If you’ve never dined at a high-end establishment, you owe it to yourself to seek out a Michelin star-awarded restaurant. It’s food on an infinitely higher level. Here are the ten best fine-dining restaurants around the world.
10. Le Monzù, Capri, Italy
This one-star Michelin restaurant in the Punta Tragara hotel is perched atop a dramatic cliff offering sunset views. Head chef Antonio Pedana’s standouts are cuttlefish with sea urchins and green apple, as well as octopus ragu served over mezzipaccheri pasta. Try the eight-course Labyrinth of Flavors tasting menu to sample the best of Padana’s creations.
9. La Colombe, Cape Town
Located on the Silvermist wine estate in Constantia, their views of forested mountainsides. Head chef James Gaag crafts tiny canapes inspired by snacks from South Africa’s Cape Malay culture. His signature dish is the Tuna la Colombe, featuring high-end seared Bluefin tuna with king crab and caviar. The ample wine list is particularly robust on South African vintages.
8. Alchemist, Copenhagen, Denmark
The two-Michelin-star Alchemist is more than dining — it’s a theatrical experience. Set within a labyrinthine industrial building, the interior features giant video screens, creating illusions like being inside the human heart. Dining encompasses six hours, 50 bites, and different locations. There’s a strong sustainability message, and head chef Rasmus Munk champions freeze-dried butterflies as a future sustainable protein source.
7. Mayta, Lima, Peru
For ambiance, Mayta draws heavily from nature, inspiring its plant-filled interior while also weaving leaves, flowers, bark, and moss into its dish presentations. Chef Jaime Pesaque stirs up dishes like Amazonian paiche fish cheeks in a rich glaze, grilled eggplant in a smoky broth, and scallops with leche de tigre.
6. Belcanto, Lisbon
Awarded two Michelin stars and helmed by chef José Avillez, Belcanto’s tasting menu reinvents several Portuguese classics. Standouts are pot-au-feu, which has meats, sausages, and potatoes in a slow-simmered dish. Avillez’s grandmother’s rice pudding is a house favorite. There are intriguing items like crunchy seaweed with barnacles or partridge escabeche. The interior is all wood-paneled, with parquet floors and grand mirrors.
5. Oteque, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
This restaurant by Japanese-Brazilian chef Alberto Landgraf is based in an atmospheric 1930s house. The focus is fish and seafood. Standout dishes are Oysters with brazil-nut milk and green apple, glazed turbot, sea urchin with mussel cream, and monkfish with burrata. The playlist adds flair you won’t find in most fine dining restaurants: Smashing Pumpkins, Pink Floyd, and Judas Priest.
4. DiverXO, Madrid, Spain
This three-Michelin-star avant-garde restaurant features ice-white interiors, dramatic curtain tables, and strange animal sculptures and figurines. Head chef Dabiz Muñoz spins stories across a 26-course menu. The menu might include coconut ganache with black garlic, beef rib soup dumplings, or many caviar curries with sauces and miniature pans. The tone is wacky, but the food is wonderful.
3. Frantzen, Stockholm, Sweden
The dining room spans three floors. Just observe canopies in a comfy lounge before moving to a chilled counter featuring all the ingredients to be used in your tasting menu on display. Frantzen’s head chef, Bjorn Frantzen, creates New Nordic cuisine with Japanese and French elements and whimsical dishes such as truffled French toast. Over 1,000 wines are available.
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2. Den, Tokyo, Japan
Den is a two-Michelin-starred restaurant that recently earned a Michelin Green Star for its sustainability efforts. Its most famous dish is the “Dentucky Fried Chicken,” a deep-fried chicken-wing dumpling with sticky rice and chicken ginseng soup. The menu is a modern update on the traditional Japanese kaiseki form. The minimalist dining room has a counter that faces the open kitchen.
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1. Don Julio, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Don Julio’s atmosphere is pure traditional Buenos Aires parrilla (steakhouse). The interior is a brick-lined dining room trimmed with wine bottles. The focus here is meat and wine. In addition to various cuts of steak, there’s also morcilla blood sausage, provoleta cheese, and vegetables all cooked on its smoky grill. The wine list draws from a 60,000-strong cellar.
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