Traveling the world for a singular dish, flavor, or bite is as worthy a reason to book that next trip as any other. I would know. I’ve gone as far afield as the country of Georgia for the craveable wonder that is the khachapuri — baked bread topped with a mixture of molten cheese, butter, and egg; Chengdu, China, to experience the city’s motherlode of mouth-numbing, tear-inducing spice; and Buenos Aires, Argentina, for its meat lover’s paradise of parrillas. To say nothing of multiple yearly visits to Japan for all of the ramen and sushi I can handle.
That’s hardly an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. As such, I’m a firm believer that as you start to plan your own travels for the year, it’s important to set a few gluttonous goals. You’ll burn it off with all of the walking and exploring, I promise. Skip the Uber and walk to your next dream dinner, it’ll pay off in the long run.
Some of these acclaimed restaurants will take you across the world, while others may be closer to home. Some are new openings and others are long-serving institutions. What ties them together are unforgettable meals and dining experiences you’ll talk about for years to come.
La Dama — Barcelona, Spain
First opened in 1984 but newly reimagined is Barcelona’s La Dama, set within the stunning Casa Sayrach, constructed by a Gaudi disciple. Touted as a “secret apartment,” this gorgeous, semi-hidden restaurant has multiple art-filled dining rooms and nooks to explore, and a cutting-edge cocktail lineup from Andrea Cevittini that’s a worthy attraction on its own. The dining menu combines a touch of France and Italy with what it calls a Catalan soul, and there are highlights aplenty. Don’t skip the duck Wellington with fresh black truffles and mushrooms, a savory, tantalizing entree for two that’s almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
Sushi Gyoten — Fukuoka, Japan
“I want to show people that Fukuoka should be famous,” says Chef Kenji Gyoten of the eponymous Sushi Gyoten. One meal here and you’ll agree. Fukuoka is where people from Japan visit when they want a foodie weekend, and few reservations are more in demand than his omakase tour de force showcasing the absolute finest ingredients and preparations. While the private setting with a 10-seat counter may seem like a temple, Kenji’s personality ensures a more dynamic experience than many hushed and holy sushi venues. Since you’ve made it all the way to Fukuoka, don’t miss out on your chance to explore the city’s storied yatais, outdoor food stalls set up and shuttered each day serving casual izakaya-style bites and drinks in convivial settings.
Kembara — Phoenix, Arizona
Chef Angelo Sosa’s Kembara is his love letter to the bold flavors of Asian street food. The stunning Tuna Thai Jewel is the restaurant’s signature — and I believe it’s now a legal requirement that once ordered, it must be shown on Instagram within the night. Other stunners include his take on traditional Khao Soi from Chiang Mai, and pork belly Mee Babi by way of Singapore and Malaysia. His inspired cooking has single-handedly transformed dining at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa, turning the hotel into a destination for locals as well as visitors. His other venue within the property, Tia Carmen, combines his family’s cooking with southwest flavors and ingredients for another standout.
Social Haus — Greenough, Montana
The most memorable bite of food I had in 2025 was consumed within a week of the calendar flipping after an early January visit to The Green O, the adults-only resort within the Paws Up Montana ranch. At specialty restaurant Social Haus, new chef Andrew Garrison helms a kitchen known for an always-changing eight-course tasting menu with enough dishes in rotation to ensure that even guests who stay for a week won’t eat the same bite twice. Previous dishes at the restaurant included the likes of a milk bread French toast doused in maple syrup and topped with a generous dollop of caviar, as well as a DIY Big Mac-style slider with Japanese A5 wagyu slices cooked over a sizzling hot stone.
Barbuto Brooklyn — New York City
Legendary chef Jonathan Waxman doesn’t undertake anything lightly. So when he decided to expand his iconic Barbuto into another borough by opening Barbuto Brooklyn at the sustainable-minded 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, you knew it was going to be good. The venue showcases his renowned California meets Italy by way of NYC fare, and you’re bound to be so satisfied you’ll want to turn a night out into a staycation and book a room at the hotel while you’re at it. The JW Pollo al Forno with salsa verde remains as good as over, with the crispiest skin you’ll ever find, and while it’s served with a steak knife, it’s fall-apart tender. The Pasta Bambini adorned with caviar will have you pining for what fettuccine Alfredo actually could have been all these years, and the wild boar ragu, a signature dish to this location, showcases hearty, satisfying flavors sure to please.
Tsukimi — Osaka, Japan
The Waldorf Astoria Osaka opened in April 2025, immediately elevating the luxury standard in this vibrant metropolis which gets looked over by way too many visitors. Book a meal at teppanyaki restaurant Tsukimi from chef Junichi Yoshida for an incredible experience. A recent eight-course ‘Kangetsu’ menu showcased soup-style fried rice, a uni and hairy crab souffle, handmade soba noodles, and a main course of Kobe beef slow cooked on the teppan before being crisped up on a charcoal grill. You’re going to need time to process this one, so continue the evening at speakeasy bar Canes & Tales, a sultry cocktail den inspired by Art Deco grandeur, jazz, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Marabar by 1919 — San Juan, Puerto Rico
Is Champagne and caviar what you imagined from the best meal you’ll eat on your trip to San Juan? With Marabar by 1919 at the newly renovated Condado Vanderbilt, you should indeed. The Champagne and caviar lounge delivers on its premise and then some, not only with caviar service and a dozen varieties of Champagne by the glass, including a lineup of grower producers, but also with an entire food menu in which every dish incorporates caviar. It’s impossible to go wrong. Be sure to order the “Caviar Pie” for their unique spin on caviar service.
Kinugawa Rive Gauche — Paris, France
There are dinners with a view and then there are dinners with a view. The rooftop at the sexy new Hotel Sax Paris, a member of Hilton’s LXR portfolio, is home to an outpost of Kinugawa, showcasing modern Japanese fare in a format that’s meant to be fun and shareable for groups. Try some tempura, a few rolls, favorites such as miso-marinated black cod, or even some wagyu sliders. Oh, and this restaurant is definitely the latter type of view: you’ll enjoy a straight, unimpeded shot of the Eiffel Tower, with your evening reservation delivering hourly Parisian night shows you won’t be able to help but record. The vantage point is thanks to the hotel building’s history as a telephone exchange, and its one-time need to relay signals from the tower itself.
Walliser Stube — Lake Louise, Canada
Set within the grand mountain castle that is the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, you’ll find Walliser Stube. We can keep this short and tell you there’s only one word you need to know: fondue. The restaurant showcases a famed recipe of the Alpine classic, and the setting within Banff National Park makes for the perfect match for the dish. Order the Chateau Experience menu if you’re brave enough to move from a staggering cheese fondue to a pork loin tomahawk schnitzel before closing the show with a chocolate fondue for dessert.
Bourbon Steak — New York City
The JW Marriott Essex House is a legacy property along Central Park South, but the best reason to stay there now may be something that’s far newer. As of 2024, the hotel is now home to Bourbon Steak New York, the first outpost for chef Michael Mina in the city. It has everything you want in a New York City steakhouse — it’s big, it’s buzzy, it’s boisterous, and it borders on perhaps the excessive. It’s then combined with Mina’s special touches: his original tuna tartare, prepared with quail egg, pine nuts, habanero-sesame oil, Asian pear, and mint; a trio of duck fat fries for the table in lieu of bread service, and caviar dishes such as a stuffed caviar Twinkie with yuzu crème fraiche. Impress the client, woo your date, treat your buddies, take the old man out for a meal just because. You’ll make a winning impression.
Sumi — Tokyo, Japan
Sumi, housed within the Janu Tokyo, the first location of Aman’s sister brand, is an ode to sumibiyaki, or charcoal-fired cooking. Chef de cuisine Hisaki Otsuka serves up an interactive dinner and a show in front of a 13-seat counter. It’s coordinated chaos, as the chef and half a dozen worker-bee assistants scramble to assemble a staggering lineup of intricate dishes. A dozen courses from the omakase ‘Tomoshibi’ menu might include clay pot rice prepared with a charcoal inside, soba, tsukune chicken meatballs dipped in quail egg, and your choice of wagyu cut as an entree. It’s one of eight dining options within the hotel, which emphasizes social settings, wellness, and food and beverage across its myriad offerings.
MKT Restaurant & Bar — San Francisco
What MKT Restaurant & Bar manages to get right that so many American hotel restaurants don’t is that delivers two things in tandem: the specific dishes of a given locale that you probably are seeking to try while you’re visiting somewhere new, and originals that will keep you coming back in the door a second time. As such, the Four Seasons San Francisco‘s restaurant offers Dungeness crab cakes and Cioppino, but its most popular dish is the Al Pastor Spanish Octopus, and its local, seasonal ingredients elevate the entire menu while calling out the local farms and purveyors who supply them. And if you order the caviar martini as your starter, well, I wouldn’t blame you for that, either.
Belmond Royal Scotsman — Edinburgh, Scotland
Be forewarned, to enjoy the lavish culinary offerings within the elegant confines of the Belmond Royal Scotsman, you’ll need to book an overnight journey on the luxury train service. It’s worth it for the food alone, as decadent breakfasts give way to hearty lunches and afternoon tea service, evening cocktails and canapes, and sensational three-course dinners. You’ve always dreamed of a glamorous rail journey, right? Here’s your sign that you should do it now.
Crane Club — New York City
Taking over the former Del Posto space is no small task, but Crane Club is proving that it’s up to the challenge. It’s a sceney spot that combines a member’s club and a thumping bar and lounge with a restaurant, and make no mistake, the food from chef Melissa Rodriguez isn’t to be overlooked. The elaborate, multi-pronged bread service alone is worth booking a table, but don’t fill up too much. There are dry-aged steaks and a mountainous roasted bone marrow, and perhaps surprisingly to some, vegetarian fare which is just as good, such as a Japanese sweet potato with whipped honey, tamari butter, and mascarpone.
THE Blvd — Beverly Hills, California
The Beverly Wilshire, a Four Seasons hotel, needs to be experienced to be understood. Its inimitable locale right in front of the start of Rodeo Drive lends itself to a very certain set of circumstances, a rare confluence of people and place, history and Hollywood. At The BLVD, though, it’s not only about the environs. New Executive Chef Colin Bedford has revamped the menu with nightly specials such as beef Wellington and roasted prime rib, along with The Only caviar service, with your choice of three caviar varieties, and the you-can’t-stop-at-just-one everything-seasoned Parker House rolls.
Bo Ri Village — Jiuzhaigou, China
It’s not easy to get to Rissai Valley, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve, located within China’s Jiuzhai Valley National Park, but it shouldn’t be. The exclusive hotel is designed to showcase the unspoiled beauty of its surroundings, after all. Once you’ve arrived, make a beeline for restaurant Bo Ri Village, where you can order up a special Tibetan-style hot pot dining experience that will test the limits of your spice tolerance, as well as your stomach capacity. Choose a spicy beef tallow or yak broth, build your own dipping sauce with dozens of ingredients, and then deploy an endless array of dipping items: multiple cuts of meat, several types of noodles and dumplings, a tray of vegetables, and more. If culture is best explored via what’s on your plate, there’s no better look at life on the Tibetan Plateau than this.
Feature image courtesy of Janu Tokyo
