From chargrilling and barbecuing to spit-roasting, these hotspots bring a whole new meaning to having fire in your belly.
While roasting meat over open flames is nothing new – it's what our ancestors were doing 1.5 million years ago – restaurants have elevated wood-fired cooking far beyond its primeval origins. Chefs now use intense heat via flame, smoke and embers to caramelise and char their ingredients, adding different woods to bring complex flavours to simple dishes. And we can't get enough of it, not just for the distinctive fire-kissed taste, but because it's a feast for our other senses, too – the hiss and crackle, the smoky barbecue aroma, the drama of it all. These are the hottest restaurants in the world cooking with flames right now.
Lita, London
@litamarylebone
Restaurateur Daniel Koukarskikh turned up the heat in Marylebone when he opened Lita in 2024, bringing live-fire cooking to the chi-chi neighbourhood and picking up some stellar credentials in its first year. With its French chateau decor (earthy palette, exposed beams), the modern Mediterranean bistro is warmly welcoming. And that's before you get near the open grill, where the team flame-cooks impeccably sourced British Isle ingredients, the likes of whole Cornish turbot or Peak District T-bone. Grab one of the sage green velvet bar stools at the chef's counters for a ringside seat to all the action.
Asador Etxebarri, Atxondo
@asadoretxebarrioficial
The tiny municipality of Atxondo sits in the shadow of Monte Anboto, deep in the Basque countryside. As well as being a destination for wildlife enthusiasts, it's also an IYKYK for food lovers. Behind the doors of a restored 18th-century farmhouse, which claimed No.2 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list, you'll find Bittor Arginzoniz, a chef who cooks on a traditional asador using a unique system of pulleys and custom-made utensils to control the embers and curling smoke. Not for nothing he is known as 'King of the Grill' – vegetables from the garden, baby eels, kokotxas, prawns... everything on the award-winning tasting menu is kissed by the flame.
Peasant, New York
@peasantnyc
(Image: Michael Condran)
Entering Peasant, the Italian restaurant in Nolita, is like being embraced in a familial hug. This might have something to do with the head-to-toe rustic brick decor, which glows at night from all the candles – or it might be due to the crackling open hearth, where chef Marc Forgione cooks with live fire and smoke. The menu is divided into 'Earth' (seasonal and wild vegetables) and 'Land & Sea' (meat and seafood), with everything being impeccably sourced. Pastas are made in-house daily. The magnum opus? A whole rotisserie suckling pig, served with crispy, charred veggies and stone-ground polenta.
11 Woodfire, Dubai
@11woodfire
If you like flair with your fire, this ultra-modern restaurant, ranked No.28 on Middle East and North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list, is for you. Here, the hand-built wood-burning oven and gleaming forged steel grill take centre stage amid the industrial chic concrete-iron-leather interior. Chef Brando Moros leads the charge in the kitchen, his woodfire workmanship – and that of his team – as exact as it is energetic. Start with the sourdough and homemade dips before diving into flame-cooked lamb, chicken, duck, wagyu, lobster or turbot (note: vegetables are equally present on the menu). Portions are hefty, the theatrics impressive. This is Dubai, after all.
Firedoor, Sydney
@firedoor_surryhills
At Surry Hills hotspot Firedoor, the kitchen uses no gas or electricity. Everything that arrives on your plate has been cooked in the two wood-fired ovens, on the trio of grills or over the ever-burning hearth. It's all open-plan, so you can watch with fascination and not a little admiration as chef-owner Lennox Hastie (who trained under the OG, Bittor Arginzoniz) sears, slow cooks and smokes to order over embers from a variety of different woods including pecan and grapevine shoots – even the bread is char-flecked, served with smoked butter. The chef's set menu evolves with the seasons.
Ekstedt, Stockholm
@ekstedtrestaurant
(Image: Emma Johansson)
When Niklas Ekstedt opened his eponymous Stockholm restaurant in 2011 with just a fire pit, a wood-fired oven and a wood stove – offering a menu that was an homage to his childhood, Jämtland heritage and age-old Scandinavian cooking techniques – many believed he'd made things too difficult for himself. He has long since proved naysayers wrong with all the culinary accolades and an outpost in London. Ekstedt and his team continue to push boundaries in Sweden, using natural heat, soot, ash, smoke and fire to bring punch and vigour to a considered Nordic-inspired set menu.
Burnt Ends, Singapore
@burntends.sg
Barbecuing in Australia dates back tens of thousands of years and has been deep-rooted in the culture ever since. Perth-born David Pynt brings his skills with the grill to Singapore at Burnt Ends (No.38 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 and No.93 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 lists) in Dempsey Hill. Behind a discreet door, the restaurant – all warm woods, burnt copper and dramatic lighting – is a hive of activity. The counter is the hotspot to watch agog as the lightning quick team sizzles and sears at the custom four-tonne oven. The menu changes daily, but before you get stuck into the hand-carved smoked meats, order the grissini and taramasalata as a snack – you won't regret it.
Al Gatto Verde, Modena
@algattoverdecasamarialuigia
(Image: Lido Vannucchi)
A restaurant at Massimo Bottura and Lara Gilmore's restored farmhouse stay, Casa Maria Luigia, was never going to disappoint. As its name surmises, green is the order of the day at Al Gatto Verde, which came in at No.92 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2025 extended list – not just in the as-far-you-can-see fields and vineyards, but in its sustainable ethos. Ingredients are sourced from the gardens and hyper-local producers, deftly basted, grilled and turned over naked flames by chef Jessica Rosval and her team. The carrello is a standout – a tribute to the traditional Emilian boiled meats cart, a trolley arrives tableside bearing five different meats each smoked with a distinct type of wood.
Braise, Paris
@braise.paris
(Image: Lido Vannucchi)
This seductively sleek Parisian bistro is the third restaurant from restaurateur Stéphane Manigold and chef Matthias Marc. Charente-born Sylvain Courivaud masters the grills and the menu is concise. Ingredients are smoked in a specially built smokehouse, before being expertly introduced to the restaurant's Japanese Binchotan or Big Green Egg barbecues. From pork belly bao and the finest 40-day rib of beef to marinated aubergines and stuffed courgette flowers, all are cooked to perfection over open flames – even some of the desserts are no stranger to the embers.
Los Fuegos at Faena, Miami
@faena
(Image: Faena Miami Beach)
Self-taught Argentine chef Francis Millman grew up in Patagonia where his affinity with the great outdoors segued into live-fire cooking, a practice he has rolled out across the world. At Los Fuegos in Miami, his chefs elevate time-honoured gaucho-esque dishes while retaining a deep respect for the ingredients, whether they're searing on the cast-iron plancha, charring over the open grill or roasting in the wood-fired oven. Celebrate Sunday South American-style at the weekly parrillada, where a feast of skirt steak, ribeye, lamb and chorizo comes with Millman's crunchy domino potatoes.
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