From SingleThread's first international opening to a rustic resaurant and rooms from a New Nordic legend, these are the hottest new tables to snag this month.
As ever, myriad new gastronomic ventures are taking shape around the world, from both rising stars and decorated chefs. Bookings are lighting up at Bonheur by Matt Abé in London, which scored two Michelin stars just five months after opening in November 2025, and at Copenhagen's modern Japanese Kinyōbi. Others, including SoNoMa by SingleThread in Kyoto, the first international restaurant from Kyle and Katina Connaughton, and Nisaba in Delhi from chef Manish Mehrotra are hugely exciting openings you need to bag a table at.
Emberlin, Stockholm
Opening: summer 2026
Joining renowned fine-dining restaurant Frantzén (No.38 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025) and Brasserie Astoria in the Swedish capital is a contemporary grill restaurant and bar specialising in open-fire cooking. Offering an extensive a la carte menu, guests can deliberate over appetisers from a raw bar, before exploring the fire-kissed meats, fish, seafood, vegetables and poultry. Dessert will feature fun touches including an ice cream trolley and the entire Emberlin menu will be infused with Björn Frantzén's bold flavours and signature techniques.
Café Boulud, London
Opening: summer 2026
Daniel Boulud (Image: Daniel Krieger)
After a five-year hiatus following the closure of Bar Boulud in 2020, chef Daniel Boulud is returning to London. The new Waldorf Astoria London Admiralty Arch will house the informal Café Boulud, which will be open all day, offering sweeping views of the capital's iconic Mall. Dishes will be primarily French, with Boulud's crowd-pleasing burgers on offer too. The Grade I listed building will be a hub for celebrity chefs, with Clare Smyth set to also open her new restaurant Coreus, which will focus heavily on the sea in a reflection of the building's maritime history.
StreetXO Ibiza, Ibiza
Opening: June 2026
Dabiz Muñoz (whose restaurant Diverxo is No.4 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025) will bring his high-end street food concept, StreetXO, to The Unexpected Ibiza Hotel this summer. The restaurant will have the same DNA of the original concept, with a central bar, open kitchen and signature dishes fusing street food from different parts of the world with haute cuisine. At the original Madrid location, you'll find dishes like Sándwich Club (2U), a steamed bun topped with ricotta, a fried quail's egg and shichimi togarashi (a Japanese spice blend).
Tresind, London
Opening: May 2026
Himanshu Saini
Modern Indian restaurant Trèsind is set to land in London early this year. After launching in Dubai in 2014, Trèsind opened Trèsind Studio just four years later, an immersive fine dining outfit that ranked No.2 in the Middle East and North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list and No.27 in the The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025. Led by Indian chef Himanshu Saini, dishes at Trèsind showcase Saini's modern Indian approach – think rocket pani puri followed by lamb yakhni with mint dust and a sweet course of andan payesh (a type of Bengali rice pudding), sour milk ice cream, vanilla yogurt and milk crisp.
Ramen Hisa, Dubai
Opening: April 2026
The team behind TakaHisa, No.23 on the Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants 2026, and the closest you'll get to a true Japanese experience without leaving the UAE, is opening a ramen restaurant. Ingredients will be carefully selected from across Japan, paying close attention to origin and quality: noodles will be chosen according to the character of each bowl; and broths will be prepared with an emphasis on clarity, depth and layered umami. With just 28 seats, the restaurant is designed around the concept of a traditional Japanese home, with guests invited to remove their shoes at the entrance before entering a space arranged with tatami flooring and floor chairs.
Adam Albin, Stockholm
Opening: April 2026
After working together for more than two decades, Adam Dahlberg and Albin Wessman are opening a new restaurant in the historic heart of Stockholm. Billed as their most ambitious fine-dining undertaking to date, the cooking at Adam Albin will be contemporary and globally informed, grounded in a Nordic sensibility with classical French cuisine at the foundation. In a three-storey space, guests will move through a sequence of rooms, with the aim to create an atmosphere that feels like being invited into someone's home.
Fonda Maize, Denver
Opening: spring 2026
Johnny Curiel and wife Kasie
Following the success of Alma Fonda Fina in Denver, chef Johnny Curiel and wife Kasie are due to open a new tasting menu concept in the city later this year. Maize will seat eight diners at a time for an 18-course menu with a generous helping of chef interaction. Expect raw dishes, house-made ferments and masa-based creations made together with Boulder farm, Masa Seed Foundation, as well as unique moles and a drinks menu focusing on Bozal Maize mezcal, made from hand-harvested Mexican corn.
Pib, Los Cabos
Opening: spring 2026
Jorge Vallejo
Jorge Vallejo and Alejandra Flores' expertise is expanding beyond Quintonil – ranked No.3 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list and No.7 on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list – with Pib, the couple's new beach-side venture. Located in Los Cabos, Baja California and co-created with the owners of the Chablé hotel group, Pib takes its name from a type of Mayan underground fire-pit cooking. While the finer details have yet to be revealed, the concept is more casual than Quintonil, centring on generous, flame-kissed dishes that diners will want to come back to again and again.
Boro, Medellín
Opening: spring 2026
A city humming with creative energy, Medellín will welcome a new joint from Jaime Rodríguez, the chef behind Cartagena's Celele, ranked No.5 on Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 and No.48 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 lists. Boro, which will occupy space in Wake, a $100 million project spanning apartments, wellness, design and hospitality outlets, with an ethos of "shared roots, new flavours" suggests a similar approach to Celele's focus on Colombia's native ingredients, with a contemporary twist to match Medellin's urban vibe.
Kiji, London
Opening: 2026
The first UK restaurant from New York restaurant duo JP and Ellia Park is set to open in Mayfair. The pair are best known for Atomix, the 14-seat purveyor of elite, modern Korean cuisine, recently crowned The Best Restaurant in North America 2025, and which sits at No.12 on the The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list. Details are still scarce, but Kiji will dish up Korean barbecue in a space fitted with a bar, dining room, lounge and private chef's table.
JouJou, San Francisco
Opened: March 2026
David Barzelay
A new French restaurant with Cali-style twists has joined the city's Design District, all from the same team behind Lazy Bear, ranked No.25 on North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list. Lawyer-turned-chef David Barzelay's menu centres on seafood with a touch of theatricality: think towering platters of seafood, fish filleted tableside and French omelettes crowned with caviar. The space has a raw bar, booth seating with a view of the kitchen and a plush sunken seating area called the Rose Room.
SoNoMa by SingleThread, Kyoto
Opened: March 2026
(Image: SingleThread)
The first international restaurant from Kyle and Katina Connaughton, the stellar duo behind SingleThread (No.8 on North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025) has opened in Kyoto. SoNoMa by SingleThread, in the Capella Kyoto hotel, spotlights regional agriculture and traditions of the region through the SingleThread lens. The menu celebrates the duality of Kyoto and Sonoma and reflects the influence of the years the Connaughtons spent living and working in Japan, guiding guests through a multi-course journey in an open and welcoming space. Katina Connaughton is working directly with farmers in the region to bring a curated selection of unique Northern California varieties, as well as utilising native Kyoto vegetables.
Jaz by Ana Roš, Poreč
Opened: March 2026
Jaz by Ana Roš, located in Poreč in Croatia, marks the first international location of Ana Roš' (the chef behind Hiša Franko, No.69 on the extended list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025) casual dining restaurant. Having spent a lot of her childhood in Istria, Roš now brings her distinctive culinary philosophy to Poreč's seaside promenade at the Jadran Heritage Hotel. Celebrating regional and seasonal produce sourced directly from farmers, fishers and small-scale producers, the menu will be packed with dishes inspired by Roš' travels around the world. Open all day, dishes will showcase a mix of tradition, bold flavours and contemporary flair, complemented by a selection of local and European wines and expertly crafted signature cocktails.
Orrery by Pierre Minotti, London
Opened: March 2026 
Reopening after refurbishment, Marylebone's Orrery is now helmed by Pierre Minotti. The chef most recently worked at Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal and has a background in classical French cuisine. For all the refinement, Minotti's dishes retain a playfulness: take the bouillabaisse, which is served chilled and spiked with finger lime and Meyer lemon; or the Trou Normand which sees the sorbet doused in an eye-popping chartreuse rather than the traditional calvados. The wine pairing is as well-matched as it is globetrotting, taking diners from an Spanish albariño to a Morey-Saint-Denis Burgundy via a South African chenin blanc and more.
JNĉQUOI Table, Lisbon
Opened: March 2026
(Image: Henrique Isidoro and Jose Campos)
It's all about the ocean at this intimate chef's table experience for just 10 diners at the JNĉQUOI House hotel in Lisbon's city centre. Hidden beneath JNĉQUOI Fish restaurant, and accessed through The Mirror Room with more than 1,000 mirrors and simulating an underwater garden, you'll find JNĉQUOI Table. Everyone has a front-row seat at the U-shaped counter built around the open kitchen. Chef Filipe Carvalho focuses on jewels from the Atlantic Ocean, paired with luxury ingredients including caviar, truffle and rare teardrop peas (often known as 'vegetable caviar').
Furuhem, Båstad
Opened: in stages, rooms in March 2026
Five years after the closure of Fäviken, chef Magnus Nilsson has opened a new restaurant and rooms in the coastal town of Båstad, Sweden. The new venture will follow a different path to his New Nordic original, eschewing the fine dining Nilsson became known for, opening for breakfast, lunch and dinner and focusing on farm-to-table cooking and community. Described by Nilsson as 'ordinary, in the best possible way,' breakfast and lunch are simple affairs, while dinner features dishes including butter-roasted turbot with hasselback potatoes; and Falukorv sausage with creamed macaroni.
Naides, San Francisco
Opened: March 2026
In December 2025, Naides took over the former San Francisco Sons & Daughters space, reimagining Filipino classics through fine-dining cooking techniques. Leading the kitchen is chef Patrick Gabon, whose mother is the restaurant's namesake, while Celine Wuu (ex-Benu, No.13 North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2025) manages the floor and beverage programme. The 11 to 13-course menu utilises Californian ingredients, recontextualised through Southeast Asian moulding and preservation techniques. Don't miss the Adobo course made with 14-day aged duck, soy jus and horseradish.
Lotu, San Sebastián
Opened: March 2026
From the team behind Mugaritz (No.87 on the extended list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025) comes Lotu, a restaurant housed inside the brand-new Hotel Palacio Bellas Artes in San Sebastián. Instead of choosing to focus on a particular style of cuisine, chef Andoni Luis Aduriz will take inspiration from the bohemian restaurants of the 20th Century, where artists, writers and travellers would share stories between premières and festivals. Goods crafted in the restaurant's in-house bakery will be integral to the guest experience, with freshly baked breads and pastries forming part of the core menu.
Nisaba, Delhi
Opened: January 2026
Legendary chef Manish Mehrotra is back with a new opening after a two-year restaurant hiatus following his departure from Indian Accent. Located in New Deli, Nisaba is Mehrotra's tribute to India's everyday cooking as he consciously steps away from 'progressive Indian' cuisine, stripping away frill and pomp to reveal soul-satisfying cooking, prepared with quietly accomplished skill. The menu focuses on modern elevations of Indian classics including Tandoori bacon prawns with green chilli yoghurt and parmesan floss; and butter chicken with smoked makhani, achari mirch (spicy green chillies) and onion rings.
Flores Raras, Valencia
Opened: January 2026
In Valencia, the restaurant formerly known as El Poblet enters a new era as Flores Raras, under the stewardship of Mexico-born chef Carolina Álvarez. An evolution of the lauded gastronomic concept that afforded the original restaurant two Michelin stars, Flores Raras will be located in the same high-ceilinged space and will continue to be directed by Quique Dacosta (No. 65 on the extended list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2026). Expect technical mastery, high-quality produce and creative flair across each of the playful three, four or six-course tasting menus.
Window, Dubai
Opened: January 2026
Tamer El Khayat and Faisal Yabroudi
Alserkal Avenue has fast become home to some of Dubai's most exciting restaurants. The former industrial site is now an arts centre and cultural hub with coffee roasters, bakeries and restaurants. The newest addition is Window, a live-fire cooking concept from the team behind Kokoro, Dubai's premier hand roll bar. In the ember-toned interior, every dish will be touched by the flames of the restaurant's central live-fire hearth, with plates of smoky vegetables and grilled meats at the fore.
The Belongil, Byron Bay
Opened: December 2025
(Image: Jamie Green)
Not content with opening just one new restaurant in 2025, Aussie chef and restaurateur Shannon Bennett has launched four new food and drink concepts in Byron Bay. The chef-owner of French-Australian Melbourne favourite, Vue de Monde, opened fine-dining Feu, long lunch spot The Bistro, members' bar Blind Tiger and streetside venue The Kiosk in December. Under the umbrella of The Belongil, all four destinations will feel distinctly Australian, from the barefoot beach vibes at The Kiosk to the story-filled local ingredients showcased at Feu.
Bonheur by Matt Abé, London
Opened: November 2025
The first solo restaurant from Matt Abé, the former chef-patron of Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, opened in the hallowed site of Le Gavroche in Mayfair in November 2025 – and achieved two Michelin stars just three months after opening. Menus showcase classically rooted cuisine with a contemporary touch, alongside seasonal produce and subtle nods to Abé's Australian heritage. Guests can choose between a la carte, two tasting menus – featuring dishes including Cornish monkfish with dill pickle, Café de Paris and lemon; and toasted grains with whisky, smoked chestnut and caramel – or an intimate six-seat chef's table.
Kinyōbi, Copenhagen
Opened: November 2025
(Image: Studio Blanca)
Former head chef at Geranium, The World's Best Restaurant 2022, Will King-Smith presents Kinyōbi, a modern Japanese restaurant in the centre of Copenhagen. The menu homes in on purity of flavour, focusing on Japanese classics reimagined with Nordic culinary modernity. Dishes such as Norwegian trout with sweet soy and salted lemon and scallop with yuzu kosho enliven tables set with striking custom ceramics, including a wave-shaped plate representing the restaurant's connection to the sea.
Jija by Vicky Lau, Hong Kong
Opened: November 2025
Three years after opening Mora, Vicky Lau's celebration of soy, the chef-owner of Tate Dining Room and Asia's Best Female Chef 2015 has embarked on a new project. A showcase of Southwest China, inspired by Lau's travels through Yunnan and Guizhou, Jija opened in late 2025 in Hong Kong to great anticipation. Named after a colloquial Cantonese term for conversation, Jija is all about laid-back dining. Expect bold flavours and punchy citrus in dishes such as lime shredded chicken with Sichuan peppercorn oil and peanuts and the signature seasonal mushroom salad with prized pickled varieties.
Esse, Copenhagen
Opened: October 2025
(Image: Emily Wilson)
Hidden in a back alley of Copenhagen's Nyhavn neighbourhood in a restored 1895 warehouse, Esse is the latest project from Matt Orlando, the culinary mind behind Amass. The intimate 42-seat dining room opened in late 2025 and offers both a six and 10-course tasting menu, rooted in the same zero-waste philosophy that shaped Orlando's now-shuttered debut. Expect thoughtful dishes inspired by both Nordic cuisine and Orlando's recent time in kitchens in Asia. Think: chilled buckwheat noodles with sunflower seeds, miso and Swedish Sichuan peppercorn; and scallop with brown butter, hazelnut and Japanese Quince.
Yiaga, Melbourne
Opened: October 2025
(Image: Jason Loucas)
Located in Melbourne's historic Fitzroy Gardens on Wurundjeri Country, newly opened Yiaga is the first restaurant from ex-Vue de Monde chef Hugh Allen. The menu celebrates the diversity of Australian flora and fauna, as well as impeccably sourced produce including dive-foraged kelp from the Victorian coast and coral trout from the warm waters of Queensland. The restaurant itself is crafted almost entirely from Australian materials, from the Tasmanian blackwood timber cellar to the custom private dining room table made from a cypress branch from Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens.
Header image credit: Jamie Green
Discover more fantastic bars, restaurants and hotels with 50 Best Discovery, and start planning your next adventure.
