1. Baan, Lima, Peru
Peruvian chef Francesca Ferreyros – who trained, among others, with Joan Roca in Spain and Gaggan Anand in Thailand – opened Baan in December 2020 to research the culinary links between South America and South East Asia. together with her projects on hold thanks to the pandemic, Ferreyros started experimenting with recipes fusing Peruvian and Thai flavours in her home kitchen and sharing them on Instagram – and therefore the idea for Baan was born.
Before moving to its nine-table dining room within the San Isidro neighbourhood of Lima, Baan was a delivery concept and Ferreyros has been using the feedback received from this to refine her dishes. From fried chicken marinated in Thai spices and amid pickled turnip, to an entire fish wrapped in banana leaf and served with silky coconut milk curry and Burmese rice, everything at Baan sings with flavour – a promising opening from one among Peru’s most up-and-coming cooks.
2. Flying Dutchmen Cocktails, Amsterdam, Netherlands
When creating their bar, Dutch mixologist Tess Posthumus and her business partner Timo Janse looked to the planet restaurants. They considered that before a chef can deconstruct a dish of eggs Benedict , as an example , the guest first must understand what eggs Benedict is. Their three-year-old venue is striving to create a replacement cocktail culture within the Netherlands by exploring the classics.
Located within the 350-year-old Odeon building within the heart of Amsterdam, Flying Dutchmen Cocktails puts the main target on cocktail education, with each drink served alongside the fascinating stories behind the spirits, recipes and bartenders who created them, also as running consumer workshops and professional training programs. Posthumus and Janse are on a mission to point out their country the way to walk, run and eventually fly through the planet of cocktails – and therefore the wind is certainly beneath their wings.
3. Midunu, Accra, Ghana
Midunu is chef Selassie Atadika’s project to challenge diners’ perceptions of African food. After spending a decade performing on humanitarian projects with the UN and teaching herself the way to cook, Atadika enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America and has since conceived her own brand of latest African cuisine. Since its launch in 2017, Midunu – which translates as ‘let us eat’ – has gained a loyal following and growing international interest, with a bright future ahead.
Despite having a physical home and events space within the residential Tesano neighbourhood of Accra, the restaurant’s culinary concept is all about nomadic eating. The chef curates multi-course experiences across the town that specialise in delivering Africa’s bounty to the table by integrating underutilised grains and protein. In November 2020, Selassie launched Midunu’s line of truffle chocolates – which always provide a sweet conclusion to her dinners – within the US and Canada, handmade by a team of female chocolatiers in Accra.
4. Double Chicken Please, New York, USA
Prior to having a bricks-and-mortar location, Double Chicken Please was a pop-up bar that travelled aboard a yellow Volkswagen minibus for 3 years, earning rave reviews across the States. Taiwanese bartender Faye Chen and her business partner GN Chan opened the venue’s physical location on the Lower side in November 2020 with an idea that sees “the drinks inspired by the food and therefore the food inspired by the drinks”.
Having trained with Japanese mixology legend Shingo Gokan in Shanghai and won several international bartending competitions, Chen brings all her creativity to Double Chicken Please. Scrumptious Taiwanese sandwiches accompany eclectic drinks which will feature fresh apricots, peppers or sea buckthorn. The resourceful bartenders decide to offer an ambitious cocktail-and-dish pairing menu once restrictions are relaxed in ny .
5. Em Sherif, Beirut, Lebanon
A homage to Lebanon’s culinary heritage, Em Sherif is that the brainchild of chef Mireille Hayek. The self-taught cook discovered a passion for the gastronomic arts after she got married and began making meals for her family – since then, she has grown to become one the country’s most respected chefs and restaurateurs, and has opened venues in Kuwait, Riyadh, Doha, Damascus, Dubai and Cairo. Next, she’s already setting her sights on the U.K., France and therefore the US, among others.
Named after Hayek’s son Sherif, the first Beirut restaurant is that the family’s labour of affection , where the trickle of water fountains meets traditional taarab music. From the beginning , the chef did away with menus in favour of a communal dining experience that sees guests receive a succession of 30-plus meze plates, including outstanding staples like fattoush and tabbouleh. Em Sherif provides a quintessentially Lebanese dining experience that’s to not be missed.
6. Door Knock, Sydney, Australia
Inspired by old-fashioned speakeasies once colloquially referred to as ‘knock knock’ bars, Door Knock was created by Australian bartender and innovator Natalie Ng. The cosy bar, hidden during a basement at rock bottom of three flights of stairs, is all about having an honest time, with a menu that features biodynamic and natural wines, creative twists on classic cocktails and attractive bar bites.
Ng – who previously worked at Sydney institution Café Pacifico and helped open Mojo Record Bar – says that “cocktails should bridge the gap between what you think that you wish and what you actually like”. Take, for instance, ‘Mez-sage during a Bottle’, which mixes mezcal, herbal liqueur, apricot nectar, sea salt and a paper made up of apricot and benniseed – a seriously delicious concoction that doesn’t take itself too seriously. During the coronavirus-induced closures in 2020, Ng became a number one light for the industry, sharing the measures she took to require care of her staff and her advice for bar owners.
7. L’Argine a Vencò, Dolegna del Collio, Italy
Located during a small village in north-eastern Italy with a population of but 500, L’Argine a Vencò – opened in 2014 – is an ingenious exploration of the region’s terroir and multicultural history through food. A historical building next to a 17th-century mill is that the playground where chef Antonia Klugmann lets her creative juices flow, inspired by the fields, hills, rivers and villages that dot this territory near the border with Slovenia.
With only eight tables and enormous windows that overlook the kitchen garden and surrounding vineyards, L’Argine a Vencò majors on little-used vegetables and native weeds, presented in striking dishes like radicchio leaves marinated in wine vinegar and truffle butter. Klugmann’s sensitivity shines in her use of whole ingredients to scale back waste and revival of traditional product combinations through a contemporary lens – like serving meat and fish with local fruits. L’Argine a Vencò is breathing fresh life into a country with an extended culinary history.
8. Casa Cavia, Buenos Aires , Argentina
Behind Casa Cavia are three figures who are rewriting history in Buenos Aires’ hospitality: Guadalupe García Mosqueda, founder and artistic director; Flavia Arroyo, who leads the bar; and Julieta Caruso, responsible of the culinary offer. Together, the facility trio created a multifaceted venue that takes during a bar, restaurant, library, publisher, garden and a flower shop, celebrating the various ways during which gastronomy, culture and style are interconnected.
Arroyo’s cocktails use contemporary techniques like gasification, clarification and fermentation to extract strong flavours from Argentinian ingredients. within the kitchen, Caruso focuses on a farm-to-table concept of reinvented traditional dishes and vegetable-forward creations, like soybean and cashew gnocchi with beans and roasted peas. Writing a replacement chapter for contemporary hospitality within the Argentine capital, Casa Cavia is at the forefront of a multidisciplinary movement expanding the boundaries of hospitality.
9. Baan Tepa, Bangkok, Thailand
Opened in March 2020 by Blue Hill at Stone Barns alumnus Chudaree ‘Tam’ Debhakam, Baan Tepa may be a culinary space hidden within an imposing Thai house in bustling Bangkok. Having trained with chef Dan Barber and been an envoy for national campaigns against garbage , 28-year-old Debhakam applies a philosophy of authenticity and sustainability to everything she does at Baan Tepa.
The restaurant features seasonally changing 12-course menus that make the foremost of the Thai produce grown within the urban garden within the premises, while showcasing the chef’s modern flair. Debhakam says she wants to “create environmentally-conscious menus while learning new things, alongside local communities and producers” – a mission that’s attracting ever-growing interest from the city’s foodies.
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