The Best Places to Eat Around the World This Fall
For some travelers, peak Paris comes in a visit to the Mona Lisa. No shade; we love Leonardo as much as the next Renaissance master. But if we’re getting on a plane to wait in long Parisian lines, it’s more likely to be for the earthy delicacy of fine French chocolate. So don't be surprised to see us at this fall's Salon du Chocolat at the Porte de Versailles, or—because even travel editors can’t live by chocolate alone (oh, we’ve tried)—at the Taste of London in Regent's Park. Or the Valle Food & Wine Fest outside Ensenada. Or the International Alba White Truffle Festival in Italy's Piedmont region. The world is serving up all kinds of delicious reasons to travel over the next few months, and we're here for it. You should be too. To help, we pulled together our seven picks for the best places to join that moveable feast.
London
If Michelin stars were snowflakes, London would be shrouded in a blizzard. No fewer than 70 restaurants here have been honored with one, and three restaurants—Mitsuhiro Araki’s omakase sushi spot The Araki (only nine seats!), Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester—have earned that elusive threesome.
But the city's also brimming with tasty new ventures from award-winning chefs, like Quique Dacosta’s modernist Arros QD (try a paella—any paella); Nathan Outlaw’s eponymous seafood restaurant in the Goring Hotel (get past the name and order the red mullet with devilled shrimp butter and chicory); and Adam Handling’s haute British outpost at the Belmond Cadogan Hotel (the Scottish lobster, British oysters and English caviar have made Sunday lunch a local must).
Best time to go, though, may be between Nov. 15 and 18, when you can catch Taste of London, an outdoor sampling of some of the city’s best restaurants, including Hoppers, Bao, Dominique Ansel Bakery, and plenty more from your wish list—all in the stately pastoral lanes of Regent’s Park.
Singapore
Crazy Rich Asians may have started it, but our obsession with Singapore lives on. Why not? There’s a lot to see these days, especially in the fine-dining world. Believe it or not, this small-but-mighty city-state outranks Berlin, Chicago, Barcelona, and even San Francisco for Michelin stars — 39 total, not least among which is the world's first Michelin-starred street food.
Chances are the count’s about to go higher, because the legendary Raffles Singapore has reopened, and Anne-Sophie Pic—just the fourth female chef in the world to earn three Michelin stars—recently debuted her haute cuisine La Dame de Pic. (Get the Chou Cao-herbed Berlingots.) If that’s not enough, Alain Ducasse, another of the planet’s most decorated chefs, just opened BBR by Alain Ducasse in the hotel's famous Bar & Billiard Room, a colonial-era hangout whose clubby vibes pair perfectly with that new wood-fired rotisserie and pizza oven. Meanwhile, the hotel's Long Bar—birthplace of the Singapore Sling—has been restored to its former glory. If you leave the island without trying its signature gin-and-fruit cocktail, were you even really there?
To truly broaden your palate, though, arrive by Oct. 11-12 and hit The Great Wine & Dine Festival at Resorts World Sentosa. It’s a two-day binge featuring more than 400 wines and craft sakes, plus bites by celebrity chefs from all over the globe.
Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
The Valle de Guadalupe, located just outside Ensenada and blessed by 1,000-foot elevations and a Mediterranean microclimate that produces some incredible reds, has come to be known as the Napa Valley of Mexico. And forgive us, but holy mole—the food. At restaurants like Javier Plasencia’s Finca Altozano and David Castro Hussong's Fauna, seasonal and locally grown ingredients get global twists (like ahi tostadas with jicama kimchi) to spectacular effect.
If you hurry, you might catch the Valle Food & Wine Fest on Oct. 5, when nearly 50 trend-setting chefs from the US and Mexico, along with wineries from across the valley, will be in the house at Finca Altozano. Flex your small-talk muscles with superstars like Wolfgang Puck, Rick Bayliss, Susan Feniger, Nancy Silverton, and Claudette Zepeda while you soak up the amazing views.
Alba, Italy
Love truffles? (That's not a real question. It’s not even a trick question. Of course you love truffles.) Join the half-million foodie pilgrims who'll be following the scent of Tuber Magnatum Pico straight to Italy's Piedmont region, where, for eight consecutive weekends starting Oct. 5, the prized white truffle can fetch upwards of $4,000 a pound at the International Alba White Truffle Fair. Even if you don’t plan to drop a month’s rent at the fair’s famous market, you won't regret going.
There are, for instance, the many wine tastings and pasta workshops to take in. Egg pastas—especially the stuffed ones—are regional specialties, and it’s officially forbidden to leave town without trying at least six. (Well, ok—we may be playing fast and loose with “official” right there. And “forbidden.” What we meant was “really silly.”) Plus, the entire town goes truffle-crazy. Many restaurants offer not just truffle tasting menus, but also the option to add truffle-by-the-gram to whatever you happen to be eating. Pasta's a great fallback, of course, but the locals favor fried eggs for their truffle-spotlighting superpowers. Chi sapeva? Just be careful as the maître d’ shaves those fragrant slivers over your plate; the grams add up fast.
Dubai
“Epic” is a given when it comes to Dubai, but the city’s 2019 dining scene looks to be taking it to all-new levels. Some of the world's best chefs have opened restaurants here, including Michael White, who debuted a new outpost of his two-Michelin-starred Italian restaurant, Marea, where the crudo selection alone justifies a trip. Options range from sea bream with whole wheat panzanella, castelvetrano olives and tomato to yellowfin tuna with oyster crema and crispy artichoke.
Meanwhile, at the W Dubai - The Palm, the culinary tree keeps growing new branches. Michelin-starred chef Akira Back opened his namesake Japanese-Korean outpost last March, and has established his signature tuna pizza and AB tacos as favorites. And none other than Massimo Bottura, the top chef on earth last year by World’s 50 Best standards, runs the kitchen at the hotel’s Torno Subito. The name means “I'll be right back”—and you will, if you try Bottura's tagliatelle or the tiramisu.
Tokyo
In Japan, fall is feast season. You’ll spot the bounty of the harvest all over town, from baked sweet potatoes sold on the streets to sanma (mackerel pike) grilled with grated radish and lemon. Tokyo’s fiery maple trees make a stunning backdrop for the food festivals that sprout almost every weekend through the season. Love ramen? Beer? Matcha? There's a festival for that.
At the haute end of the spectrum, you’ve got your pick of the world’s longest Michelin-starred list—there are twice as many here—308—as in Paris, the closest rival. RyuGin’s an autumnal favorite; fall fungi decorate everything from the Sanuki Wagyu beef to the Toban Sukiyaki.
Paris
This is the best kind of excess: Salon du Chocolat, the largest chocolate- and cocoa-dedicated celebration on earth, takes over Paris’s Porte de Versailles from Oct. 30-Nov. 3. The festival’s 25th-anniversary edition includes more than 500 exhibitors from across the globe. Beyond the mountains of treats you’ll struggle not to blow your monthly calorie budget on, there are pastry workshops, chocolate sculptures, a chocolate-themed bookstore, performances from cocoa-producing nations, and even—this being Paris—a chocolate fashion show.