At Nahm, Thai culinary tradition overrides the affectations of swanky top-level dining. The Metropolitan Hotel by Como may be plush in the extreme, but the cooking here is rustic, gutsy and entirely free of pomp. David Thompson hails from Australia, of course, but the Thais have embraced this farang with open arms, and the chef [...]
Heading a new wave of Russian chefs that is embracing the vast country’s amazing natural produce, chef Vladimir Mukhin claims to have borscht running in his veins. The famous beetroot soup certainly flows at his Alice in Wonderland-themed restaurant on the 16th floor of the Smolensky Passage building. The Russian staple is given a modern [...]
A visit to Ultraviolet is a surreal experience: part glamorous James Bond lair, part mind-bending psychedelic trip. Guests meet at chef Paul Pairet’s central Shanghai restaurant, Mr & Mrs Bund, to be driven by minibus to a secret location in the city where the entrance, via an industrial lift cage, is revealed. Inside a white [...]
Billed as the world’s most isolated restaurant, Fäviken, in the north of Sweden, has captured the imagination of the world’s media and intrepid foodies in equal measure. Housed in an 18th century barn on a 24,000-acre hunting estate, the restaurant can only accommodate 12 diners each night with guests staying in spartan rooms on site. [...]
Grant Achatz’s famed Chicago restaurant is well known for its brave and unconventional approach to food, with dishes served in all manner of creative ways, but there’s more to Alinea then culinary pyrotechnics. As the meal at this slick, moody restaurant progresses over a number of hours, the expertly trained service team is able to [...]
Famed the world over for its truffles and elegant wines, Alba is the foodie capital of Piedmont – a region that itself lays claim to being the gastronomic heartland of Italy – and is, therefore, the perfect location for Enrico Crippa’s chic modern Italian restaurant. The chef makes full use of the natural resources at [...]
British-born Luke Dale-Roberts spent much of his career working across Europe and Asia before settling in his adopted home of South Africa. And his travels are certainly reflected in the food he serves at The Test Kitchen in Cape Town, where menus comprise an eclectic mix of international flavours, ingredients and cooking techniques. Rooted in [...]
Chef Seiji Yamamoto’s mission at his acclaimed restaurant in Tokyo’s Roppongi district is to convey the richness of Japan’s natural environment and its fluctuating seasons through a traditional kaiseki menu. The daily-changing selection of small dishes is shaped by what is available from the city’s premier markets each morning. Seasonal ingredients at their peak are [...]
Joachim Wissler, a pioneer of new German cooking continues to push the boundaries. A leading light of the so-called ‘new German school’ of cooking, the highly respected Joachim Wissler breathes new life into traditional German recipes and ingredients while drawing on international culinary thinking. French, Asian and New Nordic influences can all be detected in [...]
The reputation of Björn Frantzén’s restaurant has spread well beyond Sweden’s borders since opening in 2009, winning widespread praise for its modern Scandinavian cooking. Originally known as Frantzén/Lindeberg, it changed its name in 2013 when co-founder and pastry chef Daniel Lindeberg moved to pastures new. Frantzén, whose background includes spells at Chez Nico in London [...]
