It’s inevitable: Every spring when we pull together the Hot List, our annual collection of the world’s best new hotels, restaurants, and cruise ships, a staffer remarks that this latest iteration has got to be the best one ever. After a year’s worth of traveling the globe—to stay the night at a converted farmhouse in the middle of an olive grove outside Marrakech, or sail aboard a beloved cruise line’s inaugural Antarctic voyage—it’s easy to see why we get attached. But this year’s Hot List, our 28th edition, might really be the best one ever. It’s certainly our most diverse, featuring not only a hotel suite that was once Winston Churchill’s office, but also the world’s largest cruise ship and restaurants from Cape Town to Bali. We were surprised and inspired by this year’s honorees, and we know you will be too. These are the Hot List's restaurant winners for 2024.
Click here to see the entire Hot List for 2024.
All listings featured in this story are independently selected by our editors. However, when you book something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
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Maty's — Miami
Maty’s in Miami is a happy place. It glows with golden warmth despite its capacious warehouse-style dining room, which has polished concrete underfoot and exposed pipes above. That’s due not only to front-of-house activity but also to the sights, sounds, and smells of the open kitchen in the rear. A seat at the bar—complete with a pisco-dashed martini and an order of the ingenious crudo special of scallops and grapes—is the perfect vantage point for taking in all that chef Valerie Chang has orchestrated here. Standouts range from humble seasonal pickles and chicken milanesa to oysters kissed with leche de tigre and charred corn in a shower of pecorino. —Charlie Hobbs
Yess — Los Angeles
Dining at the contemporary Japanese Yess Restaurant is a spiritual experience. Located in Los Angeles’s colorful Arts District in a former bank, the space is large, tall-walled, and minimalist in design and decor. And despite the room’s massive size, dinner is an intimate affair. Diners sit side by side at a long cypress counter as they face chef Junya Yamasaki and his team—dressed in all-white garb like some sort of culinary cult—work their magic in the kitchen, slicing sashimi in silence or gently grilling skewers of freshly foraged mushrooms, twisting and turning until just cooked. The meal is a meditation on restraint, where less is more and ingredients take center stage on the plate. Somehow you’ll leave Yess feeling like a healthier human. —Omar Mamoon
Chishuru — London
Nigerian-born Adejoké “Joké” Bakare made history this year when she became the first Black woman in the UK to win a Michelin star. Her restaurant, Chishuru, only opened in its current stage in 2023—moving from the buzzy South London neighborhood where Bakare started out after winning a local competition in 2019 to a new, bigger spot. This new iteration of the restaurant is set menu only ($95 per person at supper; $50 per person at lunch). That menu takes diners on a whip-smart journey through modern West African cuisine and might include pepper soup with cured mackerel or mutton cutlet with a coffee and yaji dressing. Make a reservation now, and don’t look back. —Sarah James
Kiln — San Francisco
You can’t put San Francisco's Kiln in a box. The food you’ll sample throughout the two-and-a-half-hour, 18- to 20-course tasting menu is a truly global affair: a little bit Scandinavian meets Japanese meets Californian with a touch of French finesse, courtesy of the tableside pours of luscious buttery sauce on your dry-aged mackerel. There’s no meal quite like those at Kiln because there’s no chef quite like John Wesley. Yes, it’s very much a fine-dining restaurant with white tablecloths and Michelin-starred ambitions, and yet loud hip-hop blares through the speakers while tattoo-armed cooks walk each course to your table. Come as you are, and get ready for a ride. —Omar Mamoon
Datil — Paris
Take the sought-after roving chef Manon Fleury, a predominantly woman-led team, a plant-focused culinary ethos, and an earthy and bright interior, and you have Datil—the talented young chef’s first restaurant, located in Paris's north Marais. Fleury has always given locally sourced produce the starring role in her cooking, treating meat and fish as condiments. But here, dishes are more than just the sum of their sustainable parts; they come out of the semi-open kitchen like artistic compositions meant for reflection. The menu shifts seasonally but standouts have included rutabaga and pink radishes layered with garlic cream, almond, harissa, and thinly sliced scallops, as well as a celery and mushroom consommé-congee mashup, sprinkled with a few comestible flowers. —Lindsey Tramuta
Trescha — Buenos Aires
Tomás Treschanski took a gamble when he opened Trescha in March 2023, with just one other fine-dining restaurant in Buenos Aires for company. But now that he has a Michelin star under his belt—and the bonus track of the Young Chef prize—it was a risk worth taking. After honing his culinary skills at 108 (Copenhagen), Frantzén (Stockholm), and Azurmendi (just outside of Bilbao), 25-year-old young gun Treschanski was sufficiently versed to create an experimental 14-course tasting menu on returning home to Argentina. Cooking up architecturally captivating dishes, he breathes new life into world flavors: Think chawanmushi with aged bacon dashi and uni with its garum, paired with a 1999 Gewürztraminer—one of 740 gems from the chef’s treasured cellar. With just 10 seats up for grabs at the curved kitchen counter, Trescha has fast become the reservation to bag in Buenos Aires. —Sorrel Moseley-Williams
Maizajo — Mexico City
Maizajo’s conception began eight years ago when chef Santiago Muñoz began focusing on the recovery of maíz criollo, which for years had been losing the battle against the industrialization of tortillas. After opening a tortillería in Mexico City’s Roma neighborhood, he moved to Condesa to open this three-in-one restaurant. Downstairs, fresh tortillas are sold daily, made with 100% nixtamalized corn, either by hand or with special equipment, and always highlighting different regional varieties.Upstairs, a completely Mexican menu features street food with a boost, including wedding tamal and glazed tongue with salsa verde, and longaniza (pork sausage) tacos paired with either fried shrimp or rib eye. —Paula Móvil
Le Pristine — Tokyo
A vast open black doorframe hinting at the gates of a Shinto shrine marks the threshold of Le Pristine Tokyo, Michelin-sprinkled Dutch chef Sergio Herman’s first foray into Asia. The restaurant is located in Hotel Toranomon Hills, whose softly minimalist Nordic-meets-Japanese interiors by Space Copenhagen hide behind a new twisted-façade skyscraper. The street-level venue is home to both a café and restaurant, the latter of which offers an escapist gourmet journey through modern European cuisine with a fresh Japanese twist. Dishes include marinated mussels, dashi, yuzu, and verbena; hamachi (a type of yellowtail), hairy crab, pistachio, mikan (Japanese mandarin), and black radish; and Sergio’s signature seafood orecchiette. Food is not the only winning ingredient, however: Diners also soak in the intimacy of the elegant lines and crafted textures of the plant-scattered decor, with the mushroom-like Como SC53 Portable Table by Space for &Tradition tabletop lamps, Rotgazen wall-clinging melted disco balls, and Fredericia Furniture chairs playing into the theater of the central open-plan kitchen. —Danielle Demetriou
Andreu Genestra — Mallorca, Spain
In April 2011, Andreu Genestra opened his first sustainable restaurant in Capdepera, a remote corner of his beloved Mallorca. More than a decade later (and with a few Michelin stars under his belt), the chef has unveiled the second iteration of Restaurante Andreu Genestra in the luxe Zoëtry Mallorca hotel, located in the larger municipality of Llucmajor. The ingredients for the “Mediterranean” concept are the definition of local, sourced from the on-site biodynamic vegetable garden, vineyards, beehives, and sea of olive trees, as well as local Mallorcan farmers and growers. —David Moralejo
Canalha — Lisbon
After departing from a Michelin-starred restaurant Feitoria, and partnering with food group Paradigma, chef João Rodrigues returned to Lisbon to establish a casual restaurant that honors his hometown’s heritage. Canalha is a quintessential “neighborhood restaurant”—increasingly rare in a city gentrified by overtourism. Everything here exudes a sense of nostalgia: the yellow tram gliding past on the street, the extensive counter for meal service, the sturdy dark wooden tables adorned with marble tops, and a menu brimming with culinary delights, such as line-caught squid with sheep butter sauce, open-face omelets prawns and onions, and traditional Portuguese bitoque (steak crowned with a fried egg and signature pan sauce). But Canalha is also a haven for exceptional local produce and charcuterie. An imposing green charcoal oven nestled in the kitchen serves as a shrine where Rodrigues and his team grill to perfection fresh red-scarlet prawns, clams, and fish sourced from Portugal’s bountiful coast. —Rafael Tonon
The Devonshire — London
Hyped restaurants in London are nothing new. But The Devonshire, just off Piccadilly Circus, has reached buzzed-about levels we’ve not seen in a while. At the helm of all this fanfare is Oisin Rogers, an old-school landlord who has been working in London pubs for 30 years. Ashley Palmer-Watts (a Heston Blumenthal alum) heads up the kitchen with a menu that spotlights the wood-burning grill and oven—think duck-fat chips, suet puddings, and scallops with bacon and malt vinegar. In the legitimate British pub downstairs, the team slings out pint after pint of perfectly creamy Guinness, the most on-trend bar order in London right now. Reservations open three weeks in advance and get booked up in minutes—there’s no hotter table to book right now. —Sarah James
Naar — Darwa, India
Chef Prateek Sadhu’s ambitions as a culinary innovator are defined by two words: faeter (Kashmiri for “crazy”) and naar (“fire”). It’s fitting, then, that one of India’s most celebrated chefs announced his return with the aptly named Naar restaurant. Nestled amid the pine forests of Himachal Pradesh, this first-of-its-kind destination dining experience is a culinary progression across the Himalayas, from the north to the east of India. The 16-seater restaurant has six menus throughout the year that follow the distinct seasons in the mountains, courtesy of dishes that transform traditional hill food into extraordinary surprises—think trout sandwiches with locally caught fish that is cured, dried, and treated at the in-house lab; a chinar leaf-shaped buckwheat biscuit that pays homage to Sadhu’s favorite tree in Kashmir; a miniature bowl of Ladakhi buckwheat pasta (or chutagi) with tripe; lamb neck smoked with juniper leaves; and a smoked version of a Himachali steamed bread called aiklu. Naar is a labor of love and a showcase of the hills—its ingredients, its people and their culture, and a chef’s long journey back home. —Diya Kohli
The Guild — Dubai
Few restaurant openings this past year have been as highly anticipated as The Guild, prolific Dubai restaurateur Tom Arnel’s first foray into fine dining. Fronted by heavy gray velvet curtains and a small jungle of more than 300 plants, The Guild is one restaurant, but many things at once: Inside, there’s a patisserie, brasserie, Champagne bar, seafood restaurant, wood-fire kitchen, cocktail bar, and chocolatier. The laid-back Nurseries space is perfect for a cozy date night (tip: Order the Brie de Meaux truffle sandwich), while the more upscale Rockpool is where you’ll find the bulk of The Guild’s seafood. The latter features a live shucking bar, the day’s catch displayed on ice, and glass-fronted aquariums stacked to the ceiling filled with live king crabs and crayfish. Over at the Salon (which Arnel describes as his favorite spot), white-clothed tables sit underneath grand crystal chandeliers and overlook two open kitchens. Here, the starter of crispy prawns—slathered in surprisingly light batter and served with red chimichurri dip and lime salt—is incredibly tasty, while the Wagyu beef tartare, with shallots and chopped cornichons, is the right mix of rich and tangy. The Guild will soon add a piano bar and cigar lounge to its lineup, designed for those who want to keep the night going—which we envision they will. The Guild is a truly enchanting space, one that you’ll no doubt want to return to time and time again. —Sophie Prideaux
Osa — Madrid
Osa may be located on the outskirts of Madrid’s center, but it’s close enough to justify at least one visit from the city to enjoy chefs Sara Peral and Jorge Muñoz’s creations: Think homemade cured meats, wild pig’s head with rooster and porchetta, cod pil pil, and smoked eel with roe over rye bread and butter. Theirs is a one-of-a-kind experience inside a renovated two-story house, with an open terrace and a dining room built to welcome 20 lucky diners. In every bite, expect the omnipotent presence of French technique with the aesthetic of Japanese minimalism. —Paula Móvil
Fish Shop — Ballater, Scotland
Despite its name, Fish Shop is not a classic British chippy but a smart, sustainability-focused seafood restaurant with its very own fishmonger. The double-use venue is the sister property of Scotland’s slickest hotel, the Fife Arms, which is located just 25 minutes away. Russell Sage Studio (who also designed the Fife Arms interiors) chose tasteful nautical accents to complement the food. The menu is local and seasonal but might include Cape Wrath oysters in Champagne tempura or Shetland mussels with East Coast cured nduja. Whatever you order, accompany it with a round of Negronis (local gin and vermouth with Campari, pimped up with samphire), followed by glasses of Riesling or Picpoul. —Sarah James
Koan — Copenhagen
At windswept Langelinieskuret, Kristian Baumann (formerly of Noma and 108) has transformed a former harbor warehouse into a must-visit on Copenhagen’s strong fine-dining scene. Born and adopted in South Korea and raised in Denmark, Baumann reconnects with his roots at Koan, seamlessly bridging a Nordic culinary upbringing with Korean impressions like kimchi, kkwabaegi (Korean doughnuts), and carefully selected ceramics. Koan’s high-ceilinged dining room with an open kitchen and sleek light wooden designer interiors beautifully mirrors Baumann’s minimalist and meticulous dishes. A standout is Norwegian langoustine with lardo, green strawberries, and chili, served with a sesame sauce flavored with Korean rice wine. Aside from standard and “prestige” wine pairings (the latter showcasing rare labels), Koan offers a pairing of Korean sool (fermented rice wine) produced in Copenhagen by startup Yunguna Brewery. Only 70 days after opening last year, the restaurant received two Michelin stars directly—a testament to the ambitions here. —Lars Roest-Madsen
Soul Kitchen — Dubai
Following years of turmoil in their native Lebanon, Beirut creative collective Factory People transplanted their thoughtfully curated restaurant, listening room, and communal hub Soul Kitchen to Dubai’s Business Bay. The food—Levantine/Latin hybrid that celebrates waves of Arab migration to Central and South America—is, indeed, soulful: Think ceviche tabbouleh, hummus chimichurri, shawarma empanadas, and Wagyu kafta in pillowy arepas paired with Araki bellinis and sumac-laced peach margaritas. But musically minded locals have also forged a community around Monday jazz sessions, Latin Sundays, iftar supper clubs, and party brunches with global musicians and DJs taking the stage. The lush, plant-filled space also doubles as an arts venue: Rumi Dalle’s Feathers of a Migration is suspended from the ceiling, and walls are adorned with textiles curated by carpet house Iwan Maktabi. —Sarah Khan
Ilis — New York
The large nondescript door at 150 Green Street in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint prepares you little for what’s to follow. Behind it lies a sprawling space with wood-beamed ceilings and low-slung white furniture that has shed all vestiges of its former life as a factory warehouse. This is Ilis, Noma cofounder Mads Refslund’s ambitious New York dining debut alongside Will Douillet, formerly of Chicago’s Alinea. The name is a portmanteau of Il and Is, or “fire” and “ice” in Danish, which illustrates how you choose your dishes to be served: fired up or chilled. An industrial open kitchen—with four stations, two each dedicated to “fire” and “ice”—anchors the space, and diners watch on as a flurry of chefs works in near-reverential silence. Those same chefs later double up as servers; here, there’s no traditional distinction between front and back of house—just “one house,” as Refslund likes to say. On the menu, expect ingredient-forward dishes like raw tuna with nasturtium and salted plum and brown trout, cooked in its own roe butter and served with charred cabbage. A dining highlight here is the roving trolley that’s laden with chilled appetizers and a surprising amuse-bouche—a peppery tomato clam broth served in a large, slightly ridiculous clamshell fashioned into a flask. As you tip its contents down your throat, the act feels both primal and playful—it’s a decidedly Noma touch, right in Brooklyn. —Arati Menon
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Papa's — Mumbai
Eleven Madison Park alum Hussain Shahzad’s eclectic skills are on full display at this fine-dining concept, a 12-seat countertop that overlooks an open kitchen in the space above Veronica’s, a bustling sandwich shop. The vibe is a delightful hodgepodge: Delicate glass lamps share space with a chamber for dry-aging duck, and the chef’s playlist of ABBA and Prince pairs nicely with the easygoing service. The modern Indian menu makes clever use of the nation’s many home-grown ingredients: Clarified Bloody Mary cocktails arrive alongside petite pizza boxes of Monaco biscuits (India’s Ritz cracker) topped with Belper Knolle cheese; hibachi-grilled rabbit is served in a red-ant marinade; and a soup of sun-dried yak cheese is amped up by habanero chiles. The name Papa’s is a nod to Shahzad’s late mentor, chef Floyd Cardoz—whom he does proud. —Julian Manning
Locavore NXT — Bali
After closing Locavore, a hot-ticket and hyperlocal eatery in Bali’s Ubud late last year, Dutch Indonesian chef duo Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah moved on to open the concept’s aptly named next iteration. Pitched up in the rice fields just outside Ubud, concrete-clad Locavore NXT takes the chefs’ wildly ambitious methods to a new extreme with 20(ish)-course tasting menus that draw on ingredients grown in the rooftop food forest, subterranean mushroom vault, and koji fermentation lab—and ones sourced from surrounding farmers, fishermen, and foragers. Seasonal menus could include imaginative creations such as honi pineapple with lardo and flower-flecked pudding from rice koji with bee pollen. For a full immersion in Locavore NXT’s closed-loop ethos, guests can overnight in one of the restaurant’s adjoining cabins and participate in a chef-guided tour and staff breakfast the next day. —Chris Schalkx
Pot Au Phở — Ho Chi Minh City
At Pot Au Phở, Vietnamese banker turned chef Peter Cuong Franklin sets new standards for Vietnam’s beloved noodle soup, his 10-course tasting menu deconstructing phở and then reassembling the iconic bone broth. Inspired by French and Japanese fare, Cuong also plays with molecular cuisine and jellied consommé, even paying tribute to French chef Paul Bocuse’s legendary black truffle VGE soup. Perhaps the most cherished dish is Mom’s mì Quảng, a traditional prawn and pork turmeric noodle soup prepared by his mother, Nguyễn Thị Như Thừa, at her Đà Lạt rice noodle shop; he was sent to the US as a child refugee, and they reconnected 30 years later. Housed in the same building as Cuong’s Michelin-starred Anan in the thick of the wet market on District 1’s That Dam street, the soup counter is designed for just 14 guests. Order the Phojito, mixed with fresh herbs and spices like cinnamon and star anise —Sorrel Moseley-Williams
Air — Singapore
At this sprawling space—an erstwhile clubhouse for civil servants—in Singapore’s leafy Dempsey enclave, chef Matthew Orlando (who used to pilot Copenhagen’s influential Amass) is continuing his mission to make circular cooking as natural as, well, breathing air. You’ll know this isn’t your typical restaurant from the moment you enter, up a sweeping walkway and past a thriving tropical garden commanded by Orlando’s business partner, Will Goldfarb of Bali’s Room4Dessert. In the dining room, funky tables hewn from the leftover cores of balau trees and chairs with arms twirled out of recycled Styrofoam play off exposed concrete pillars. Orlando’s tasty zero-waste approach to Southeast Asian ingredients includes dishes like a whole coral fish transformed into a rillette with lavash made from the puréed bones of the fish. Don’t miss the surprisingly fudgy Re-Incarnated Chocolate dessert whipped up with the by-products of common food processes—none of which are chocolate or cocoa beans. Upstairs, there’s a pickling and fermentation room, a cooking school, and a research lab where anyone can dabble in food experiments. —Audrey Phoon
Oseille — Rio de Janeiro
In late 2023, chef Thomas Troisgros—the fourth generation of the renowned French culinary dynasty—opened Toto as something like a Parisian neo-bistro, but with a menu inspired by the chef’s travels around the world. Nestled within a townhouse in the vibrant center of Ipanema, the casual restaurant was a quick hit. Troisgros recognized the potential for an elevated dining experience, however, and envisioned Oseille in the vacant upper part of the same building. With the help of a three-member team, the chef fashioned a 16-seat counter around a well-equipped kitchen, where he now exclusively serves signature tasting menus (five or seven courses) that change from time to time—but they’re always anchored in local and seasonal ingredients, combining his French heritage with Asian influences, all topped with a Brazilian accent. The level of hospitality makes diners feel as if they’re being welcomed into the chef’s home—visitors can even choose their preferred background music. —Rafael Tonon
Le Foote — Sydney
Sydney hospitality maestros Swillhouse have savvy locals tackling the tourist-drenched cobblestones of The Rocks for their latest swing-and-hit restaurant, Le Foote. Part Parisian wine bar, part Mediterranean grill, the restaurant is a sandstone labyrinth of nooks, crannies, and choose-your-own-adventure spaces in a sprawling former pub. The alfresco courtyard is just the place for fluffy fish sandwiches and carafes of orange wine. Upstairs, settle into the moody candle-lit bar and order two-sip martinis to a soundtrack of funky jazz. The main dining room is draped in dramatic Greco-Roman style, with giant Etruscan canvas murals, white tablecloths, and smart waiters in crisp shirts. Most of the Mediterranean-by-way-of-Australia menu is done on the Josper grill, and hits include fleshy barramundi in charred hazelnut butter, marbled tomahawk steaks, juicy tomato picante prawns, and a gooey cheese pie. Suddenly, Sydney’s oldest neighborhood feels fresh again. —Chloe Sachdev
Nikkei — Cape Town
On perennially cool Bree Street, Nikkei brings its namesake cuisine to Cape Town. Executive chef Justin Barker displays his range with a menu that marries South American spices and ingredients with bright seafood—think shrimp crudo with ancho chili oil and sesame tuna with guacamole and a lime-jalapeño ponzu—and a robust cocktail menu that showcases both sake and pisco. The modern space, decorated with a riot of tropical plants, feels just right as the backdrop for Barker’s vibrant food. Look up and you’ll see oblong chandeliers shaped like chakanas, a symbol that has been used by Andean societies for over 4,000 years, which fittingly signifies a “bridge” or “a crossing over.” —Harriet Akinyi
Barro — Ávila, Spain
Located in Ávila, about a 90-minute drive away from Madrid’s city center, Barro is a contemporary defense of the rural world through the use of regional ingredients. This wise approach earned the restaurant its first Michelin star, making Carlos Casillas the youngest chef to achieve one in Spain. Once inside his restaurant—where a minimalistic approach reigns in the decor—go for the Alberche tasting menu, composed of 15 dishes such as a suckling pig with kimchi brava sauce; a 150-day-aged rib eye with a hollandaise sauce (made with the meat’s own fat); and a rabbit lasagna accompanied by grilled kidney, green beans, and a consommé with fermented tomato water. —Paula Móvil
99 Restaurante — Santiago
It’s taken Chilean chef Kurt Schmidt three years to reopen his casual fine-dining 99 Restaurant, but a bespoke new space and finely tuned menu means it’s been worth the wait. Tucked away in buzzy gastro-hub CV Galería in upscale Vitacura, the spot offers a calming analog experience that fuses open-fire cooking, flickering candlelight, and a vinyl soundtrack. With 12 guests dining in tandem, the chef and his two-strong team prep in the open kitchen before Schmidt shares details about the nine courses. The menu expresses Chile’s diverse and lengthy terroir: On this occasion, the spotlight was on a single Chilean region, Huasco, and its bounty of ocean-caught and mountain-gathered ingredients such as loco (abalone), mussels, papaya, and kid goat—wrapped in vine leaves—all sourced from small producers and artfully paired with local vintages. —Sorrel Moseley Williams
Ciumbia — Milan
Sèm chì! We are here! Ciumbia is a very Milanese exclamation, akin to wow in the local dialect. And indeed, the food at this restaurant in the Brera district is a triumph of hyperlocal dishes, the kind any child of Milano would have had at their grandparents’ when they were little: cotoletta, veal Marsala scaloppine, Russian salad, quinto quarto, but also delicious vegetarian dishes like asparagus flan. Here is a classic trattoria—just cooler and filled with a pleasant and different clientele (the restaurant is majority-owned by Leonardo Del Vecchio of the Luxottica family)—and the food makes for a decidedly lighter meal compared to the original recipes of old. The interiors by Dimore Studio are splendid, evoking Milanese architecture from the 1960s and 1970s in its solid elements and dark tones. And it’s centrally located in a neighborhood where crowds of tourists sit at the outdoor tables of cafés and restaurants. But Ciumbia is a touch different. You have to know it to find it, since you wouldn’t be able to tell how special it is from the outside, like it so often happens in Milan. And when you do: You’ll realize you’re in exactly the right place, where you need to be. N.B. There’s also a private club. —Maddalena Fossati
Saporium — Florence
Amid mirrors, crystal chandeliers, and lush greenery in a 1950s-style dining room, a gourmet meal at Saporium feels like a night at the theater. In the open kitchen, chef Ariel Hagen, a homegrown wunderkind, finishes his dishes with a set of perfect gestures one could watch forever—but only until the food is set on the table to amaze with its scents, textures, and flavors, whether from land or sea—even the strictly vegetarian fare leaps off the plate, leaving audiences-slash-diners with the idea that haute cuisine without animal protein is spectacular and well-deserving of an encore. Every ingredient is from Tuscany, organic and seasonal, and often comes straight from the farms and gardens of one of the most luxurious resorts in the region and all of Italy: Borgo Santo Pietro. —Sara Magro
Kozo — Kigali, Rwanda
The latest iteration of Kōzo—a self-proclaimed “dining journey” known for its fusion of Afro-Asian cuisine, originally launched in Accra—is the brainchild of Thai -Dutch executive chef Sakorn Somboon. Tucked into the hillsides of Kigali’s Kimihurura neighborhood, the restaurant offers a sparkling skyline view that sets the stage for a culinary experience as diverse as the cultures it represents. The monochromatic space, adorned with modern African art and bright pops of color alongside natural elements, is an open-concept design that flows seamlessly from the main dining area to the bar and terraces. The menu theme changes every three months and is designed to be shared. The chef described the next menu concept—Sea Breeze—as citrusy, sparkling, umami-rich, and focused on locally sourced meat inspired by his recent trip home to Southeast Asia. Among standouts are the Akabanga beef spring rolls and rock shrimp with spicy mayo to start; and the wok tiger prawns (imported every week from Kenya) cooked in a chili-garlic sauce with ginger and fresh basil, served with green beans. The slow-cooked lamb in a cardamom curry with a plantain mash is divine, and the sizzling beef served in a steaming cast-iron pan is a show in itself. Sip bartender Tresor Twishime’s Forest Negroni—a twist on the classic with clove smoke and locally distilled Imizi botanical rum. —Alicia-Rae Light
Coqodaq — New York
As if dining at NoMad's beloved COTE Korean Steakhouse wasn't enough of an experience, the team behind it has opened Coqodaq one block over on 22nd Street. The team describes Coqodaq as “a fried chicken cathedral," and such drama is not facetious. Eating with your fingers is the name of the game here, so it makes sense that a lavish hand-washing station welcomes guests at the entryway—less expected is the population of luxury products, including a soap embossed with the bold font of the Loewe logo. From here, you're free to feast to your heart's content. The signature fried chicken bucket ($38 per person, with drumsticks, wings, and thighs) is accompanied by a delicate roasted chicken cosommé, bright ban-chan, and a seasonal frozen yogurt to finish. If you feel the need to splurge, there's really only one way to do so: the golden nugget, topped either with ocean trout roe $16 per nugget) or Golden Daurenki caviar ($28 per nugget). The atmosphere prevents its guests from slipping into any level of a food coma siesta, as the oontz oontz of hot club music reverberates off the vaulted ceilings. Not to mention, Coqodaq fries their food in cultured oil and uses a gluten-free flour blend that includes rice floor. Digestive issues, for once, are not a concern here. —Charlie Hobbs