The Best Places to Eat in 2025

Food has become fundamental to how we travel, from where we’re inspired to go next to how we plan our days when we get there. It’s a prism through which we understand destinations—not just by dining at restaurants but by exploring edible landscapes and learning about culinary heritage. We are willing to travel farther than ever for a dish, a flavor—or an impossible-to-get restaurant reservation—but we’re also seeking out the diasporic chefs reframing what it means to eat “local”; queuing up for unfussy street stalls; and driving past celebrated wine trails for less trammelled ones.

All of which makes us very excited to be launching our debut Best Places to Eat list, our global guide to the destinations to travel to in the year ahead—entirely for the food. Selected by our editors across the world, these are the places with, yes, exciting restaurant openings, but also those with rich culinary traditions that are experiencing a shift or revival. On this inaugural list, we share the 10 spots that best exemplify how we’re thinking about food and travel in 2025—and where we are seriously excited to go and eat.

This year’s list is a mix of rising food destinations, like Kigali, where ambitious chefs from across the African continent are taking advantage of Rwanda’s bounty of fresh produce, and those more established gourmand magnets that are evolving, like Lima, where the newest generation of must-visit restaurants are not just of the Chef’s Table variety, but also hole-in-the-wall spots and streetside stalls that have been always beloved but never quite awarded. Then, there are those places that have the potential to change how travelers think about food entirely, like Lofoten, a rugged archipelago in Norway, where what’s on your plate is firmly tethered to its distinctive landscape and ancient rhythms—expect plenty of the freshest cod and the chance to catch it yourself. In every destination on this list, count on food to guide you to other rewarding experiences—sailing, hiking, and biking—but know that every bite along the way will be one you’ll remember.

In deciding to make this list going forward, we also acknowledge that—trends aside—food is one of the most enduring connectors when we travel. When we sit across from someone we’ve just met at a supper club in Dubai and tear from the same khubz, or clang glasses with strangers at a lively bar in Islay, Scotland, shouting “Slàinte mhath!” we’re breaking down borders, real and imagined—and crossing over into someone else’s world. And what could be more rewarding as travelers?

Here then are the Best Places to Eat in 2025. Work up an appetite—you’ll need it. —Arati Menon and Megan Spurrell

This is part of our global guide to the Best Places to Go in 2025—find more travel inspiration here.

The other states might not like to admit it, but South Australia is the country’s wine capital with world-famous vineyards, like the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and Adelaide Hills, that are an easy drive from Adelaide. But one wine region has somehow remained less popular despite its magical trio of great food, wonderful wines, and awe-inspiring landscape. Dramatic hills are thickly coated with giant eucalyptus and native she-oak; wild lavender shelters native wildlife like musical magpies and cackling kookaburras. This is Clare Valley, a glorious slice of countryside where vineyards produce aromatic dry Rieslings and elegant Shirazes from beneath the shade of tall gum trees

The wineries often double as fantastic restaurants: the terraces at Slate Restaurant at Pikes Wines or Paulett Wines’ Bush DeVine Winery Restaurant are ideal for sampling produce plucked from the kitchen garden and transformed into delicious modern Australian delicacies; as you sip on local wines, you may spot kangaroos that bound in to feast on the grapes. This is a place that most Australians haven’t quite got to yet, but with the better-known wine regions nearby ticked off, people are looking for what’s next.

Lobster thermidor is on the menu at Skillogalee Estate, where lunches are long and lazy, with vineyard views.

Tim White/Skillogalee

Distances are so manageable here that the 20-mile Riesling Trail is a popular way to explore the region on a bicycle; since last year, the Wine and Wilderness Trail has offered hikers their own, longer version. A spectacular six-day trek (though there’s no need to do the whole thing), it ranges 60 miles and includes all those cellar doors, not to mention a 19th-century shepherd’s hut and spectacular views across the valley from Dunns Range.

At Mitchell Wines, the cellar door is a lovely 1890s stone building that was once an apple shed, while Mount Horrocks Wines used to be the Auburn Railway Station. Sevenhill Cellars was founded by Jesuits in 1851, so a visit here can involve a tour of the church and crypt (both made of handhewn local stone and slate) as well as a wine tasting with grazing plates of local produce: Adel Creamy Blue cheese, South Australian olives, and Riesling jelly. At Skillogalee Estate, lunch is long and lazy on the terrace beneath a giant olive tree—the 1851 farmhouse sits to one side and sloping vineyards to the other. Dishes are seasonal and inventive, with ingredients either straight from their kitchen garden or from other parts of this bountiful state: expect seared tuna from Port Lincoln with chili and mandarin oil, and risotto with asparagus as green as those vineyards.

In its most traditional sense, a “hotel” in Australia is traditionally a casual restaurant rather than a place to sleep. So, although Sevenhill Hotel has won Australiawide awards for its country dining and vast range of local wines, it won’t provide you with a bed. However, Watervale Hotel, which serves superb dishes with produce from its biodynamic kitchen garden that can be accompanied by a chef-led tour of its farm, does have a comfortable six-bedroom guesthouse (available for buyouts only). That’s useful for anyone indulging in the wine pairing on chef and co-owner Nicola Palmer’s superb degustation menu, or anyone simply wanting to linger in this lovely place, which has existed in some form since 1845. There are no big hotels in the valley, which adds to the charm, but for those wanting more amenities, there is the Clare Country Club, next to the local golf course, which has a pool, spa, and restaurant, while anyone wanting to be walking distance from the excellent restaurants and cafes of Clare town can stay at the Mill St. Retreat, owned by the team behind Jim Barry Wines, one of the most famous estates in the region. These stand-alone apartments are simple but snug, with a great location between the main street and the peaceful Hutt River.

Eating out in Clare, depending on your levels of hunger and the time of day, can mean classic Italian at Ragu & Co, the former Chaff Mill building that now boasts a proper pizza oven; or friendly Cafe 1871, where the staff comes out from behind their giant coffee machine to make the best fruit smoothies in town. All these places take full advantage of the delicious local produce in their own ways—at The Uppside, chef Christian Uppill adds an Eastern European twist with handmade potato-and-cheese pierogi and morkva (Ukrainian-style baby carrots sauteed with brown sugar and dill), all matched by Christian’s wife, Caity, with an exclusively Clare Valley wine list. Those walking or cycling trails aren’t just an excellent way to experience the valley: they are practical answers to the problem of making room for yet another fantastic meal. —Nina Caplan

There was a time, not so long ago, when Dubai’s food scene was mainly known for celebrity-led restaurants parading dry-ice sushi platters and heapfuls of truffle shavings. But much like this ambitious city’s ever-changing skyline, in recent years, Dubai’s restaurantscape has evolved beyond recognition.

While the city still attracts more than its share of big-name chefs—this year alone, Dani García, Dabiz Muñoz, Anne-Sophie Pic, and Jean Imbert have all opened restaurants in Dubai—the spotlight is increasingly shifting to the homegrown, specifically to the flavors of the region. These new stars of Dubai’s food scene are distancing themselves from glitzy hotels and the shiny financial district, tucking instead into lesser-trodden corners of the city. At the forefront of this movement is Orfali Bros Bistro, an unassuming Middle Eastern spot on the corner of Jumeirah’s Wasl 51 led by Syrian chef Mohammad Orfali and his two brothers, Wassim and Omar. To eat here is to know their stories, right from the ones while growing up in Aleppo, told not only tableside with every dish, but through ingredients and techniques picked up over a lifetime of travel around the region and beyond. Try the shish barak a la gyoza or the wagyu beef kebab served with sour cherry and pine nuts, aptly named ‘Come With Me to Aleppo’. This year brought a Michelin Star for Orfali Bros Bistro, and the brothers are working to open their next concept, Three Bros, to open in early 2025.

The 90's Alfredo with lobster & jalapeño ravioli and aged Parmigiano-Reggiano sauce at Moonrise

Moonrise

A few doors down, Palestinian chef Salam Dakkak’s newly opened Sufret Maryam is designed to feel like an extension of her own living home. Here, dishes are hearty and wholesome, an elevated version of the food that has filled dining tables in this part of the world for centuries. The khobez al bait, a bread made with 48-hour fermented dough served hot from the oven with impossibly light, pillowy crusts, then topped with tangy confit garlic and perfectly offset by a bed of creamy labneh is unmissable. Across town, on the roof of a quiet residential tower in Al Satwa, one of Dubai’s oldest neighborhoods is 28-year-old Dubai-born chef Solemann Haddad’s 12-seater omakase concept Moonrise. Since it opened in late 2021, Moonrise has been instrumental in molding the Dubai dining scene into what it is today by breaking down barriers around flavors and cuisines. Here, a seasonal 10-course menu takes its inspiration from Haddad’s upbringing in the Middle East, despite using predominantly Japanese ingredients and techniques. The result is a slew of complex dishes that blend flavors in a way this city has never seen. Expect to try the likes of charcoal khubz— made from a mother dough that’s now two years old—a type of Arabic bread served with miso butter and dates, or locally grown tomato, zaatar, and nori furikake, served with house labnah.

Several grassroots supper clubs have also found their way into brick-and-mortar spaces in recent years. Neha Mishra’s underground ramen supper club has grown into Kinoya, a restaurant that has a waitlist for its hearty bowls of tastes-like-you’re-in-Tokyo ramen. And in 2023, the elusive Hawkerboi turned his back-garden street-food nights into a neon-lit, oh-so-cool space in Jumeirah Lake Towers. Coming in 2025, former cabin crew turned home chef Gabriela Chamorro will turn her sold-out supper club Girl and the Goose into a permanent restaurant space in an as-yet-undisclosed location that will showcase the authentic Nicaraguan dishes she’s known for.

With more and more chefs choosing Dubai as the home for their boundary-breaking concepts, the days of playing it safe are well and truly over. Which can only mean that there’s never been a more interesting time to dine in Dubai, a city where cultures, flavors, and ideas clash in the most beautiful of ways. —Sophie Prideaux

For centuries—since the 1300s, to be precise—Genoa has been referred to as La Superba, which translates as posing, grand, but also haughty and proud. The moniker is still fitting today: One of Italy’s largest ports, and a former financial and seafaring power, this city by the sea in the northwest region of Liguria is both stately and sprawling, fierce in preserving its heritage, and a little smug for having kept its soul intact in the face of globalization.

Such traits are evident in its architecture, which has remained largely the same throughout history, from ornate palazzi to a scruffy, labyrinthine old town whose narrow streets (caruggi in the local dialect) barely get any sunlight. The city’s pride can be seen in its time-honored food culture, with recipes—many of which are vegetarian and have been long before plant-based cooking started taking hold—that have been kept alive and handed down across generations and cherished by the Genoese like national treasures.

Mastered classics like pesto, focaccia, farinata (an unleavened chickpea-flour pancake), and panissa (bite-sized chickpea fritters) are ubiquitous on the city’s tables, and something most locals continue to happily line up for at the establishments that make them best. While in the past those mostly included legacy-steeped, old-school places (Osteria di Vico Palla, Panificio Mario, Antico Forno della Casana), a slew of new locales has recently claimed people’s attention, with fresh twists on Genoa’s most beloved dishes that are very much worth planning a visit for.

Old-fashioned Ligurian cooking gets an update at Hostaria al Mercato.

Hostaria al Mercato

At Il Marin, a sleek restaurant by Genoa’s old port that was awarded a Michelin star in 2023, which appeared in the 2024 guide, Ligurian chef Marco Visciola elevates iconic Genoese staples through current techniques and ideas, creating dishes that draw from the city’s culinary canon without being too prescriptive. His delicate version of pasta al pesto is a case in point: Rather than trofie or linguine—the traditional pasta shapes that go with the green paste—it features a handful of perfectly folded tortelli stuffed with pesto, potato cream, and raw green beans (the original recipe for pasta with pesto used to include boiled potatoes and softened green beans). It’s a nod to the past, but it feels light, different, new.

Hostaria al Mercato, which opened last summer inside the Mercato Orientale di Genova (MOG)—a bustling indoor market that houses both produce stalls and international eateries—is another player grounding its offerings in tradition, with a menu and plating that modernizes old-fashioned Ligurian cooking. Frisceu alle erbette liguri are savory fritters filled with local wild herbs; pane, burro, e acciughe (bread, butter, and anchovies—a popular “snack” in Genoa) is reinvented as a risotto. The focus here is on the ingredients too, which come mostly from MOG’s vendors and the small organic vegetable garden that grows in the center of the minimalist, laid-back dining space.

Heritage and good-quality produce are also the watchwords of Locanda Contadina, a small bistro that debuted in September in the heart of the centro storico. With a handful of tables and counter-style service, the unfussy spot is an extension of the city’s (and Liguria’s) first permanent indoor farmers market, the Mercato Campagna Amica Via del Campo, which opened its doors in February 2024. On the menu, which changes according to what the vendors are selling that day, are polished versions of homestyle items like chard and herb pies and pansotti (triangular-shaped ravioli stuffed with a mixture of cheese, nutmeg, and foraged greens), zimino di ceci (a hearty chickpea and Swiss chard soup), and cuculli (potato fritters).

Tradition still has its place—and relevancy. Romanengo 1780, Italy's oldest confectionery and the quintessence of well-heeled Genoa, is set to open a café in the city next year, bringing its artisanal delicacies to a sit-down venue next to the original shop. —Marianna Cerini

Drive into Goa any time from spring to late summer and one of the first things that reaches your nose will be the funky smell of the slowly fermenting juice of cashew apples. This is when the sweet, juice-filled fruit is harvested and its juice is set to ferment in traditional pot stills where it transforms into feni, a true spirit of the land. Classified as a country liquor, feni has been traditionally brewed in homes and local distilleries, and consumed by Goans as an everyday tipple for centuries—either straight up or with a splash of Limca and a slit green chili, beside chili-basted fried fish.

But things are changing for the homegrown spirit, with a whole slate of local brewers, bartenders, and chefs becoming self-appointed ambassadors for it. Among the biggest champions is Hansel Vaz, a former geologist and founder of Cazulo Premium Feni, who has worked with single-minded determination to find a larger audience for Goan feni. Vaz created the first feni distillery experience in the world with the launch of the Fazenda Cazulo set in a cashew farm in South Goa’s Cuelim, where tours of the feni cellar and tastings are available. The tour also includes a Floating Feni Experience where guests can try a range of feni cocktails and Goan snacks while sitting on a long picnic table set up in a shallow river. Other heritage distillers like Solomon Diniz of Tinto have also been taking their generational feni business to new audiences through guided tours of their farms and interactive stalls at food festivals to show just how fun feni can be. Brands like Aani Ek have launched a set of fenis flavored with locally grown spices like cumin, cinnamon, and chili.

Foraged ingredients await guests at Fazenda Cazulo, a feni distillery in Cuelim.

Himanshu Lakhwani/Fazenda Cazulo

Bars and restaurants across the state are following suit and foregrounding their Goan identity. In the capital Panjim, feni holds sway at old-world tavernas and modern cocktail bars alike. When here, check into the Mateus Goa, a boutique hotel housed in a late-1800s mansion in the old Latin Quarter of Fontainhas, and soak in the vibe of this town. As your first stop, head to the tiny neighborhood dive, Joseph Bar, where a cheerful blue exterior, iconic signage, old switchboards, and graffiti on the walls pack in the charm of Goa’s taverna culture. There is a perpetual waiting list here for a tiny menu with a section dedicated to locally sourced feni. On offer are cocktails like a mango chili feni and a feni kombucha. Pair these with spicy Goan chorizo and prawn recheado curry, with plenty of pav, a type of bread roll, to soak up the spice and alcohol.

Across the road, António serves up Goan small plates like crispy baitfish, squid stuffed with prawn balchao, and rissois, or local empanadas stuffed with meat or mushrooms. Here, bartenders are happy to shake up classics like a Moscow Mule or a Picante with feni. At nearby gastropub Petisco Goa, one of the signatures is a Fenhattan—an ingenious take on a cold smoked Manhattan but with feni.

Panjim is also renowned for its seafood restaurants—from the old-school Ritz Classic, which still makes one of the best fish thalis in town (don’t miss their crab xacuti), to the relatively new Bombil with its extensive menu of local fish, fresh pickles, and traditional Goan dishes—and at the bars at these eateries, the drink of choice is feni, whether shaken, stirred, or served neat with a twist of lime.

Beyond Panjim, Pablo’s in Assagao is a seriously cool bar where musicians, artists, and travelers come together for some delightful drinks and food, customers can choose from excellent savory and sweet cocktails with ingredients like raw mango, curry leaves, and honey. Further into the party hub of Anjuna, restaurants like Slow Tide are finding an idiom of their own, reinterpreting flavors of the Konkan coast and shaking up some surprising feni cocktails with local ingredients and seasonal cues. Down south in Benaulim, Cavatina by Avinash Martins is one of Goa’s most exciting restaurants with modern plates focusing on Goan flavors (think prawns served with a splash of feni and roast tongue marinated in a temperado masala). And his feni infusions feature everything from galangal to kokum to the blue butterfly pea flower.

If you can, time your visit to the annual Goa Carnaval in February—it’s a wonderful time to experience the many expressions of this beloved drink: pop-up bars, aunties with snack stalls, and local musicians belting out old jazz hits, make this a street party worth traveling for. —Diya Kohli

Islay’s immediate appeal to scotch fans stretches back centuries. The rugged Hebridean isle off the southwestern coast of Scotland, also known as Whisky Island, has 10 active distilleries spread over less than 300 square miles. They ceaselessly churn out smoky styles of the amber liquid—its flavor accented by the peaty earth blanketing this boggy, maritime landscape. As a consequence, for any scotch enthusiast, a journey here is somewhat of a pilgrimage. And yet there’s never been a more enticing time for anyone, even laymen, to drink it all in.

The summer of 2025 will see the opening of the Ardbeg House, courtesy of the eponymous LVMH-owned scotch brand. It’s an elegant repurposing of a historic seafront property, featuring 12 well-appointed guest rooms and suites, led by interior design company Russell Sage Studio. A lobby-side bar and restaurant will lean heavily into seafood from surrounding waters, including oysters, lobsters, and mackerel, with thoughtful whiskey pairings (naturally).

It’ll have to compete for clout with a new menu at Another Place, The Machrie. The sprawling five-star hotel and golf course was purchased by the Another Place luxury hotel collection in 2023, and reopened in August 2024. Since the property changed hands, its sole restaurant, 18 Restaurant & Bar, has become more markedly gourmet with fare like scallops dusted with seaweed crumbs, smoked trout under cucumber and vermouth relish, and venison enlivened by juniper jus and pickled berries. Those artful renderings pair effortlessly with one of the island’s more thoughtfully curated whisky collections and arrive at the table backdropped by a peerless panorama of the craggy, windswept coastline.

When the Another Place, The Machrie hotel reopened in August 2024, the food and drink offerings were kicked up a notch.

Ben Shakespeare/Another Place, The Machrie

In 2025, this is a new understanding among the distilleries responsible for the area’s standout whiskey: they ought to offer edible delights befitting their liquid largesse. To wit, two new distilleries slated for 2025 openings, Laggan Bay and Portintruan, are weaving artisan-minded kitchens into their respective visitors’ centers. Expect them to showcase a bounty of Islay ingredients from both the land and the sea.

Those newcomers will join Port Ellen, a cultishly revered distillery celebrated for its aged malts, which roared back to life in March of 2024 after four decades of silence. From its arch-ceilinged second-story sipping parlor, an elegant Japanese tea service precedes an unforgettable sampling of high-proof product. It’s offered by appointment only and starts at $260.

If you want to get further afield, Bowmore is now offering adventurous gourmands the opportunity to explore in impeccable style: chauffeured in a $282,000 Aston Martin SUV. Launched in May 2024, Captivating Islay is a full-day experiential tour through which guests sample extremely limited-edition scotches from the 245-year-old distillery, combining them with housemade scones and jams. A parade of tastings proceeds across various remote corners of the island. It culminates with a cozy lunch by the fire at the charming Bridgend Hotel, where a multicourse spread awaits. Don’t sleep on the fish and chips—which are some of the finest in all of western Scotland—with a perfectly crisped batter and succulent fresh fish within.

Though if you desire a more intimate understanding of how the landscape and whisky here are intertwined, consider a day out on the water with Islay Sea Adventures. Embarking out of the harbor village of Port Ellen, the $136 Seafood Special Trip excursion, hosted by charismatic local fishermen, kicks off with a platter of freshly caught lobster, crab, and langoustines. It then traces the neighboring shoreline, where you’ll spot three of the island’s most iconic—and conspicuous—malt makers: Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and Ardbeg. There’ll probably be a dram from one of them included in the price of admission. This is Whisky Island, after all—but in 2025, even if you come for the world-famous scotch, you may as well stay for supper. —Brad Japhe

Rwanda is famously known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, with a rippling landscape that stretches from the undulating streets of Kigali to the soaring peaks of Volcanoes National Park. What also strikes visitors is the lushness of these slopes, an endless emerald expanse studded with eucalyptus, cypress, and palm trees in every direction. This terrain, with its temperate climes and volcanic soil, has long sustained Rwandan crops like tea, coffee, cassava, and beans—and in recent years, it’s been catching the attention of culinary innovators from across the continent.

Take Dieuveil Malonga, for instance: The Congolese chef lived and worked in Germany and France and had traveled to 48 African countries before deciding on Kigali as the home for his ambitious restaurant Meza Malonga in 2020. As much a celebration of Rwandan produce as it is of pan-African culinary traditions, the eight-course tasting menu stars dishes like Mombasa-style shrimp, a Congolese peanut stew, and steak with a Nigerian suya sauce. The accolades have been abundant, but Malonga’s ambitions haven’t slowed: In March 2025 he will open a vast campus in Musanze, close to Volcanoes National Park, with a culinary lab, a spice museum open to the public, and more.

Meza Malonga is an ambitious celebration of Rwanda's bounty, with dishes that feature ingredients like Nile perch.

Dieuveil Malonga, Chris Schwagga/Meza Malonga

Zimbabwean chef Treasure Makwanise, meanwhile, first arrived in Rwanda as executive chef at One&Only Nyungwe House, before opening one of Kigali’s hottest tables, Anda Kigali, in 2022. In a residential setting in Mount Rebero, it has sweeping views over the city and a menu that celebrates fresh local ingredients like mushrooms and tilapia prepared with European and Asian influences. Back in the central neighborhood of Kiyovu, meanwhile, Kigali native Nicole Bamukunde uses her hospitality education from France to help foster the next generation of culinary talent at Nyurah. In an elegant dining room on the second floor of a nondescript office building, she guides an impeccably trained staff through a fine-dining experience that includes an elevated spin on fried sambaza, a beloved Rwandan dish of crispy fried Lake Kivu sardines—here, it is less greasy than the street food version and has a more complex medley of flavors.

It’s not just talents from the continent who are drawn to Kigali as of late: Originally from Thailand and trained in London, Sakorn Somboon masterminded the Afro-Japanese fusion menu at Kōzo in Accra before bringing the concept to Kigali in 2023. Singaporean entrepreneur Rohan Shah was also lured to Rwanda by its bounty of fresh ingredients, which have informed his Afro-botanical rum brand Imizi—made with local sugarcane and indigenous herbs like urubondi and umunanira. While Shah works toward opening an experiential space next year, he currently hosts a pop-up cocktail residency at Kula Coffee Bar, a few floors below Meza Malonga; Imizi is also served at Kōzo Kigali and top Rwandan lodges like One&Only Gorilla’s Nest and Singita Kwitonda.

Above all, the ingredient that Rwanda is best known for is coffee—its third largest export. Global connoisseurs know Rwandan beans to be among the finest in the world, but Kigali’s craft coffee movement has only been gaining momentum in recent years, thanks to popular local operations like Question Coffee and Rubia Coffee Roasters, who are converting a nation of tea drinkers. Some have even bigger goals: Kevin Mbundu, co-founder of Kivu Noir, is taking his success to Dubai, where he will open a café at the end of 2024. (This fall, he also added a new fine-dining restaurant, Ruä, to his stylish cliffside Kimihurura flagship.) Alongside a dinner menu that includes dishes like steak drizzled in a brown coffee wine sauce and mizuzu, or fried plantains, the creative cocktails incorporate ingredients like local sage leaves, green chiles, and, of course, coffee. —Sarah Khan

Over the past decade, a trophy case of fine-dining restaurants has cemented Peru’s capital as a food lover’s mecca—steadily climbing lists like The World’s 50 Best Restaurants since 2013 to, in recent years, predictably dominating such lists. There’s Central, with an exquisite tasting menu designed around obscure ingredients found at various elevations throughout Peru, from an Andean river algae to Amazonian piranha heads, and its light-filled sister restaurant Kjolle, with its non-alcoholic drink pairing of fermented tubers and herbs; Maido, where delicate nigiri and punchy tiraditos of raw seafood honor the legacy of nikkei (Japanese-Peruvian) cuisine; and Mayta, a contemporary celebration of endemic ingredients, both on the plate and in the cocktail glass. And that’s just for starters.

The thing is, most Peruvians haven’t been able to eat at these restaurants, and perhaps never will—which makes it especially exciting that a leveling effect is happening. The newest generation of must-visit restaurants is more accessible—in terms of price, the ease of getting a table, and the overall vibe. Equally, unfussy street stands and homestyle restaurants, always beloved but never quite awarded, are getting their moment in the spotlight. Across the board, the melting pot that is the Peruvian culinary canon is proudly showing its roots.

Japanese-Peruvian dishes, like this scallop tiradito, shine at Shizen in San Isidrio.

Shizen Restaurante Nikkei

At refined but laid-back Mérito, in the colorful Barranco neighborhood towering over the Pacific, Venezuelan chef Juan Luis Martínez serves dishes like elegant crab-coconut tartlets and raw scallop crudos flavored by Peru’s iconic ají amarillo chile, on an ever-changing seasonal menu. While you should make a reservation, it’s not impossible to walk into the warm, wood-paneled dining room and snag a table. Demo, opened in the pandemic, is Martínez’s ever-more-casual café version of the concept, serving coffee and pastries, whereas the 2023-opened Clon falls somewhere in the middle: think arepas stuffed with fried pejerrey fish, which are otherwise common in breakfast sandwiches sold for just a few soles at bustling mercados. At sultry Shizen in San Isidro, a trio of ambitious chef-owners work with fishermen along Peru’s coast to bring diners the freshest catch—tempura-fried, or sliced and marinated as sashimi, nigiri, and of course, ceviche—while also identifying underutilized seafood that deserves a place on the Limeño palate, with sustainability in mind. Order the chirashi, a carnival of assorted raw mariscos or seafood, including massive local uni tongues, on a bed of sushi rice, topped with a sweet potato kakiage (it’ll run you 69 PEN, which is less than $20 USD at the time of writing).

If you prefer to follow the siren song of the true hole-in-the-wall spots, where taxi drivers take their breaks and workers share large bottles of Pilsen across communal tables, scrap all of the above and head for the huariques. These informal restaurants known for cheap, homestyle food and kiss-the-chef flavors have always been “where it’s at,” to steal the words of Lima-based Luciano Mazzetti, who hosts the popular YouTube food show Viaja y Prueba. Now, everyone is embracing that long-known truth—there are annual huarique awards run by the El Comercio newspaper, and even upper-crust residents are now following the TikTok trail to places like Puerta Barranca, a seafood-slinging spot built into the chef’s Surquillo home, where the TVs are always on and the scallops on the half shell hit hard, or Anticuchos Carmencita, a sidewalk stand serving marinated cow-heart skewers, a beloved after-dark snack with Afro-Peruvian roots. Huerta Chinén, serving a classic menú del dia or “menu of the day”—a starter and main of your selection at a fair price, usually featuring creole classics like lomo saltado or verdant arroz con pollo—is right under most traveler’s noses at the other Surquillo market (not the one your food tour will take you to). These places can require digging to find but poke around the YouTube channels of A Comer, Wariqueando, and Viaja y Prueba and I promise, you’ll find plenty to keep you busy (and full).

If it’s really the high-end, experimental experiences you’re after, follow the growing buzz surrounding Lima’s conceptual cocktail bars. Lady Bee Lima, which has a “classic” cocktail menu and light bites, draws on products from small producers around the country, while subtly offering an education on Peru’s food systems; and Sastreía Martinez, hidden behind what looks like a tailor’s shop, serves vibes that are as exquisitely curated as its list of classic cocktails (from negronis to Penicillin) and lesser-known bevvies (like Cynar juleps).

If you ask any Limeño, they’ll tell you this has always been one of the best food cities in the world—but in 2025, it really feels like there’s something for everyone. —Megan Spurrell

The tiny Norwegian archipelago of Lofoten is distinctive and dramatic—with spiky mountains rising from the Norwegian Sea, craggy shorelines frequented by moose and white-tailed eagle, and turquoise bays primed for swimming in the midnight sun. It is this unique, wild landscape that dictates another increasingly big draw for travelers. With its cod-rich waters, nutrient- and salt-rich grass that fattens its sheep, and incredible local producers crafting everything from specialty cheese to seaweed salt, Lofoten is laden with culinary riches.

Cod, in particular, holds a mythic place in Lofoten’s history and culture, evident in the fishing shacks that dot the land and the drying lines strung out in the Nordic air—so it’s not surprising that locals know how to cook it really well. There’s plenty of it on the menu at old favorite Børsen Spiseri in the historic town of Svolvær, a seafood restaurant with stockfish (dried cod) as a specialty. There’s also a floating sauna for after, with exceptional views over the harbor. Lofoten takes the kilometer zero philosophy seriously; almost everything on your plate is hyperlocal: at Holmen, a fairy-tale shoreside hotel on the island of Moskenes, local cod and halibut, along with grouse and lamb, dictate daily menus. When weather allows it, Holmen offers guided foraging trips to guests—and the herbs and wild berries picked make it back onto the plates. At Villa Lofoten, a hotel set amidst a huddle of newly renovated traditional cabins in the small community of Kvalnes, an old barn is now home to a restaurant with views out onto the ocean. Opened in June 2024, its menu draws from ingredients grown on-site for dishes like delicately sweet Norwegian flatbread with butter made of truffle seaweed, sautéed fresh plaice served with baked root vegetables, and ice cream with fresh Arctic rowan leaves.

Fallow Deer is served at Børsen Spiseri, in the historic town of Svolvær

Svinøya Rorbuer/Børsen Spiseri

A two-hour drive away from Svolvær —and well worth the journey—is Kvitnes Farm, where one of Norway’s most prominent chefs, Halvar Ellingsen, runs a cozy, wood-paneled restaurant, crafting a four-hour-long tasting menu that draws heavily from the landscape and his ancestral cuisine. Dishes include an aged hay-smoked halibut with almost-burnt butter and cream, and pan-seared redfish with onions and butter sauce with fermented roses, as well as a take on gahkko, a traditional bread of the Indigenous Sámi people. Stay overnight in one of 15 renovated rooms in Ellingsen’s great-great-grandfather’s farmhouse and wake up “to the sight of chickens in the yard.” Back in Lofoten, make sure you have your reservation in place for Lofoten Food Studio, where chef Roy-Magne Berglund has transformed his garage into a chef’s counter. His tasting menus spotlight the bounty of this land and attract foodies from across the world eager to experience his one-man show.

Other standout meals require less planning and Lofoten’s cafes and bakeries, in particular, deserve mention. In the heritage village of Nusfjord (where beautiful traditional rorbu, or fisherman’s cabins, are available for stays) lies Landhandleriet Café, a charming café that’s tucked into the rear of an old general store and still bears vestiges of its former self. Find a window seat kept warm by a sheepskin rug and enjoy fiskesuppe, a traditional soup made with cream, butter, flour, potatoes, carrots, and fish, with mountain views stretching before you. Don't miss the cinnamon rolls at The Bakery in Å—where baking is still done in a wood oven dating back to 1878—which would give Copenhagen’s pastry shops a run for their money. While in the village of Å, pop into Sild & Salmon for smoked and marinated salmon in a paper cornet to enjoy dockside, and Brygga—a restaurant built in an 1800s stockfish warehouse—for beer and bacalao, a stockfish stew inspired by a Spanish recipe and a nod to ancient trade routes between Norway and Spain.

Enjoying Lofoten’s cuisine is equally about experiencing its culture to really understand how the two are intertwined. Visitors can make their own cheese at the Lofoten Gårdsysteri farm; get a master class in drying and salting stockfish; or go on fishing trips aboard a sjark, a traditional fishing boat. But no food experience roots you more than the annual Kitchen On The Edge Of The World series run by Holmen that welcomes acclaimed global chefs to its shores over five weekends in a year. In 2025, this will include Ana Roš, the Slovenian chef behind three-Michelin-starred Hiša Franko, and Simon Rogan, the UK-based chef recognized as one of the pioneers of the farm-to-table movement. Twenty guests at a time are seated, each night, to feast on food and cocktails that champion local ingredients. During the day, there are metalworking workshops, locally led hikes, and ocean fishing—plus plenty of time to read by a roaring fire.

In 2025, increased solar activity is expected to make viewing the Northern Lights here even more spectacular than usual—a fitting reminder that a visit to Lofoten is a feast for all the senses, and that what’s on your plates is but one part of it. —Arati Menon and David Moralejo

Puerto Rican cuisine is as dynamic as the waist-winding reggaeton rhythms that have put it on the map, with intricate layers of Taíno, Spanish, and African influences making the island’s traditional dishes so distinct. But as on most tropical isles, food access has long been a challenge, a reality that came to a head following Hurricane Maria in 2017. Since then, local farmers, restaurateurs, and food business owners in Puerto Rico have banded together to ensure access to quality, regionally sourced ingredients—the cornerstone of what is a world-class food scene today. And while chefs are still imported to cook in hotels and restaurants in tourist destinations, the ones commanding the narrative of Puerto Rican food right now are homegrown. Their food is a reflection of years of farm-to-table-focused cooks drawing people beyond the main streets of Old San Juan, and building on and adapting traditions.

Even so, San Juan and its surrounding neighborhoods continue to be the island's gastronomic epicenter. Cocina al Fondo, run by the 2023 James Beard Awards winner for Best Chef (South) Natalia Vallejo, is set in a refurbished traditional casita, or home, where you can dine on arroz con conejo (stewed rabbit rice) alfresco, amid a chorus of tiny coqui frogs. Her food is at once nostalgic and inventive, each dish rooted in island terroir. Orujo by Carlos Portela offers a rotating chef-driven prix fixe menu comprising upward of 20 dishes, typically presented by the chef himself, alongside wine pairings in a sexy little restaurant that’s as comfortable as a living room. Here, each plate is an homage to the island—from local calabaza pumpkin topped with shaved truffles to marlin crudo with passion fruit and amaranth. Orujo’s Portela, alongside the chefs at standout restaurants like Verde Mesa and Vianda, demonstrates a mastery of vegetables—a notable feat on an island better known for meaty fritters.

Blackfin tuna tartare at Mamaya challenges any misconceptions that island food is all fried.

Mamaya

María Mercedes Grubb, meanwhile, is at the helm of newcomer Mamplé, an open-kitchen bar that serves classic Caribbean dishes with a French twist in an omakase format. There are scallops with sour orange and tarragon sauce meunière; white sweet potato pommes fondantes, and morcilla croquembouche (annatto gougères with blood sausage, local goat cheese mousse, and malta caramel). While these chefs embrace tradition, they also are primed for adventure, drawing on the influence and reach of international travelers.

Once out of the bustle of the San Juan metro area, the culinary options are ever expanding. Rincón—a hub for US expats and surfing enthusiasts on the west coast—is home to a growing local craft beer scene. Iconic beach beers like Corona are being overshadowed by bolder brews from the likes of Rincón Beer Company, which is known for its double IPAs and porters. Like many in the island’s culinary vanguard, brewmaster Jeremmie Vélez Rosario is dedicated to sustainability, using ingredients grown on-site for his new spot, El Co.lectivo, a no-waste cocktail bar and pizza joint.

Further south, in Mayagüez, rising star chef Luis Enrique’s restaurant Mamaya serves an island take on osso buco (pork, not veal), alongside bacalaítos—traditional salted cod fritters, typically served at roadside stands. In San Germán, Puerto Rico’s second oldest city, El Cubujón Bar makes a stellar rye whiskey old-fashioned, as well as island classic choripán (grilled chorizo sausage on super soft bread). And in Boquerón, on Calle Jose de Diego, the furthest southwest tip of the island, generations of local fishers sell the absolute freshest local seafood, including petite, briny oysters caught that day. Tradition and modernity live side by side from coast to coast: you don’t want to miss Guavate’s famed Ruta del Lechón or roast pork highway for classic crispy chicharrón, rice with pigeon peas, and mofongo—but if there’s one restaurant that truly reflects the island’s culinary hybridity, it’s Bacoa Finca + Fogón, a stunning open-air restaurant that’s tucked into the base of the El Yunque rainforest (you can even arrive by helicopter, if that’s your thing). The brainchild of Xavier Pacheco, Raúl Correa, and René Marichal, it specializes in wood-fire cooking brimming with smoke and sazón, conjuring the chefs’ Taíno and African ancestry with native plants from their on-site farm.

Have less time to explore? Get a sample of all of the above between April 3-6, 2025, when chef Mario Pagán will host the first-ever Puerto Rico Wine & Food Festival in San Juan—a true testament to the culinary moment this island is having. —Von Diaz

Until recently, power dining in Washington, DC, pretty much meant one thing: clubby steakhouses near the Capitol Building or White House, where legislators and lobbyists put their heads together (or butted them) over meat- and martini-fueled lunches. No more. To be sure, diners can still play spot-the-politico at Cafe Milano or The Capital Grille. But thanks to new eateries from nationally renowned chefs, plus a diverse, homegrown restaurant scene that’s better than ever, DC power dining is no longer defined by the people eating there, but by the power of the food itself. Today’s political heavy hitters are just as likely to twirl tagliatelle at Officina or spoon paella at Spanish showstopper Del Mar in the trendy Wharf district. And that’s just to start.

A short distance from the Wharf, chef Kwame Onwuachi (also of New York City’s top-rated Tatiana) helms Dōgon, 2024’s most anticipated restaurant, which opened in September. The sleek dining room inside the Salamander Washington DC hotel offers a tailored menu of Afro-Caribbean dishes woven with thoughtful ingredients and historical touchstones. Warm coco bread is ready to be smeared with sweet malted sorghum butter. Berbere roasted chicken, perched on fragrant jollof rice, arrives juicy and well-spiced, topped with a heap of bright herbs. Dōgon joins the ranks of other high-end gems. Reserve well in advance for Albi, where award-winning chef Michael Rafidi turns out intensely flavorful eastern Mediterranean cooking, like mezze plates, coal-fired mushroom hummus, and elevated kebabs, from a fiery open kitchen. Downtown, Moon Rabbit offers a modern take on traditional Vietnamese flavors; the lemongrass-marinated Wagyu wrapped in perilla leaves is one favorite. Even dedicated carnivores will be wooed by the sophisticated, hyperseasonal vegetarian-plus-oysters cooking at Oyster Oyster.

The “Out of Fish Sauce” cocktail at Moon Rabbit showcases how traditional Vietnamese flavors turn modern at this beloved eatery.

Rachel Paraoan/Moon Rabbit

Nearby, Georgetown, once best known for historic homes and preppy M Street shopping, is now a dining destination for locals, Georgetown students, and tourists alike. Famed California chef Nancy Silverton opened a gleaming East Coast outpost of Osteria Mozza in November, bringing hits like fett’unta and oxtail ragù, along with a specialty market selling items like olive oils, produce, and tinned Italian foods. Yellow, by Albi’s Rafidi, serves casual Levantine cooking that draws lines out the door. Down a small side street, tiny Green Almond Pantry makes DC’s mightiest focaccia, plus honest, good cooking like soups and custardy seasonal vegetable tarts warm from the oven. Upper Georgetown’s French-inflected Lutèce continues to pull in crowds, but its sister restaurant, Pascual, near Capitol Hill, is the current DC darling, thanks to the wood-fired contemporary Mexican food that attracts national praise. The little open kitchen packs a big punch: meltingly tender, adobo-marinated lamb barbacoa arrives unapologetically still attached to the neck. And appetizers as disparate as burrata, hamachi collar, and fideos somehow all make sense together in the chefs’ hands.

Downtown DC’s K Street, meanwhile, is most famous (or rather, infamous) for lobby shops and law firms—but savvy visitors will find some of DC’s best sushi here. Early 2024 welcomed Kiyomi Sushi by Uchi, where Masaaki “Uchi” Uchino, a former Sushi Nakazawa chef, serves a top omakase at the food court of a Brutalist mid-rise office building. Nearby, Sushi Taro, discreetly centered above a CVS in Dupont Circle, is a favorite of Japanese diplomats. After, head to the hipster neighborhood of Mount Pleasant for heartfelt Filipino food at Purple Patch; reserve ahead for the legendary Kamayan Feast. Down the street, buzzy Bar del Monte turns out hit after hit of wood-fired pizza and small-plate Italian food. In nearby Adams Morgan, Reveler’s Hour serves seasonal pastas with an inventive wine list (The warm garlic knots are so good, I once ordered a dessert round). Perry’s serves top Japanese cooking and sushi from one of the prettiest rooftops in DC, and its Sunday drag brunch is practically a District rite of passage. Make a point to experience the hearty Afghan food at candlelit Lapis a few doors down.

Washington, DC, remains a must-visit city for its history, museums, and (of course) the pandas—but in 2025, the District has also become a top destination for food that is better than it's ever been in the city. Enjoy the flex. —Lisa Ruland