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Ready for your next food trip? Plan your gourmet travels around these exciting new dining destinations
Late-night Chinese in Montreal? French-Brazilian tasting menu in Rio? Sustainable Singaporean snacks? A new crop of restaurants from the extended 50 Best family covers all the bases. Check out our selection of the most anticipated openings of the new year
Pascual, Washington DC
Pascual will bring modern Mexican cuisine centred around corn to Washington DC
Estimated opening: January
Must-try dish: Whole-grilled branzino, Pibil Yucatan style
Former Cosme executive pastry chef Isabel Coss has teamed up with her husband, Empellón and Little Prince alumnus Matt Conroy, and family-driven hospitality brand The Popal Group for this new contemporary Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill. Named after San Pascual, Mexico’s patron saint of cooking, the restaurant’s menu will centre around local and Mexican heirloom corn (all ground in-house) in dishes like tlayudas, tetelas and chicken al pastor, with all savoury courses touched by the wood grill. Dessert highlights will include burnt vanilla soft serve with cajeta (dulce de leche), while the cocktail menu will be mezcal-heavy, with natural wines and non-alcoholic aguas frescas too. In the mornings, there’ll be a window serving coffee and baked goods.
732 Maryland Ave NE (Capitol Hil), Washington, DC 20002
@pascual.dc
pascualdc.com
Oseille, Rio de Janeiro
Thomas Troisgros is set to continue his family's culinary legacy at his new Rio restaurant
Estimated opening: January
What’s in a name? Oseille is French for sorrel, a favourite Troisgros ingredient
After opening his casual restaurant Toto in late 2023, Brazilian chef Thomas Troisgros – son of Claude and the fourth generation of the renowned French cooking family – now returns to his fine dining roots. On the second floor of the building in chic Ipanema that houses the hit Toto, Oseille is a 16-seat counter restaurant serving a single tasting menu of five to seven courses. Dishes recall those the chef served alongside his father at Olympe, the former Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants regular that closed during the pandemic. Think elegant French-influenced cuisine featuring plenty of Brazilian ingredients and seafood, plus excellent wines.
Rua Joana Angélica 155, Ipanema, 22420
@oseillerestaurante
Air, Singapore.png)
Three lauded hospitality leaders behind a trio of 50 Best venues have joined forces to create Air
Estimated opening: Late January
Added bonus: Air will run cooking classes and producer talks
What do you get when cross The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2021 Will Goldfarb, Amass chef Matt Orlando and Ronald Akili, co-founder of the hospitality group behind The World’s 50 Best Hotels-listed Desa Potato Head? A lot more than a restaurant, that’s for sure. Air – which stands for Awareness, Impact and Responsibility – will be home to a cooking club, research space and garden farm where diners can eat, learn and find solitude in nature. Dishes in the laid-back restaurant include a whole coral grouper for two – where every part of the fish is used and bones are even turned into noodles – and a whole papaya dessert featuring frozen papaya-skin granita. While Orlando runs the restaurant and has even curated its hip-hop playlist, Chef’s Table star Goldfarb is responsible for ‘ground support,’ applying his intimate knowledge of flora and fauna from his Bali restaurant Room4Dessert into Air’s 40,000-sq-ft verdant circular campus. There, diners can dive deep into ingredients and learn more about their medicinal qualities.
25B Dempsey Rd, Singapore 249918
@air_cccc
aircccc.com
Crudo Izakaya Latino, San José.png)
Chef Pablo Bonilla is set to open Crudo Izakaya Latino next to Sikwa in the Costa Rican capital
Estimated opening: January
Star ingredient: Pejibaye (peach palm), a favourite on Pablo Bonilla’s menus
Fresh from having his flagship, Sikwa, crowned The Best Restaurant in Costa Rica in the 2023 edition of Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants, chef Pablo Bonilla is opening a casual, izakaya-style joint. Right beside Sikwa, the 30-seat spot will serve small plates focusing on Costa Rican ingredients – think tuna tartare with avocado and smoked pineapple juice, okonomiyaki of palm heart and octopus, and tiradito of dorado and peach palm.
Calle 41, Los Yoses, San Pedro de Montes de Oca
@crudoizakaya
Oncle Lee, Montreal
50 Best BBVA Scholarship alumnus Andersen Lee's first solo venture will be an homage to his heritage
Estimated opening: Mid-January
Don’t miss: Five-spice duck platter
In 2019, then-20-year-old Canadian cook Andersen Lee won the 50 Best BBVA Scholarship. Just four years after completing stages at Odette in Singapore, Core by Clare Smyth in London and Quintonil in Mexico City, he is opening the place of his dreams with his mentors at Bouillon Bilk, the group behind the eponymous restaurant where he started out. Named after himself – in French, as per Quebec law – Oncle Lee is a late-night modern Chinese paying homage to his heritage, with dishes including black bean beef tartare, soy-marinated devilled eggs, scallops with XO sauce and crispy seafood chow mein. “I'm so grateful for the 50 Best BBVA Scholarship,” says Lee. “I ate around the world from Singapore to Mexico City. It made me realise I had to discover my roots, which really made me the chef I am today.”
222 Laurier Ouest, Montreal, Quebec, H2T 2N8
@oncleleemtl
Minore, Paris
Minore will create exemplary plates and stellar sips grounded in sustainability
Estimated opening: Early February
Drink this: Golden Highball – banana-skin infused whisky
Part restaurant, part cocktail bar, Minore is a collaboration between chef Katsuaki Okiyama and bartender Hugo Combe, who hail from 50 Best Discovery restaurant Abri and bar Classique respectively. The 22-seat restaurant and 12-seat bar will have a relaxed atmosphere with Paris bistro and New York-industrial vibes and a background of acid jazz and disco tunes. Okiyama’s seasonal French menu will span four to five courses, while Combe’s no-reservations bar will serve small bites alongside a short, sustainable menu of cocktails made from kitchen leftovers. Wines will be natural and biodynamic only.
4th Avenue Trudaine 75009 Paris
@minore.restaurant
Endo Kazutoshi at Raffles London at the OWO, London (name to be announced)
Kazutoshi's restaurant will add world-class sushi to Raffles' esteemed culinary lineup
Estimated opening: Spring 2024
Look out for: Buckingham Palace – one of several iconic places to spot from the rooftop
Mauro Colagreco’s opening at Raffles may have been among the most-anticipated openings of 2023, but London’s historic Old War Office has plenty up its sleeve this year too. This includes the unveiling of the latest, Japanese-influenced restaurant from world-class sushi chef Endo Kazutoshi and the group behind Humo, Endo at the Rotunda and 20 Berkeley. Located on the hotel rooftop with panoramic views across some of the UK capital’s most recognisable sights, it is divided into multiple spaces, including a 60-seat restaurant, a chef’s table, an outdoor terrace and a private dining area within one of the building’s beautiful turrets. There’s also a 28-seat sake bar on the ground floor.
57 Whitehall, London SW1A 2BX
@creativerestaurantgroup
raffles.com/london/dining
Madunia, Ibiza
Chef Ivan Arauz Beusink's open-fire cooking will be the order of the day at Madunia
Estimated opening: June
What’s in a name: ‘Mama Dunia’ means Mother Earth, reflecting Madunia’s connection with nature
After almost a decade at 50 Best Discovery restaurant Rijks in Amsterdam, chef de cuisine Ivan Arauz Beusink and his partner Jessie le Comte, who leads marketing and communications, are moving to Ibiza to open Madunia. Nicaragua-born Beusink will combine Latin American influences with open-fire cooking and fine-dining techniques in a micro-seasonal menu of dishes like tomato and figs with burrata and fig-leaf dressing. Everything on the menu is designed to be shared, inspired by a communal eating culture where family and friends gather around the table.
Ctra. Cap Negret, 16, 07820 Sant Antoni de Portmany, Illes Balears
@madunia.ibiza
madunia.es
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