It’s a very special moment when an amazing dish appears in the most unexpected setting. Like when I took the first bite of the best Wiener Schnitzel of my life in a small Gasthof in the Austrian countryside – so good that I still can’t stop thinking about it. It therefore earns its place among the best dishes I’ve ever eaten, joining a Japanese tempura bite, Spanish shrimp, Brazilian cacao, South African springbok, Swiss cheese, and others in this 80-71 list.
80 – Schnitzel Love
🍽️ Wiener Schnitzel • Petersilienkartoffeln • Salat • Preiselbeeren
📍 Blaue Quelle, Erl (AT)
🌐 Website | Instagram
🧑🏼🍳 Alexander Struth
🗓️ 2023
I am a true lover of a Wiener Schnitzel and have tried my fair share of this deep-fried Austrian classic in all kinds of places – from the cities of Berlin, Zurich, or of course Vienna, to remote mountain huts across the Alps.
To my own surprise, the best Wiener Schnitzel I‘ve had was during a pit stop in the Austrian village of Erl. At family-run restaurant Blaue Quelle, a cozy Gasthof with wood-panelled rooms and warm hospitality, traditional yet refined Austrian comfort food takes center stage – alongside fresh trout from the nearby spring that gives the place its name. The veal Schnitzel here is outstanding: tender enough to melt in your mouth, with a light, golden breading that’s perfectly puffed and buttery. Served with boiled potatoes and cranberries, it’s simplicity done to perfection – and, for me, the ultimate Schnitzel experience.
79 – The Creamiest Shrimp
🍽️ Quisquilla de Motril • mantequilla noisette • pimienta ahumada
📍 Smoked Room, Madrid (ES)
🌐 Website | Instagram
🧑🏼🍳 Massimiliano Delle Vedove
🗓️ 2025
It is one of the most spectacular seats I have ever dined in: the chef‘s counter at Smoked Room in Madrid allows unobstructed views into the open kitchen where head chef Massimiliano Delle Vedove and his team are preparing their unique „Fire Omakase“ menu – cooked preodominantly over open flame.
Yet if you‘d expect smoky, bold meat dishes to arise from the fire, you are in for a surprise: the two-Michelin-star experience is instead built around delicate dishes highlighting seafood and vegetables. My favourite: the signature „Shrimp from Motril“, a small town in southern Spain. The shrimp have a unique, creamy texture. Served with brown butter, a hint of smoked pepper, and some yuzu kosho, this is a creamy yet light, smoky yet fresh, buttery and sea-flavoured dish all at once.
78 – Intoxicating Amazon Cacao
🍽️ Amazon Cacao • Banana • Mandarin
📍 Béni, Singapore (SG)
🌐 Instagram
🧑🏼🍳 Kenji Yamanaka
🗓️ 2017
Singapore is a mecca for food lovers: from popular hawker stalls to elegant fine dining, the city brings together the best flavours from around the world.
At Michelin-starred Béni the spotlight is on refined French cuisine with Japanese touches. My most memorable moment came at dessert, when the air suddenly filled with the deep, intoxicating aroma of dark chocolate. Chef Kenji Yamanaka was grating huge blocks of pure 100% cacao over each guest’s plate.
The dessert centered on Criolla cacao, a rare cocoa bean from Brazil‘s Amazon forest renowned for its delicate and complex flavour profile. Served in three textures, and paired with caramelised bananas, this chocolate dish was truly unique: less sweet than others, yet even more intense, delicious, and fascinating.
77 – The Art of Frying Fish
🍽️ Kisu (Japanese whiting) tempura
📍 Tempura Kondo, Tokyo (JP)
🌐 Website
🧑🏼🍳 Fumio Kondo
🗓️ 2024
Two Michelin stars for deep-frying vegetables and seafood? What might sound unthinkable in Italy or France is a celebrated reality in Japan, where many restaurants are dedicated to tempura, the delicate art of battering and deep-frying ingredients to perfection.
The undesputed grand master of this craft is 78-year old Fumio Kondo, who has dedicated more than 50 years of his life to perfecting his signature style. To this day his tempura batter is said to be the lightest of them all, and his restaurant, opened in Tokyo’s Ginza district some 35 years ago, has held 2 Michelin stars since 2008.
Kondo and his team’s ultra-thin coating uses flour that absorbs minimal oil, resulting in a crisp, almost ethereal texture. Their tempura doesn’t taste like fried batter; instead, the slow, gentle frying steams each ingredient from within, elevating its natural flavour.
My highlight? A small piece of Kisu – tender, fragrant, and fresh, with subtle richness from the batter’s fat. A bite that captures the precision, patience, and quiet beauty of Japanese cuisine.
76 – Little Green Pearls
🍽️ Wrinkled peas with pork and hazelnuts
📍 Gastrologik, Stockholm (SE)
🧑🏼🍳 Jacob Holmström & Anton Bjuhr
🗓️ 2015
Tiny and humble in shape, yet so sweet and powerful in taste: Peas are one of my favourite ingredients to see on a fine dining plate.
At Gastrologik some particularly tasty little green pearls were served with rich pork, preserved hazelnuts, and a creamy sauce to create an indulgent and perfectly balanced combination. The Stockholm 2-Michelin-star restaurant was a New Nordic dining heaven, celebrating seasonal and hyper-local ingredients and a refreshingly informal fine-dining style. Every dish told a fascinating story rooted in Swedish nature and culture.
It was one of my early fine dining experiences, and their creative, passionate cooking – as well as the unforgettable peas – left a lasting mark. After more than a decade of success, Gastrologik closed in 2022, but chef Jacob Holmström continues his focus on New Nordic cuisine with the opening of restaurant Fyr in beautiful Halmstad. It‘s high up on my list to try next!
75 – Game Meat Redefined
🍽️ Outeniqua Springbok • Kabocha Squash • Hokkaido Pumpkin • Shitake
📍 Fyn, Cape Town (ZA)
🌐 Website | Instagram
👨🍳 Peter Tempelhoff
🗓️ 2022
A trip to South Africa can truly broaden an adventurous gourmet’s horizon. Among many things, the country offers one of the world’s finest and most diverse selections of venison: kudu, impala, springbok … the list goes on.
The best game I tasted was at restaurant Fyn in Cape Town, one of the country’s most exciting restaurants and a regular on the The Workd’s 50 Best list. In his kaiseki-inspired menu, chef and founder Peter Tempelhoff boldly blends South African ingredients with Japanese techniques – a combination that feels both surprising and completely natural.
The standout dish was the tender springbok filet – delicate yet rich, perfectly cooked, and topped with a fragrant hazelnut crust. Paired with a cocoa-based sauce and Japanese pumpkin, it was not only the highlight of the meal but the best dish I tasted in South Africa. A beautifully balanced celebration of flavour, craft, and place
74 – Summer on a Plate
🍽️ Summer Tomatoes and Flowers
📍 Noma, Copenhagen (DK)
🌐 Website | Instagram
🧑🏼🍳 René Redzepi
🗓️ 2021
A meal at Noma is arguably the most extraordinary gastronomic experience of our time. Chef René Redzepi and his team have not only shaped the rise of New Nordic cuisine but also redefined fine dining for the world. Their menus are a masterclass in creativity, innovation, craftsmanship, and warm hospitality.
During Noma’s summer season, everything revolves around fresh, hyper-local ingredients. And the very first dish of the menu sets the tone: intensely flavoured Danish tomatoes paired with frozen herb-infused tomato water and delicate flowers from the garden – pure, elemental freshness. Every bite tastes like a piece of summer.
Noma will close its doors in 2026, so if you haven’t yet experienced this one-of-a-kind restaurant … now is the time.
73 – New Mexican Dessert Favourite
🍽️ Corn Husk Meringue • Corn Mousse • Burnt Vanilla Cream
📍 Cosme, New York City (US)
🌐 Website | Instagram
🧑🏼🍳 Enrique Olvera
🗓️ 2023
In a city with an abundance of great restaurants, Cosme is one of my absolute NYC favourites, and the best Mexican restaurant I‘ve ever been to. It blends high-end Mexican cuisine with the energy of Manhattan’s Flatiron District – and it’s a perfect match!
Owned by Enrique Olvera, the celebrated chef behind 2-Michelin-starred Pujol in Mexico City, Cosme delivers a flawless showcase of Mexico’s finest flavours. My highlight: their signature dessert, a cloud-like meringue paired with an ultra-indulgent corn–mascarpone mousse and a silky vanilla cream.
Inspired by a pastry shop from Olvera’s childhood in Mexico City, it’s a true feast of texture, nostalgia, and sweetness.
72 – When the Sea Becomes Pasta
🍽️ Fusilloni • Sea Lettuce • Lemon • Black Garlic • Frozen Roe
📍 Agli Amici, Rovinj (HR)
🌐 Website | Instagram
🧑🏼🍳 Emanuele Scarello
🗓️ 2024
Agli Amici is not only Croatia‘s first and only 2-Michelin-star restaurant, it also boasts one of the most beautiful dining spots on the Istrian peninsula. The views of the sun setting over the turquoise sea and the marina, and later of the illuminated Old Town of Rovinj – they alone are worth a visit.
And then comes the food. Chef Emanuele Scarello, who also holds 2 stars at Agli Amici in Udine, has crafted a menu that marries his Italian roots with the best of Istrian produce and seafood.
The Fusilloni course tasted like a full breath of the sea: perfectly al dente pasta with a seaweed-based sauce, a little lemon puff adding just the right brightness, and frozen roe bringing both freshness and a wisp of smoke. A beautiful celebration of the ocean in every bite.
71 – The Ultimate Cheese Feast
🍽️ Schweizer Käse
📍 Schloss Schauenstein, Fürstenau (CH)
🌐 Website | Instagram
🧑🏼🍳 Andreas Caminada
🗓️ 2019
A great cheese course, marking the transition from the savoury section to dessert, can easily be one of the highlights of an elaborate menu. It all depends on the cheese selection of the restaurant’s Maître Fromager.
At Schloss Schauenstein, all 20+ cheeses on the beautiful trolley come from Swiss cheese makers, and all of them are absolutely delicious. But what makes it a truly unique cheese course are all the sides that chef Andreas Caminada serves with it: from nice chutneys and honeys to different breads, potatoes, ham, and spätzli – this cheese course turns into an unexpected and cozy feast in the middle of an elegant 3-Michelin-star meal!
A Gourmet Journey 