasting menu small portions, quick bites, but just incredible presentation. They always started with two amouses, one of which would be a tartare on cracker, then always a small half-pie of duck terrine. The rest of the menu would change, from a couple fish or seafood dishes (they had a great lobster dish) to a couple great meats (honestly, had good lamb and beef, but their best dish was a duck that was braised for two days. Their sauces and consommes were always perfect. They were great in turning what was written as a 6-course meal into 8 with some throw ins. The place truly was special, and I really hate that they had to shut down.
18.) NOA Chef's Hall (Tallinn - 2024)
I underrated Tallinn, even knowing it was a great place. On my first day there, I took a ride around the coastline down to NOA, and from that second didn't underrate it more for a second. First they seat you in a library type room, where they bring you three simple, golden bites - all incredible. Then take you to the main area, with a large hearth and open kitchen, just pumping out great food. Nominally, steeping it in Estonian cuisine, but adding such flourish. Dollops of caviar, both normal and "estonian" (from a white strawberry). Inventive techniques like how they flash cook langoustines using hot metal. An impeccable main of lamb that was one of the single best dishes I've had in a European restaurant. All of it with teh flair and exactness you would expect from a Spain or Italy, with zero pretension as well. Just a special place.
17.) Le Du (Bangkok - 2022)
There are many top restaurants in Bangkok, and Le Du is one of the few that focus on actual Thai food (quick shout out for the now closed Bo.Lan, a place I never was able to make it to). Their thai focused tasting menu was excellent, with great use of thai veggies, thai spices, thai curries, everything. The only real knock I can have is there was no standout meat dish. But there were excellent catfish, crab, shrimp, so much more. Le Du also had the most reasonably priced wine pairing I've seen, and good win to boot. The restaurant is doing some great things showcasing a cuisine that so rarely is featured in upscale venues in its own capital.
16.) Pier (Cape Town - 2022, 2023)
Pier is run by the group that runs even more notable restaurants in the Cape Town area, and is located in the heart of the most touristy area of the city in the V&A Waterfront, not an area for a truly creative explosion of primarily seafood, but all Capetonian food. The restaurant had some incredible dishes with incredible presentations, uncluding a pork jowl and crayfish soup, a mussel and ham sauce put within an oyster, to an incredible lamb flash-grilled in front of you with a million different fixings and sides and incredible sauces. Pier was so clean, so smart, such a great restaurant in a city full of them. Even the cheese course was amazing. Pier was a truly great experience.
15.) Anan (Ho Chi Minh City - 2023)
I've eaten here three times. First sampling some of their a-la-carte menu (I don't think there was a tasting then). Then getting a tasting menu that was a sampling. Well, in 2023 they graduated to the class of a michelin star along with a proper, incredible, chef's tasting menu that was a gastronomical delight through my favorite world cuisine. Anan is spearheading the way of showing how fancy, brilliant, inventive, Veitnamese cuisine can be at the tweezer and tasting level. Dishes like their one bite pho, their play on various Vietnamese classics made in their own way, their incredible lamb finish, their brilliant desserts. Vietnam is such a rich cuisine, and Anan is the first to truly to take it to gastronomic brilliance.
14.) Sud 777 (Mexico City - 2018)
Sud 777 when I went was expensive but not notably so. It was seen as Mexico's 3rd or 4th best restaurant, and while it still probably is, it is a bit more reputed now moving up rankings for best restaurants in Latin America. Sud 777 is in a far corner of Mexico City in a residential area with the restraurant being set-up in a multi-story house. The menu was veggie forward (though not vegetarian), all sourced from their farm out back. The dishes were all excellent, from a starting pair of amouse bouches, to a brilliant braised watermelon dish (something I very much failed when trying to replicate), a marlin crudo, a beautifully soft beef cheek, and one of the most interesting desserts I've had, which was literally a roasted onion next to an onion sorbet - and it was amazing. I would love to go back to see how they've changed, if any, from their more homey core that they had at the time.
13.) Belcanto (Lisbon - 2021)
I just went to Belcanto last fall and chronicled it fully on this blog course by course. Some of this will be a repeat. Overall, the one word to describe it is opulence, from the position near the Opera house, the gold inside, the pristine white tablecloths, and the food from delicious small bites showcasing a refined version of Portuguese cuisine, to the famous 'Garden of the Goose that laid the Golden Egg' dish, fit with a long-cooked egg covered in gold leaf. There were about 15 moments alltogether, and while some were slightly below great, most were amazing, including the gold leaf, their breads and butters, to a little gold ball of cod, to an oyster with tuna tartare and a cod pearl. The food was authentically Portugeuse, from river prawns to so many great sardines and cod, to the main dish having a beef liver nata tart. Belcanto was immaculate in its gaudiness, even though it was pumping up what is often seen as a less refined cuisine.
12.) Mume (Taipei - 2019)
I talked in the Belly of the Beast section of how most of the ones ranked above it are more on the molecular gastronomy side - and the top three all are, but Mume is frankly not, but it is truly mesmerizing. Like Pujol it is only six dishes but each was amazing in its focus and depth. Their two starters of jicama & prawn then a plum, kombu and tuna crudo were both just beautiful. The wagyu beef tartare was incredible, with teh softest bread for you to lap it up with. The two 'mains' of braised milkfish and oxtongue were impeccable. Even the dessert of tropical 'snow' was awesome. To some degree, while I could never see myself being able to make the dishes that the top three do because I wouldn't know where to begin, these are not dishes that are out of the realm of possibility. I could make something that looks similar; what is out of the realm of possibility is any idea that they would taste nearly as good, be as clean, as refined, as perfect as 'normal' food can be,
11.) Mayta (Lima - 2022)
I went to Mayta not really knowing how good it was, and was astounding by the quality of its tasting menu. Not the longest, but maybe the one that truly had no bad dish. A little bit later, it was ranked as the 32nd best restaurant in teh world. Hard to argue. The setting is great, with stone tables and greenery everywhere. The food was incredible, with some of the most interesting dishes I've had - from a aged, roasted eggplant with an incredible foam, maybe the best cooked fish I've ever had, and a really beautiful duck and black rice main. Even the desserts were nice. Sure, you coudl wish it was longer, but there was also no miss, no oversight, nothing but great dish after great dish.
