Results
Oropesa, Spain
Dáviro is a family-run restaurant in the old town of Oropesa, Toledo, positioned as a natural stopping point for visitors to the Álvarez de Toledo Castle and its adjacent Parador. The kitchen pairs traditional Castilian foundations with measured modern touches, best illustrated by the house signature: matured beef ravioli in wonton pasta with truffle cream. Accessible and carefully prepared, it sits in the mid-tier of Toledo province dining without pretension.
Lyon, France
Décalé operates in Lyon's 6th arrondissement, one of the city's more residential dining corridors, and carries a White Star recognition from Star Wine List — a signal that its wine program warrants serious attention. Positioned alongside Lyon's broader wave of contemporary French addresses, it offers a reason to look beyond the canonical bouchon circuit for serious bottle-driven dining.
Da Nang, Vietnam
Run by the same husband-and-wife team for more than three decades, Dì Hoa serves Da Nang's rice-paper street tradition from a shopfront on Núi Thành Street. The khô trứng—a crisp disc of yellow rice paper layered with quail egg, pâté, pork floss and shallots—anchors a short menu built around bánh tráng khô and ướt formats.
Istanbul, Turkey
Dönerci Şahin Usta, a lunch-only doner counter in Istanbul's Fatih district, has ranked on Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in Europe list three consecutive years, reaching #14 in 2023, #17 in 2024, and #21 in 2025. The kitchen runs Monday through Saturday until 5 pm and closes on Sundays, which means timing matters as much as the address.
Copenhagen, Denmark
DØP (Den Økologiske Pølsemand) on Amagertorv brings certified organic hot dogs to one of Copenhagen's busiest pedestrian squares. Ranked in Opinionated About Dining's Cheap Eats in Europe list three consecutive years — reaching #10 in 2023 and #11 in 2024 before settling at #32 in 2025 — it holds a firm position in the city's serious street food conversation. Open daily 11am–7pm, no reservations required.
Las Vegas, United States
Double Zero Pie & Pub brings Neo-Neapolitan pizza to Las Vegas's Spring Mountain Road corridor, earning back-to-back recognition on the 50 Top Pizza USA list. The format is focused and deliberate: a pub setting that lets the pizza carry the argument. In a city where spectacle often outpaces substance, this address trades on craft credentials rather than square footage.
Vienna, Austria
Duchardt occupies a quiet address in Vienna's First District and holds consecutive Michelin Plate recognition for 2024 and 2025, positioning it among the city's reliable classic cuisine tables rather than its experimental avant-garde. With a 4., it draws diners who want precise, grounded cooking in surroundings suited to occasions that demand more than a casual meal.
Fort Worth, United States
Duchess at The Nobleman earned a spot on Resy's 2025 Best of the Hit List, placing it among the year's most closely watched openings in Fort Worth. Located at 503 Bryan Ave in the Near Southside, it represents a broader shift in the city's dining ambition — away from steakhouse dominance and toward something more considered. Reservations are advisable given the recognition it has attracted.
London, United Kingdom
Duchy opened in 2025 on the former premises of Leroy in Shoreditch, carrying forward the room's character while sharpening the kitchen's focus around the historical Duchy of Savoy — a territory spanning southwest France and northwest Italy. The menu reads as Anglo-European: British ingredients, Mediterranean register, sharing format. Brown crab arancini, grilled John Dory with mussels, spaghetti with sage and pecorino.
London, United Kingdom
Duck & Waffle occupies the 40th floor of 110 Bishopsgate, serving Modern British cooking around the clock above the City of London. Elliott Grover leads a kitchen that draws on the British larder — game, seasonal produce, and foraged ingredients — and holds a consistent place in the Opinionated About Dining Casual Europe rankings. The 24-hour format puts it in a category almost alone among London's serious restaurants.
Beijing, China
Duck de Chine occupies a converted courtyard house in Jinbao Street's Jinbao Place mall, staging imperial Peking duck against a backdrop of terracotta soldiers, painted beams, and red pillars. The kitchen roasts a Cherry Valley and local white duck crossbreed over date wood, a method that has earned consecutive Opinionated About Dining Asia rankings in 2023 and 2024. For visitors measuring Beijing's duck institutions against each other, this is the upscale, theatrically presented option in the Dongcheng tier.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
A Michelin Plate-recognised street-food counter on Wufu 4th Road in Kaohsiung's Yancheng District, Duck Zhen operates squarely at the accessible end of Taiwan's small-eats tradition.
Hilversum, Netherlands
Dudockx Bar & Kitchen holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025, placing it among Hilversum's more serious farm-to-table addresses. Set at Vreelandseweg 50, the kitchen works within a tradition that prizes regional sourcing over culinary theatre.
Madonna di Campiglio, Italy
At Due Pini, the soul of the Alps is translated into a modern culinary language of grace and imagination. Recently restored yet steeped in mountain character, this refined retreat pairs regional Italian traditions with contemporary technique, crafting dishes that feel both time-honored and thrillingly new. Expect an intimate ambiance of natural woods and gentle candlelight, attentive service that anticipates your needs, and plates that capture the essence of pine forests, cool alpine breezes, and the purity of high-altitude ingredients. For travelers who seek authenticity polished to art, Due Pini delivers a serene, deeply satisfying dining experience where every course unfolds like a whispered story from the mountains.
Bangkok, Thailand
On the seventh floor of The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok, Duet by David Toutain operates in a glasshouse dining room where seasonal tasting menus move between land and sea with deliberate, plant-forward precision. The zero-proof pairing program holds its own against the food's delicacy, making it one of the more considered non-alcoholic options in the city's fine-dining tier.
New York City, United States
Dukagjini Burek is a low-price Albanian counter in New York City built around phyllo-layered burek filled with beef, feta, or spinach. Its appeal sits in the city’s immigrant bakery tradition: fast, filling, regional, and far more specific than the generic slice-shop shorthand that often defines casual eating in New York.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
Inside a neo-Canarian villa adjoining the Iberostar Heritage Grand Mencey, Duke brings a Japanese-fusion kitchen to one of Santa Cruz de Tenerife's more architecturally considered settings. The menu runs from nigiri and sashimi to robata grill work, with cold dishes prepared live at the bar. It is an address that sits outside the city's traditional Canarian dining circuit and occupies a distinct position in the local Japanese restaurant category.
Los Angeles, United States
Dulan's on Crenshaw in Los Angeles serves contemporary Southern soul food anchored by a family fried chicken recipe. Must-try dishes include the signature fried chicken made with a brown paper-bag method, ultra-cheesy macaroni and cheese, and slow-braised collard greens with rich pot likker. The kitchen reopened earlier this year after a substantial remodel, trading the old hot bar for a large, efficient cooking space and fresh service flow. Honored on the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants 2024 list at #63, Dulan's blends multigenerational techniques with lively, hearty flavors, delivering a crunchy, juicy fried chicken and velvety sides that demand a second helping.
Mexico City, Mexico
Chef Martha Ortiz channels Mexican culinary tradition through a lens that is theatrical without being frivolous, producing a multi-course experience that rewards attention to the meal's full arc.
Olbia, Italy
A Michelin Plate holder on Via R. Papandrea in Olbia, Dulchemente occupies the middle ground between traditional Sardinian seafood cooking and contemporary plating. The outdoor terrace makes it one of the more considered alfresco options in the city, and the kitchen's dual register — modern dishes alongside classic preparations — suits both first-time visitors and those returning for a specific catch.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
A wine bar and seafood restaurant in Edinburgh's West End, Dulse holds a Michelin Plate (2025) for its celebration of Scottish fish and shellfish. The ground-floor bar sets the pace with an international wine list before the menu upstairs applies Asian techniques to Arbroath smokies, monkfish, and the broader larder of Scottish waters. Priced at ££, it sits a tier below the city's Michelin-starred rooms without any loss of ambition.
San Francisco, United States
Ranked #412 on Opinionated About Dining's 2024 Cheap Eats list for North America and recommended in 2023, Dumpling Time at Mission Bay draws a loyal local following for dumplings and shaved ice at a price point well below San Francisco's tasting-menu circuit. With a 4., it holds its ground in a city where cheap-eats credibility is hard-won.
Los Angeles, United States
Dune on Glendale Boulevard brings Middle Eastern charcoal cooking to Atwater Village, earning back-to-back recognition on Opinionated About Dining's North America Cheap Eats list in 2024 and 2025. Under chef Scott Zwiezen, the kitchen focuses on the grilled and skewered tradition that runs through the cuisines of the Levant, Anatolia, and beyond. Evening-only hours and a 4..
Telluride, United States
True to Telluride's mountain vibe, Dunton Kitchen restaurant offers Lumière guests a menu inspired by Alpine culinary traditions. Chef Cody Maxwell's seasonal cuisine confidently showcases the influence of Austrian gastronomy, particularly from Tyrol.
Chiavari, Italy
Duo occupies a historic palazzo in central Chiavari, where the building's architectural fabric sets the tone for a contemporary menu that keeps its focus on ingredient clarity. A 2025 Michelin Plate holder at a mid-range price point, it represents the more considered end of the Ligurian coastal dining scene.
San Felice del Benaco, Italy
A Michelin Plate-recognised address in San Felice del Benaco, Duo pairs modern cuisine with the architectural gravitas of a historic palazzo setting. Chefs Daniele Ghedini and Federico Pelizzari keep the cooking restrained, letting ingredient quality carry the flavour rather than technical spectacle.
Lecce, Italy
A Michelin Plate-recognised address on Via Garibaldi, Duo Ristorante brings Apulian culinary tradition into an intimate, low-lit setting suited to serious dining. Tasting menus and a concise à la carte draw on Puglian regional recipes, often with a creative reinterpretation that keeps the food grounded in place rather than abstracted from it.
Okayama, Japan
Duomo puts Okayama into Japan’s serious pizza conversation through ingredient-led Italian cooking rather than big-city theatre. Its Tabelog Pizza 100 selection for 2025, dinner-only rhythm, wine and cocktail emphasis, and 65-seat room make it a useful read on how regional Japanese cities now treat pizza as a specialist category, not a casual fallback.
Alessandria, Italy
In the alleyways beside Alessandria's cathedral, Duomo offers contemporary Italian cooking anchored in seasonal produce and an extensive portfolio of homemade preparations. Two siblings run the kitchen and dining room, drawing on Piedmontese regional recipes with considered personal adjustments.
Crayke, United Kingdom
A Michelin Plate-recognised inn on the edge of a quiet Yorkshire village, the Durham Ox has served travellers and locals for over 300 years. The cooking is full-flavoured and seasonally grounded, with steak and seafood platters anchoring a menu built for celebration and comfort in equal measure. Cosy rooms, a roaring winter fire, and a courtyard for warmer months complete the picture.
Bangkok, Thailand
Dusit Thani Bangkok sits on Rama IV Road in the Bang Rak district, earning a White Star recognition from Star Wine List in November 2024 for its wine program. The hotel's dining operates within one of Bangkok's most storied luxury addresses, placing it in conversation with the city's upper-tier hotel restaurant tier rather than the independent fine-dining circuit.
New York City, United States
A SoHo fixture on Sullivan Street, The Dutch operates in the mid-range New American tier with a relaxed but considered approach to the dining room format. Ranked #668 in Opinionated About Dining's 2024 North America Casual list and recommended in 2023, it holds consistent recognition in a crowded field. Chef Jason Hua leads the kitchen, anchoring a menu that draws from American regional cooking without formal ceremony.
Leith, United Kingdom
A six-table tasting menu restaurant on a modest stretch of Great Junction Street, Dùthchas takes Scottish seasonal cooking seriously without the ceremony. The kitchen delivers inventive dishes through either a tasting menu or fixed-price à la carte, backed by a wine pairing that leans into lesser-known bottles. Small in scale, deliberate in focus, it sits at the quieter, more considered end of Leith's dining scene.
Sarasota, United States
On Main Street in downtown Sarasota, Duval's Fresh. Local. Seafood. has tracked the city's shift from tourist-facing fish houses toward a more ingredient-driven approach to Gulf and Florida seafood. The format centres on what the region's coastal waters can actually deliver, placing it squarely in a growing tier of Florida dining rooms that treat provenance as a structural commitment rather than a tagline.
Paris, France
Located on Rue Jean-Baptiste Pigalle in Paris's 9th arrondissement, Duvin sits in a neighbourhood that has quietly consolidated some of the city's most interesting wine-led dining. The address places it within walking distance of South Pigalle's evolving bar and restaurant scene, where the emphasis has shifted toward bottle lists and kitchen credibility over spectacle.
Criccieth, United Kingdom
Occupying Clough Williams-Ellis's Art Deco seafront building in Criccieth, Dylan's pairs Welsh coastal ingredients — Halen Môn sea salt, Anglesey lobster, local crab — with a menu broad enough to satisfy a family straight off the beach. The setting, separated from the sand by little more than a lawn, does much of the work, and the food more than keeps pace.
Menai Bridge, United Kingdom
Positioned on the edge of the Menai Strait, Dylan's Menai Bridge is the North Wales group's flagship address, where waterside tables face the strait and the menu draws on local Welsh producers, Scottish coastal mussels, and a range of approachable dishes from pizza to teriyaki sea bass. Kind pricing, family-friendly service, and a Welsh-spirits cocktail list make it a dependable anchor on the Menai Bridge dining circuit.
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo’s ramen culture often treats speed and scarcity as part of the meal, and E-chan Shokudo fits that morning-counter grammar rather than the city’s polished celebration-dining script. Its Tabelog Ramen TOKYO “Tabelog 100” selections in 2024 and 2025 place it in a serious ramen conversation, especially for diners who see a milestone meal as a focused bowl rather than a long tasting menu.
Sapporo, Japan
E-itou curry Hiragishi honten belongs to Sapporo’s serious everyday-curry tier: modestly priced, ingredient-led, and recognized in Tabelog’s Curry EAST 100 selections across multiple years. The draw is range rather than ceremony, with curry bases spanning ramen-broth inspiration, fruit-and-vegetable spice work, Abeno chicken, and seasonal formats in a compact Hiragishi room.
Beverly Hills, United States
Baldi on North Canon Drive occupies a particular position in Beverly Hills Italian dining: a room where the formality of white tablecloths meets the ease of a neighbourhood trattoria that has earned its regulars over decades. The address places it squarely among the enclave's most deliberate restaurant choices, drawing a clientele that returns for consistency rather than novelty.
Petworth, United Kingdom
Behind a 17th-century red-brick façade on New Street, E. STREET Bar & Grill delivers a contemporary brasserie format anchored by grass-fed Hampshire steaks and Mediterranean-influenced grill cooking. A Michelin Plate holder in 2025, it sits at the accessible end of Petworth's dining options, making it a practical choice for casual meals and summer terrace visits alike.
Tokyo, Japan
Eagle belongs to Shinjuku’s older cocktail-and-wine register rather than the city’s newer laboratory bar mode. Its Tabelog 100 Bar 2022 selection, wine-and-cocktail focus, counter seating, and 50-seat scale place it in the rare middle ground between classic date-night bar, bistro-adjacent drinking room, and station-area refuge.
New York City, United States
A Flushing institution ranked by Opinionated About Dining among the leading casual Chinese dining destinations in North America three years running, East Buffet at 42-07 Main Street sits at the center of Queens' most concentrated Chinese food corridor. The format is high-volume and democratic, but the cooking draws sustained critical attention that places it well above the category average.
Osaka, Japan
ECHIRE MARCHE AU BEURRE is a takeout sweets, cake, and bread counter in Hankyu Umeda Main Store, tied to the French butter house Échiré and selected for Tabelog Sweets WEST “Tabelog 100” in 2023, with earlier selections across sweets and bread.
Cape Town, South Africa
EDGE, located in Bellville Park, sits within Cape Town's emerging suburban fine dining tier, a category shaped by chefs who trained downtown and are now redefining where serious cooking happens in the city. Under Chef Vusi Ndlovu, the restaurant draws a considered crowd prepared to travel beyond the Atlantic Seaboard for cooking with genuine intent. It belongs in the same conversation as the city's most discussed contemporary tables.
Las Vegas, United States
EDO Gastro Tapas & Wine sits well outside the Strip corridor on South Jones Boulevard, placing it squarely in Las Vegas's local dining circuit rather than its tourism economy. Opinionated About Dining has ranked it in the top 500 casual restaurants in North America every year since 2023, a signal that its Spanish-inflected tapas format resonates well beyond its neighbourhood address. Chef Oscar Amador Edo's menu reads as a case study in how a small-plates structure can carry serious culinary weight in a market dominated by scale.
Tokyo, Japan
Kagurazaka’s Spanish dining pocket rewards small rooms, wine-led ordering, and regulars who know how to pace a night. EL BUEY fits that pattern with Spanish and Spanish-style bar cooking, a fish-focused kitchen, 24 seats, counter seating, and selection for Tabelog 100 Spanish cuisine 2026, priced in the JPY 8,000–9,999 dinner bracket.
Tokyo, Japan
EL Castellano belongs to Tokyo’s small but durable Spanish-dining lane, where Shibuya’s appetite for casual energy meets a more occasion-minded table. Its selection for Tabelog 100 Spanish cuisine in 2024 and 2026 gives it a clear signal in a category that often sits outside Tokyo’s sushi, tempura, and French-led prestige circuit.
Madrid, Spain
On Calle de Zurbano in Chamberí, El Enemigo occupies a corner of Madrid's most quietly serious dining neighbourhood, where the residential streets and long-established professional culture favour cooking with conviction over spectacle.
Bangkok, Thailand
On the fourth floor of a Charoen Krung address in Talat Noi, Electric Sheep occupies a recycled-materials space where Mediterranean technique meets an exclusively Thai pantry. Chefs Amerigo Tito Sesti and Yoan Martin run both an à la carte menu and a Chef's Cuts format, with produce grown on the building's own rooftop. The cooking has a zero-waste discipline that runs through every element, from the plates to the decor.
Brno, Czech Republic
On a central Brno street, ELEMENT pairs an industrial-urban interior with a menu of modern European dishes built on bold flavour combinations. Grilled pork belly with fermented black bean sauce and zander fillet over confit leek signal a kitchen working at a confident contemporary register. The bar by the entrance pulls double duty as a cocktail stop and a warm-up act for the meal ahead.
El Paso, United States
ELEMI is a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurant presented by Acqua Panna® Natural Spring Water in El Paso, TX.
Osaka, Japan
Osaka’s cafe culture is not a minor detour from its restaurant scene; it is one of the city’s quieter measures of taste, pace, and daily ritual. ELMERS GREEN CAFE sits in Kitahama’s business-district orbit, with Tabelog Cafe WEST 100 selection in 2025 placing it among Kansai cafes that are judged on consistency rather than spectacle.
Seoul, South Korea
A Michelin Plate-recognized meats and grills address in Cheongdam-dong, ELPIC holds a mid-premium price point (₩₩₩) in one of Seoul's most deal-conscious dining corridors. Consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025 positions it inside the serious end of Gangnam's grill category, making it a credible choice for business lunches where the setting carries as much weight as the food.
Taipei, Taiwan
EMBERS brings Taiwanese contemporary cooking to Da'an District's quieter residential lanes, holding a Michelin Plate recognition as of 2024. The cooking draws on local ingredients and technique, positioned in Taipei's mid-to-upper tier of modern Taiwanese dining. A 4., and the $$$$ price point places it firmly in the city's serious-dining bracket.
Los Angeles, United States
EMC Seafood & Raw Bar brings a raw-bar-focused seafood format to Woodland Hills, operating at the casual end of the Los Angeles seafood spectrum with a 4.. Recognised by Opinionated About Dining in 2023 as a recommended casual destination in North America, it holds a credible position in the San Fernando Valley's mid-tier dining scene, where accessible seafood of this quality is relatively thin on the ground.
Tokyo, Japan
EMILIA gives Tokyo’s Italian scene a regional counterpoint: Emilia-Romagna cooking in Jingumae, with à la carte flexibility rather than a ceremony-heavy tasting-menu frame. Tabelog selected it for Italian TOKYO Tabelog 100 in 2021, 2023, and 2025, making it a useful address for diners weighing substance, comfort, and recognition against Tokyo’s pricier Italian rooms.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Located on the first floor of The Westin Kuala Lumpur along Jalan Bukit Bintang, EMP KL has been serving modern and fusion Chinese-style dishes since August 2022. The kitchen bridges Cantonese dim sum tradition with contemporary technique, drawing a lunch crowd that returns regularly for the format. It sits within a hotel-dining tier that competes on refinement rather than volume.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
A Michelin Plate-recognised Japanese restaurant on a quiet De Pijp street, EN sits within a small but serious tier of Amsterdam dining that takes Japanese technique as a primary language rather than a point of fusion. The €€€ price point places it below the city's starred Creative tables while delivering comparable seriousness in the kitchen.
Tokyo, Japan
EN FACE is a small reservation-only French bistro in Ningyocho, selected for Tabelog French TOKYO 100 in 2023 and 2025. The draw is less spectacle than scale: 10 seats, a dinner spend in the JPY 20,000–29,999 range, and a format suited to diners who track Tokyo’s quieter French rooms as closely as its sushi counters.
Tokyo, Japan
ENGINE brings Kagurazaka’s back-lane intimacy into Tokyo’s Chinese dining conversation, with a compact room, counter seating, and a Japanese-ingredient approach that fits the neighborhood’s appetite for precise, small-scale restaurants. Its selection for Tabelog 100 Chinese cuisine Tokyo 2026, alongside prior selections in 2021, 2023, and 2024, places it in a competitive city category without pushing it into formal fine-dining ceremony.
Kobe, Japan
ENISHI places Kobe’s compact noodle-counter ritual in sharp focus: fast pacing, a small room, and dan dan noodles rather than the city’s usual beef shorthand. Its repeated selection for Tabelog Ramen WEST “Tabelog 100” and Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition give it serious credentials without moving it out of the everyday ramen register.
Tokyo, Japan
ENTUKO belongs to Tokyo’s serious bread culture rather than its dessert-café circuit: a takeaway bakery in Nishi-Ogikubo with Tabelog Bread TOKYO 100 selections in 2020 and 2022. The draw is the category focus, bread and bagels, and the neighbourhood rhythm of buying rather than lingering.
El Calafate - Santa Cruz, Argentina
EOLO Restaurant frames Patagonian dining through the land around El Calafate: regional produce, bistro-style structure, and meals folded into the stay rather than treated as a separate reservation ritual. Chef Juan Pablo Bonaveri’s kitchen is less about display than provenance, using local identity and family tradition as the spine of the table.
Omaruru, Namibia
EPAKO Restaurant places Namibian produce and African influences inside a lodge-dining format shaped by the surrounding reserve rather than by city-restaurant convention. The draw is the relationship between plate and place: creative cooking with French technique, served with a view over a wildlife watering hole in the Omaruru district.
Hiroshima, Japan
Hiroshima’s French dining scene is smaller and more locally legible than Tokyo or Osaka, which makes Tabelog recognition carry particular weight. EPURE sits in Kyobashicho near Inari Machi, with a 2025 Tabelog French WEST 100 selection placing it among the region’s more closely watched French rooms.
Nagoya, Japan
Nagoya Station’s basement dining network rewards speed, clarity, and reliable craft; ERICK SOUTH KITTE nagoya ten fits that rhythm with Indian curry and South Indian-leaning meal customs rather than a long-form tasting format. Its Tabelog 100 selections for Asian and ethnic cuisine in 2022, 2023, and 2024 place it in a narrower recognised tier for casual regional cooking in Aichi.
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo’s curry scene has moved well beyond generic spice-house shorthand, and Koenji is one of the neighbourhoods where that shift feels natural rather than staged. ERICK SOUTH KOENJI CURRY&BIRYANI CENTRE Kouenji karē＆biriyani sentā brings Indian curry and biryani into a compact, casual format with Tabelog 100 recognition for Asian and ethnic cuisine in Tokyo across 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Osaka, Japan
ERICK SOUTH Nishitenma brings South Indian cooking into Osaka’s casual dining range with a Tabelog 100 Asian cuisine and Ethnic cuisine WEST 2024 selection behind it. The appeal is not ceremony but value: dosa, biryani, vegetarian options, drinks, counter seating, and a compact room that suits both quick meals and planned group dinners.
Tokyo, Japan
ERICK SOUTH Toranomon hiruzu ten brings South Indian cooking into the basement-level dining grid of Toranomon Hills, where counter seats and compact tables suit office lunches as much as dinner. Its Tabelog 100 selection for Asian and ethnic cuisine in Tokyo in 2024 places it in a serious citywide conversation, especially for Indian curry, vegetables, vegetarian options, wine, take-out, and family-friendly dining.
Tokyo, Japan
ERICK SOUTH Yaesu ten brings South Indian-style cooking into Tokyo Station’s underground dining circuit, a setting better known for speed than critical recognition. Its repeated Tabelog 100 selections, including Asian and ethnic cuisine in Tokyo for 2024 and earlier curry recognition, place it in a narrow category: casual, station-adjacent, and taken seriously by local diners.
Manduria, Italy
Set within the Gianfranco Fino wine estate in Manduria, ES Cantina&Ristorante occupies a historic tuff building with picture windows overlooking the vineyards. Chef Simone Profeta delivers modern meat and fish dishes — including braised veal cheeks finished with an ES wine reduction — alongside a vegetarian menu sourced from the estate's kitchen garden. The wine list draws exclusively from the estate's own labels across multiple vintages. Michelin Plate, 2024 and 2025.
Kobe, Japan
ESPICE sits in Kobe’s Sannomiya orbit, where French technique meets a port-city pantry shaped by seafood, produce, wine, and sake. Its Tabelog French WEST 100 selection in 2025, compact 24-seat format, private-room option, and course-led structure put it in the planned-dinner category rather than the casual drop-in lane.
Sydney, Australia
Inside the Queen Victoria Building, ESQ Bar + Dining occupies a space that leans hard into 1920s speakeasy aesthetics: leather booths, dim lighting, and parquetry floors setting the tone for an evening that sits closer to occasion dining than a casual drop-in. It sits on Level 2 of the heritage-listed QVB on George Street, making it one of Sydney's more atmospheric addresses for drinks and a meal.
Chiba, Japan
EST! Prossimo brings Chiba’s Boso Italian idea into a city-centre trattoria and wine-bar format, with fish, local-produce sourcing and a broad glass-wine culture doing the serious work. Its selection for Tabelog Italian EAST “Tabelog 100” in 2025 and 2021 places it in a tighter regional conversation than the casual price point might suggest.
Nagoya, Japan
ESTMARE is a Nagoya hotel bar with a cocktail-and-wine program rather than a restaurant built around food. Its appeal sits in the Meieki hotel-bar lane: controlled pacing, late evening hours, 60 seats, and a Tabelog Bar 100 selection from 2022 that places it among Japan’s more visible bar addresses outside Tokyo and Osaka.
Tokyo, Japan
A Michelin Plate-recognised Mexican restaurant in Ginza's Chuo City, ETHICA brings Oaxacan and Yucatecan cooking traditions to one of Tokyo's most expensive dining corridors. The kitchen frames Mesoamerican ingredients through an eco-conscious lens, sitting at ¥¥¥ in a neighbourhood where most serious restaurants price considerably higher.
Tokyo, Japan
Nishiazabu’s newer izakaya tier is less about volume drinking than precision: small rooms, sake-led menus, and cooking that borrows discipline from counter restaurants without losing tavern informality. EUREKA! fits that shift with Tabelog 100 Izakaya EAST 2025 recognition, a 16-seat format, and a price point that places it above casual after-work drinking but below Tokyo’s formal kaiseki bracket.
Nancy, France
EV occupies a quiet corner of Nancy's Faubourg district, a neighbourhood where residential streets meet industrial heritage. The address on rue du Sergent-Blandan sits near the École de Nancy museum, and the venue's name—two letters, no elaboration—signals the kind of understated confidence that defines a small but serious operation in a city still finding its contemporary dining voice.
Hunter Valley, Australia
Located on Broke Road in the heart of Pokolbin, EXP. restaurant holds a White Star recognition from Star Wine List, signalling a wine program that takes the Hunter Valley's cellar-door culture seriously. The kitchen operates in a region where the paddock-to-plate distance is measured in minutes rather than miles, and where viticulture and cuisine have been in productive conversation for decades. A considered choice for visitors treating the Hunter as a culinary destination, not just a wine stop.
