Sharing a delicious lunch with a special someone can be an unforgettable experience. It’s even better when the restaurant is one of the world’s most romantic settings. Visiting any of the following destinations, whether you’re commemorating a special occasion or on vacation, is likely to leave a lasting impression.
1: Klein Jan, Kalahari, South Africa
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Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, the first South African chef to receive a Michelin star for his namesake restaurant in Nice, France, knows how to package local origins provocatively. While it would have been natural for him to make his home-turf debut in Cape Town, he chose the more difficult job of opening Klein JAN, a ground-breaking restaurant in the Tswalu game reserve in the southern Kalahari. Driving for days (sourced within 300 miles is considered close in these regions) to meet small-scale farmers cultivating pecans, pistachios, grapes, and organic grains to mill into unrefined flour for bread was the initial problem of locating Northern Cape components. Then there were the cheesemakers, fourth-generation butchers, and craft distillers who made not just gin and vermouth, but also witblits, a local favourite.
The construction of the restaurant is delightfully elemental, taking design cues from natural species who seek sanctuary below. Nobody sits in a chair for long periods of time here. Guests are served several courses in different rooms; because Klein JAN is built beneath a dune, the majority of the property is hidden until you descend into the cathedral-like root basement. On the stoep, order biltong-dusted savoury lamingtons or a mug of butternut-squash soup made on Jan’s grandmother’s antique stove. The 10-plate main course is served all at once in the glass-fronted long room, as if for a photograph, and may feature dry-aged Kuruman beef sizzling on a hot rock and little sweet-potato mille-feuille. Everyone ends up on the roof after pudding and local cheeses to stargaze while sipping coffee produced from the roasted, ground roots of a shepherd’s tree. Also, read Best Tacos near me.
2: Lyst, Copenhagen, Denmark
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For some years, Copenhagen has been the world’s restaurant capital, but there are now some intriguing things going outside of the city as well. Lyst is a no-expense-spared, “build it and they will come” kind of place 40 miles south of Aarhus, on the first floor of Fjordenhus, the astonishing gesamtkunstwerk conceived by installation artist Olafur Eliasson and architect Sebastian Behmann. The three conjoined towers also house Kirk Kapital, an investment fund owned by three grandsons of Lego creator Ole Kirk Christiansen — the restaurant was the passion project of one of the brothers, the late Morten Kirk Johansen – and were built at a rumoured cost of more than £100 million. It’s expected to compete with Geranium and Noma, with chef Daniel McBurnie at the lead, who has worked in a number of Copenhagen’s best kitchens.
The meal that most encapsulates it – the word meaning both “desire” and “to be light” – is, unfortunately, its most basic: a glass of Krug Champagne with a slice of sourdough bread and a rectangle of butter. The Krug (a Grande Cuvée Edition when I dined) demonstrates that Nina Hjgaard Jensen, a silver medalist at the 2019 sommelier world championships, is in charge of the cellar; the salty butter, like almost everything else on the menu, is sourced locally, from the Lyskvad caviar to the Limfjord oysters and the langoustines from the Kattegat strait; and the bread is made with water from the The fact that it arrives in the middle of the 20-course meal adds an appropriately disconcerting touch. Diners travel from the circular glass-topped bar, where they can sample nibbles such a miniature salt-baked beetroot cracked with a silver hammer cast from a forest twig’s mould, to the dining room with its sail-like table dividers, via the oyster bar and grill on the balconies. They wanted to establish a restaurant that was at the “intersection of food, architecture, design, and people,” according to Eliasson.
3: Céu Dining, Leipzig, Germany
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Oscar Niemeyer, who died in 2012 at the age of 104, got a letter from Ludwig Koehne, a German crane maker, requesting that he create “an intimate yet expansive restaurant with a remarkable outlook” in Leipzig a year before his death. The letter was part of Koehne’s strategy to keep his brilliant canteen chef Tibor Herzigkeit, who was tired of cooking for 100-plus employees every day and wanted to move into the restaurant business. Perhaps unexpectedly, the Brazilian architect agreed, and the space-age sphere is thought to be one of his final ideas.
A spiral stairway brings visitors from a lower hemisphere bar to the bright, open chamber in the upper half of the gravity-defying facility that looks out over the city, which took nearly nine years to build. Herzigkeit now got the chance to try something new at Céu (sky in Portuguese). He highlights vegetables in his seasonal 10-course menu that spans the globe, skipping from a local allerlei pot stew to a black-bean feijoada in honour of Niemeyer and an explosive dish of pear juice with shaved ice and chilli that evokes memories of summer popsicles. This is not only the most fascinating new architectural landmark in the region, but it is also the most talked-about restaurant to debut in a decade. Also read romantic hotels near me.
4: Tax Bar, Bangkok – Thailand
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Except for death and taxes, nothing is guaranteed.’ “Sign over a dimly lighted staircase on the outskirts of Bangkok’s Chinatown,” says a sign above a dimly lit stairway on the outskirts of Bangkok’s Chinatown. It leads to Tax bar, a concrete-clad, paint-splattered loft built last November by mixologist Niks Anuman-Rajadhon, who also created the gin-centric Teens of Thailand and the foraged drinks at Asia Today, both just down the street. While shrubs are growing more popular in late-night hangouts around the world, Tax is taking a more irreverent approach to the sugary mocktails. Its creative vinegars, created in-house from stout, Riesling, or brut Champagne, are intended as a jab at the country’s killjoys, whose harsh rules make promoting alcohol punishable more severely than driving under the influence.
Even craft breweries suffer so many regulatory hurdles that it’s more cost-effective to relocate production to Cambodia and import their beers back into the United States. Although Tax’s vinegars lose their alcoholic bite during the brewing process, they are still produced from alcohol and give an umami punch to gin and rum cocktails when combined with unusual ingredients like bell-pepper-infused vermouth and shrimp paste. They’re devoid of frills – embellishments are referred to as “cocktail ketchup” – and are more savoury than sweet, providing an alternative to the flower-flecked beverages that abound in town. This avant-garde establishment gives Bangkok’s bar scene a whole new flavour.
5: Alchemist, Copenhagen
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Alchemist, which is housed in a former warehouse that is completely dark and devoid of natural light, serves 50 immersive courses in five rooms over the course of six hours. Guests can watch chefs work with hi-tech, lab-like equipment in front of jars of freeze-dried ingredients in one location that mimics the sights and sounds of New York City; in another, guests can watch chefs operate with hi-tech, lab-like equipment in front of jars of freeze-dried foods. This Copenhagen hangout has a rebellious vibe. Rasmus Munk’s experimental plates range from playful to stunning and aggressive. A dish of jagged ice chunks floating in red liquid is termed ‘blood diamond,’ and it is topped with pickled dill and edible plastic; chicken feet protrude from a tiny cage; lamb’s brain is sliced at the table; and lamb’s brain is sliced at the table. Everything, even the brain, may be made vegan by substituting Jerusalem-artichoke purée and coating it in cherry sauce.
Diners are urged to kiss strawberries and edible petals off a rubber tongue in the domed main area, where dreamlike overhead projections transition from an aurora borealis-filled sky to jellyfish drifting beside garbage bags. Apple-sauce ‘antibiotics’ are injected into a pork morsel elsewhere. Munk is using his plate as a platform to speak out in an age when food consumption has become an environmental issue. A night here could lead to some of the most fascinating dinner talks you’ve ever had. Also read Breakfast Near Me.
6: Room 4 Dessert, Ubud, Bali
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Will Goldfarb is Bali’s Willy Wonka. After a stay at Spain’s El Bulli and a couple pastry-chef jobs in New York, he struck gold with the original Room 4 Dessert, a 20-seater pudding bar in Nolita that soon drew wonderful reviews and regulars like film director Wes Anderson.
When it was shut down due to a feud with his partners, Goldfarb reopened it in Bali, this time surrounded by palm trees and with ingredients like fresh cocoa, palm sugar, and soursop right on his doorstep. Incidente Stradale, a classic tonic prepared with coconut and coffee, is on his all-pudding tasting menu, while Angel’s Kiss is made with jackfruit, pandan, and mango. The Planifoglia, a cheesecake-like sabayon, is coupled with a mangosteen and hibiscus vodka cocktail.
7: KJOLLE, Lima, Peru
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Pa León, who runs the Central restaurant in Lima with her husband Virgilio Martnez, may be the most famous chef you’ve never heard of. She’s spent the last decade trekking through Peru’s mountains, valleys, and rivers in search of ingredients like Amazonian pacay for Central’s Mater Elevations menu, which is named sixth on the World’s 50 Best list.
Mayo, a cocktail bar, is also located in this new Barranco hub, as is the headquarters of the couple’s biological and cultural research arm, Mater Iniciativa. Some flavours, such as black mashua, a wrinkled black tuber that tastes like fermented corn juice, will pique your interest for the first time. Mater does its job, and then I do mine,’ León explains. Finally, Peru’s most talented female chef has gained the spotlight. Also, read Best Italian Restaurants Near Me.
8: Carbon, Paris
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Sabrina Goldin and her partner Stéphane Abby (of canal Saint-Argentine-inspired Martin’s Asado Club and Empanaderia) have relocated to the Marais for their most recent, and arguably smartest, opening. It’s modelled after an Argentine parrilla, and almost everything is prepared on a Spanish oak-fired grill. A hay-smoked duck breast is on the menu, and oysters are served fresh from the parrilla.
Start with a rhubarb spritz and end with the steak, which is presented with crisp, herby roast potatoes and is hard to beat in a place dedicated to meat eaters. Even a zesty burnt-lemon tart is topped with a charcoal meringue for dessert. The industrial globe lighting, slatted wooden chairs, and waterfall of greenery add to the impression of the bare flagstone walls and exposed-brick flooring, which were created with Buenos Aires in mind. Follow the clever regulars downstairs to La Mina, a hidden cocktail bar with additional charcoal-sprinkled concoctions, for a nightcap. They’ve taken that fiery concept to its logical conclusion, and the result is one of Paris’ hottest restaurants right now.
9: Leo’s Oyster Bar, San Francisco
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Although Leo’s Oyster Bar is located in the heart of the city’s Financial District, it has an unassuming entrance that transports you to the 1960s. Oysters, clams, shrimp, and New England lobster rolls are served in Mad Men-style meals. The custom foliage wallpaper, shimmering onyx bar, and rattan furniture, on the other hand, are attracting a well-heeled crowd from all around town. The Hideaway, a tiki bar in the back, is the secret weapon, serving big punch bowls of banana Daiquiri to share. A place where one rum-and-amaretto cocktail can swiftly escalate into four, the retro cocktail lounge has become a beacon of breezy indulgence for the banking set and beyond.
10: Liza Beirut
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Beirut was formerly renowned as the Middle East’s Paris. Her beauty is still there, though you’ll have to work a little harder to find it now. Your reward will be stumbling across a gem like the Bustros Palace, an opulent 19th century townhouse. The first level is home to Liza Asseily’s restaurant, Liza Beirut. Its exquisite interiors pay homage to the past without being locked in it; each light-filled room is whimsically themed with banana leaves, ancient banknotes, or skyscrapers as wallpaper.
The menu features traditional Lebanese fare that has been expertly prepared. There are cooler sections of town, but Liza Beirut in slightly stuffy Achrafieh is a shining example of the city’s growing confidence in embracing its diverse history while reinventing it with elegance and a sense of humour.