38.) Mikla (Istanbul - 2024)
Istanbul has a few great spots, and while I do have one ranked a bit higher, none are as reputed as Mikla. The place has all the trappings of a classic tasting menu spot - white everywhere, impeccable plating, creativity and more than anything graet use of local ingredients. My only complaint, if you can even call it that, is a seafood-forward meal where I was wanting something more hearty, but the quality of the seafood and fish makes up for it anyway. Turkey has a few spots - Mikla is right up there.
I believe Deane House has closed, but at the time it was one of Calgary's top restaurants, and most interestingly when I went had a whole menu featuring various preparations of Alberta's greatest gastronomical contribution: beef. From tartare, to pate, to raviolo's, to just plain great cooked beef. They had a particular view, a particular speciality, and did a great job showcasing it. The setting also, built inside and in the grounds of a house right in the middle of the urban maw that is Calgary, was quite special as well. I'll say this about our friend's up north - there is a lot of great food in Canada.
36.) Canoe (Toronto - 2022, 2023)
As I was saying.... Canoe took over for me as my tasting menu of choice after Canis (higher up the list) closed down. It is on the top floor of a downtown office buildign with a great view, but would be ranked similarly high if it were on teh ground floor of a low-rise (like Canis). The food was prstine, if a bit light, from a great take on oysters to a perfectly cooked strip steak finish. The best dish might have been the thickest, heartiest, most well cooked chowder I may have ever had. Canoe was a great restaurant, more than befitting taking over from Canis as my Toronto go-to.
35.) Mak N Ming (Vancouver - 2018)
This is also the first one on this list to have since closed due to the pandemic. Anyway, Mak N Ming was a husband/wife teamed restaurant in Vancouver that served an excellent, if a bit heavy, tasting menu, all with a refined, modern Asian bent. From an excellent Ramen, to a dish they called 'dirt' which looked like a pot filled of dirt that you ate (honestly, forgot exactly what it was), to two excellent tartares. Mak N Ming was a great restaurant with a clear focus. I think it also set a good squeeze between overly fancy, "tweezer" food with just great tasting food. My only one complaint isn't even a fair one in that it was a heavy meal. Then again, they really gave you your moneys worth.
34.) Laurel (Budapest - 2024)
Laurel is a classic spot. White tablecloths, white clad waiters. Really sharp, classic dishes with a great refinement. My favorite restaurants probably lean on more the inventive and avant garde type, but Laurel goes more for just having great food. There was no real complaints at all about Laurel - some standouts as well, including an amazing venison dish as the main, easily the best venison dish I've ever had. Also a refined, elevated version of Goulash, with a dish titled catfish paprikash, that was just outstanding. Laurel was a classy establishment that knows it super well - the adults tasting menu for Budapest, if you will. This will make more sense as a comparison when I talk about the other Budapest spot to come.
33.) Songonguan (Busan - 2024)
Chef Park takes the Japanese Kaiseki type model and fully Korea-fies it showcasing one of the more famous parts of Korean cuisine: the hanwoo beef. Basically Korea's answer to Wagyu. It is excellently marbled, and was the showcase centerpiece of the mains at Songongguan - cuts of tenderloin, rib-eye and then soup cooked for 48 hours. The other dishes were also quite good - from a heavenly rich mushroom soup, to a perfectly crusted Jeju fish, to one of the most stylish deserts in a maple coated chips & ice cream. The only reason Songonguan is not higher is the mains while excellent (the beef), tehy were a bit too simple. Quite a contrast to other courses which were anything but.
32.) Belly of the Beast (Cape Town - 2020, 2022, 2023)
Housed in a warehouse in a area of the town being gentrified. The six course meal is served at a very leisurely pace, with the focus being on the food and its creativity. The dishes were all made with such heart and mixed a lot of interesting components - from ones like a South African take on babaganoush with venison tartare, then three giant mussels with various sauce toppings, then a beautiful chantarelle mushroom dish, a peri-peri dusted flaky hake, and a karoo lamb with a perfect sauce. The desert was even a warm, lovely cake. It wasn't the fanciest, but each dish was impeccably prepared. Pretty soon we'll start getting into restaurants that go more in the gastrology route - but there are some brilliant restaurants that are just 'normal" in a sense that still are worth going out of your way to eat at.
31.) Ryunique (Seoul - 2022)
Ryunique is fairly new in the Seoul restaurant scene, and I think it is on the way to being even more seen as a leading restaurant in a leading food city. The food was generally beautiful, the only knocks is there were a few courses that looked better than they tasted, and their main, while excellently cooked, was a bit basic. They had a few standout dishes though, like maybe the best set of desserts that I've had at a tasting menu.
30.) Finnjavel (Helsinki - 2024)
Finnjavel I first saw on Somebody Feed Phil, that episode, and that visit to Finnjavel being one of the reasons I wants to go to Helsinki in the first place. The restaurant was excellent too, living up to those expectations. Nothing incredible, but a series of 9/10 dishes. Some were quite great, including their main dish - a cabbage wrapped lamb which was just delicious. Out of any restaurant on my trip, this one probably had the best desserts as well, such as a beautiful play on french toast, and a petit eight of little bites to end it. Maybe it would've ranked higher had their been a bit more playfulness but it was a seriously good meal.
29.) Den (Tokyo - 2023)
I want to write this and not come across to negative, as all in all Den is a fantastic meal with some of teh sharpest flavors and best ingredients you can ask for. But it also astounds me it is so highly rated on Top-50 type lists. Not that it is bad. Their fish in peanut broth is something I still dream about. Their 23-piece salad, each cooked in different ways, is about as stunning as it can get. The ingredients are perfect. And if anything, for Japan it is fairly affordable a Michelin Star spot. All in all a great meal, but I think there are better places of less repute.
28.) Alo (Toronto - 2023, 2024)
I still have longed to find the replacement for Canis in Toronto (still to come on the list), and Alo is the closest I've gotten. By trade it markets itself as French inspired, but if anything the food is more fusion with Japanese influence, and just sublime. Great preparations of tartare, of chawanmushi, of venison, of so much else, with exactness that comes from a dedicated team of chefs that are super interesting to watch up close on their chef's counter. Alo is still not Canis (both in taste and being more expensive) but it is about as good as I've found in The Six.
27.) Alaf (Istanbul - 2024)
I was planning a visit to Alaf before realizing they had a tasting menu option. For my last meal in Turkey I decided to splurge for it, and man was it incredible. They are pushing boundaries - deserts made to look like chilies, takes on innards to be eaten like burgers, their cutesy version of "lamb kebab", and so much else. Not all hit the mark, but man were they showcasing the entirety of Anatolian cuisine, from camel tarts to skullfish. I expect only bigger and better things from this relative newcomer spot in the Istanbul culinary world.
26.) Restaurante 99 (Santiago - 2018)
We were hoping to go to Borago, which is Santiago's top rated restuarant, but 'settled' for Restaurante 99 instead, which was excellent. The food is based on local ingredients but is more of modern fusion than any real 'Chilean' focus, but it was still excellent. It was early January, so we sat outside and because of that the pictures are a bit blurry, but do show off some of the inventiveness of the menu. There was a dish with aout six or seven preparations of mushrooms, including one constructed mushroom using two different preparations to make it look like a large mushroom. There was a bowl of perfectly seasoned little cockels, two great amouse bouches, and honestly I think my favorite set of desserts ever at a tasting menu spot - one called a 'red pepper' which was a sorbet with bits of red pepper again constructed to look like a red pepper. Restaurant 99 was a great spot, our best meal on maybe my favorite trip of all time.
25.) Salt (Budapest - 2024)
And here's the inventive. playful one of Budapest, the place that hit a lot of the right spots. It had the most courses of any spot on my most recent trip - 15. Not all of them worked, but even the ones that didn't fully, I had to admire the pushing of envelopes - such as a first little bit which was jsut a bundle of raw herbs, salt and yeast butter. But when they were on, man were they on. An incredible hen of the woods mushroom dish. Such brilliant uses of various picked ingredients, just adding taht little tartness to each dish. A dynamic bread course with the dip being duck and goose pates. A just brilliant main of pork cheek and beet. Various uses of old time yogurt and curd based desserts. They weren't there to knock you out with refinement, but with vision of a culinary history more deep than you would think.
24.) Sushi M (Tokyo - 2023)
I wanted to splurge on one sushi tasting menu. There are more famous spots in Tokyo, and more expensive ones, but I have to say hard to think any are plain better than Sushi M. One counter, dark lighting except for single spotlights on each table space. A sushi master behind the counter calmly creating magic. What I loved msot is beyond the say 12-15 pieces of nigiri, from all types of tuna to abalone, to squid to so much else (uni, egg sushi, etc.), was how they layered in other stuff, from a cold seafood soup, to a great little amouse bouche, to even of course a wagyu beef dish in the middle. Their sake pairing was incredible as well for those who prefer that to a more traditional wine. I truly could not have had anything better than this incredible meal.
23.) Mori (Busan - 2024)
Proper Kaiseki cuisine is heavenly. It is also very expensive - which is why I never went to a true Kaiseki spot in Kyoto (the home of it). Well, I did in Busan, and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. Mori was primarily seafood based, from perfect raw sashimi cut counter side, to an incredible unagi fried rice as the main (a rice course usually comes last). Their fried dish was perfectly flaky fish. Incredible dishes of soft shell crab in a crazy complex sauce, or a perfect slice of wagyu topped with uni. It was decadent, delicate and oh so exacting. The only thing keeping it from not being even higher is you would want a little bit more sustenance at times, but the meal was just so incredibly delicate.
