Best Restaurants in The World 2025: A Deep Dive into the Top 20

Turin Takes the Stage: A Grand Culinary Celebration

This year’s 50 Best Restaurants in the World awards unfolded in the elegant northern Italian city of Turin, marking the first time the ceremony graced Italy. Against the backdrop of the Alps and baroque architecture, the event wasn’t just about who topped the list—it was about a changing global food culture.

Over 1,000 culinary experts, chefs, writers, and judges gathered in Piazza Carignano for a night that fused fine dining with festival energy. The evening pulsed with the music of Benny Benassi and the presence of Italian food legends like Franco Pepe and Massimo Bottura. But the spotlight was firmly on one Lima-based restaurant that dethroned the Nordics and reshaped the global culinary map.

Click here for the full official list.

1. Maido – Lima, Peru
Chef Mitsuharu “Micha” Tsumura fuses Japanese precision with Peruvian soul in a style known as Nikkei cuisine, making Maido’s rise to the top a historic first for Latin America. Known for its intricate tasting menus—featuring dishes like black cod with miso, Amazonian fruits, and sea urchin rice—Maido is a place where cultural fusion feels both playful and deeply respectful. Tsumura’s approach is thoughtful yet exuberant, and every course tells a story of heritage, technique, and boundless creativity, making Maido not just a restaurant, but a landmark in global dining.

2. Asador Etxebarri – Atxondo, Spain
Nestled in the lush Basque countryside, Asador Etxebarri is a masterclass in simplicity and fire, where Chef Bittor Arginzoniz transforms the act of grilling into high art. Every dish, from butter-brushed Palamós prawns to smoked milk ice cream, is touched by flame and defined by restraint—no foams, no fuss, just elemental perfection. Arginzoniz uses custom-built grills and different woods to coax out precise, smoky layers of flavor that showcase the purity of each ingredient. This year, the restaurant also took home the World’s Best Sommelier Award, underscoring its exceptional wine program rooted in natural and biodynamic selections. Etxebarri’s quiet brilliance lies in its unwavering devotion to craft, letting nature and technique speak louder than presentation.

3. Quintonil – Mexico City, Mexico
Chef Jorge Vallejo’s Quintonil is a vibrant ode to modern Mexican cuisine, where ancient ingredients and contemporary techniques collide in delicious harmony. The menu celebrates the country’s biodiversity with native herbs, cactus, and even insects, creating dishes that are both rooted in tradition and forward-looking. Vallejo’s commitment to sustainability and seasonality drives a hyper-local sourcing ethos, while his elegant execution elevates everyday flavors into something revelatory. Quintonil isn’t just keeping pace—it’s pushing Mexican gastronomy into the future.

4. DiverXO – Madrid, Spain
At DiverXO, Chef Dabiz Muñoz unleashes a theatrical, punk-infused vision of haute cuisine that turns Spanish dining on its head. Known for outrageous plating—think flying pigs, edible clouds, and splattered sauces—the experience is as much a sensory trip as a meal. But beneath the visual spectacle lies razor-sharp technique and serious flavor, with dishes drawing from global influences and street food memories alike. Muñoz doesn’t just want to impress; he wants to provoke, and DiverXO delivers a wild, unforgettable ride through his culinary imagination.

5. Alchemist – Copenhagen, Denmark
Dining at Alchemist is like stepping into a surrealist theater where gastronomy, art, and activism collide under one high-concept roof. Chef Rasmus Munk orchestrates a 50-course tasting menu that tackles big themes—climate change, inequality, food waste—through edible storytelling. Think beetroot blood bags, jellyfish with sustainability narratives, and dishes served inside a planetarium-like dome. Every bite is a conversation, and every moment is designed to challenge your assumptions about what a meal can be. Alchemist is not just dinner—it’s a full-body philosophical experience.

6. Gaggan – Bangkok, Thailand
With his trademark irreverence and boundless creativity, Chef Gaggan Anand returns to the top tier with emoji-based menus and progressive Indian plates that defy classification. At Gaggan, classic flavors are flipped on their heads—yogurt explodes, curries become foam, and every bite carries an undercurrent of rebellion. The experience is loud, playful, and deeply personal, blending the heart of Indian street food with the intellect of fine dining. It’s a place where fun and finesse coexist—and where tradition is a springboard, not a boundary.

7. Sézanne – Tokyo, Japan
Set inside Tokyo’s Four Seasons, Sézanne offers a serene, refined expression of French-Japanese harmony under the helm of British chef Daniel Calvert. The tasting menu feels like silk—precise, elegant, and emotionally restrained—with dishes such as foie gras in sakura reduction and langoustine with yuzu kosho. Calvert’s cooking is rooted in classical technique but elevated by Japanese discipline and purity of flavor. In just a few years, Sézanne has soared to global recognition by proving that minimalism, when done perfectly, is anything but simple.

8. Table by Bruno Verjus – Paris, France
At Table, French poet-turned-chef Bruno Verjus crafts meals like love letters—each course a meditative reflection on time, season, and sensation. The minimalist dining room puts full focus on hyper-seasonal ingredients, from sun-ripened carrots to just-landed scallops, prepared with reverence and restraint. There’s no excess here, only essence. Dining at Table feels less like a performance and more like being read a quiet, beautiful poem with a fork in hand—slow, sensual, and deeply personal.

9. Don Julio – Buenos Aires, Argentina
Don Julio is more than a steakhouse—it’s a national treasure, where Chef Pablo Rivero elevates Argentina’s parrilla tradition to new heights through meticulous sourcing, expert aging, and almost spiritual attention to fire. Cuts are grilled to perfection, paired with a world-class wine list that showcases the depth of Argentine terroir. The atmosphere buzzes with local pride, and every bite of ribeye or chorizo tastes like a love song to the country’s ranching heritage. It’s the world’s highest-ranked steakhouse for a reason—this is beef worship done right.

10. Kjolle – Lima, Peru
Kjolle is Chef Pía León’s radiant tribute to Peru’s biodiversity, offering a colorful, ingredient-led experience that celebrates everything from highland tubers to Amazonian cacao. Formerly of Central, León has carved out her own voice with a menu that is both inventive and grounded in place. Dishes burst with texture, color, and ecological storytelling, while the restaurant itself champions female leadership and local empowerment. Kjolle is a celebration—not just of ingredients, but of identity, landscape, and vision.

11. Wing – Hong Kong
At Wing, Chef Vicky Cheng fuses deep-rooted Cantonese traditions with modern finesse, creating a tasting menu that’s both respectful and revelatory. From delicate abalone tartlets to dry-aged duck glazed in plum sauce, each dish balances heritage with innovation. Cheng’s background in French cuisine sharpens the execution, while his reverence for Chinese flavors anchors the experience. The result is a refined, proudly Hong Kong narrative told in elegant, precise bites.

12. Atomix – New York City, USA
Junghyun and Ellia Park’s Atomix is a sleek, cerebral Korean tasting counter where every detail—from the design to the dish cards handed out with each course—is choreographed with intimate precision. The multi-course menu explores Korean heritage through a contemporary lens, offering dishes like wagyu and fermented chili or soy-marinated abalone alongside cultural context. With only a handful of seats and a hushed, gallery-like ambiance, Atomix delivers a rare mix of storytelling, subtlety, and soul.

13. Potong – Bangkok, Thailand
Chef Pichaya “Pam” Soontornyanakij has transformed her family’s old pharmacy into one of Asia’s most exciting culinary destinations. Potong’s Thai-Chinese tasting menus bristle with ferments, aromatics, and deeply personal flavor combinations that explore heritage and identity. Each dish is bold yet precise, with flavors that linger and stories that resonate. Named Asia’s Best Female Chef, Pam is leading a new era of Thai fine dining—one rooted in culture, curiosity, and uncompromising craft.

14. Plénitude – Paris, France
Inside the opulent Cheval Blanc, Chef Arnaud Donckele crafts symphonies of sauce-driven French cuisine where each dish is anchored by complex jus and emulsions layered like operas. From langoustine in bouillabaisse reduction to pigeon with truffle glaze, everything sings with precision and power. Plénitude is unapologetically luxurious, but beneath the velvet and shine lies rigorous technique and deep culinary intellect. It’s French gastronomy in its richest, most refined form.

15. Ikoyi – London, UK
At Ikoyi, Chef Jeremy Chan and Iré Hassan-Odukale blaze a bold trail through spice, smoke, and West African inspiration with globally-minded flair. Their tasting menus feature ingredients like smoked jollof rice, Scotch bonnet oil, and fermented crab, all framed with modernist precision and artful plating. Chan’s style defies easy categorization—it’s neither fusion nor traditional—but it pulses with originality. Ikoyi is not just a restaurant; it’s a spice-driven, boundary-breaking culinary movement.

16. Lido 84 – Gardone Riviera, Italy
Overlooking the glimmering waters of Lake Garda, Lido 84 is where the Camanini brothers reimagine Italian cuisine with both reverence and experimentation. Their now-famous rigatoni cooked in a pig’s bladder is a theatrical ode to historical cooking methods, while the rest of the menu dances between contemporary elegance and rustic nostalgia. Lido 84 is the kind of place where technique and heart collide, where innovation feels effortless, and where Italy’s culinary soul is lovingly preserved—then reborn.

17. Sorn – Bangkok, Thailand
Chef Supaksorn Jongsiri (Ice) channels the depth of Southern Thai cuisine into a deeply refined, spice-forward tasting menu that simmers with tradition and intensity. At Sorn, curries are cooked for days, broths are layered with ancestral technique, and ingredients are sourced directly from local farmers. In 2025, it became the first Thai restaurant to earn 3 Michelin stars—a landmark moment for the country’s fine dining scene. Sorn is a powerful testament to heritage, fire, and flavor.

18. Reale – Castel di Sangro, Italy
In the quiet mountains of Abruzzo, Chef Niko Romito has built a temple to purity where bread, broth, and vegetables are transformed through minimalism and meditative technique. Reale is a study in restraint—no unnecessary flourishes, just distilled, focused flavors that whisper rather than shout. Each plate is a lesson in less-is-more, guided by deep research and relentless refinement. Romito shows that simplicity, when pursued with rigor, can be profoundly moving.

19. The Chairman – Hong Kong
A stalwart of Cantonese excellence, The Chairman keeps the soul of tradition alive with slow-braised fish maw, aged soy chicken, and the legendary steamed crab in Shaoxing wine. There are no gimmicks here—just deep, soulful cooking that respects the rhythms of seasonality and the nuances of heritage. Ingredients are sourced with obsessive care, and the kitchen’s quiet confidence comes through in every balanced, umami-rich bite. The Chairman proves that classic doesn’t mean static—it means timeless.

20. Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler – Brunico, Italy
In the heart of the Italian Alps, Chef Norbert Niederkofler’s Atelier is a radical ode to place, where glacier water, wild herbs, and mountain trout are the stars of his “Cook the Mountain” philosophy. This newcomer is defined by its commitment to sustainability and local sourcing, but the real beauty lies in how these raw elements are transformed into something elegant, almost spiritual. Every dish tells a high-altitude story—and every guest leaves with a deeper connection to the land.

Global Themes and Trends

Latin America’s Rise

With Maido, Quintonil, Kjolle, and Don Julio in the top 10, Latin America has officially become a dominant force in global fine dining. Biodiversity, ancestral ingredients, and cultural storytelling are key drivers.

Spain’s Enduring Legacy

From wood-fired mastery at Etxebarri to the boundary-pushing madness of DiverXO, Spain continues to dominate the narrative with fire, flair, and technical precision.

Asia’s Evolution

Thailand and Hong Kong each have multiple entries. The rise of Sorn, Potong, and Gaggan shows how regional Asian cuisines are taking the global spotlight—and doing it their way.

Sustainability and Storytelling

Whether it’s the foraged menus of Atelier Moessmer or the cultural flashcards at Atomix, the top restaurants aren’t just serving food—they’re telling stories about land, people, and history.

Turin’s 2025 awards spotlight a dining world in flux: less Eurocentric, more inclusive, and deeply curious. The borders between food and art, memory and technique, are blurring. These top 20 restaurants aren’t just places to eat—they’re cultural destinations. Whether you’re mapping your next food pilgrimage or dreaming from your couch, this year’s list proves one thing: the future of dining is diverse, dynamic, and deliciously bold.

Bookmark this list, and start planning your table-for-two. The 2025 culinary map is here—and it’s absolutely mouthwatering.

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