It’s safe to say most of us love eating and dream of getting paid to travel around the world and try new foods. But, if we haven’t pursued the fiery passion enough to make it happen yet, then our only hope is to vicariously read about the adventures of others who have. But they haven’t forgotten about us, either – so in our honor and in honor of all things delicious, Food & Leisure compiled their list of the best overall meals around the world in 2019 to date.
Black Axe Mangal, London
“Black Axe Mangal, chef Lee Tiernan’s offal-centric, Turkish-inspired restaurant with a heavy metal soundtrack in London’s Highbury, is … the most crazy-delicious meal I’ve had this year. Case in point: the opening salvo is a pickle back—shot, beet and horseradish juice chaser, smoked eel and pickled walnut ‘bite’. Tiernan’s food wallops you in the face unapologetically with giant fists of flavor, from smoked pork cheek with pickled watermelon, to grilled octopus with salty ham hock and spicy som tum, to his riff on St. John’s classic roast bone marrow dish, topped with oxtail and anchovy gremolata. I could eat here again and again until the end of days.” – Melanie Hansche, Food & Leisure deputy editor
Maison Yaki, Brooklyn, New York City
“When I look back at 2019, I ate a bunch of truly amazing things at Maison Yaki that I dream about regularly. Chiefly: the crispy, fluffy cauliflower okonomiyaki with hazelnuts, the beef tongue sando drizzled with just the right amount of gribiche, the creamy salmon mimosa tartare which comes with these delightful seeded crackers. Oh, and if I had to choose one skewer to order forever, it would have to be the duck a l’orange.” – Oset Babur, Food & Leisure associate restaurant editor
Joali, Maldives
“I wanted to have a super hip answer for this, but my most memorable meal wasn’t at one of the many famously cool, accolade-accumulating restaurants I visited for my job, but rather at an arty Maldives resort called Joali — in the middle of the Indian Ocean, on a stilted over-water villa, at the end of a bucket list vacation and pretty difficult year. Wearing a bathing suit and hotel slippies, I made an uncharacteristic splurge on room service and ordered one dish: half of a spiny, sustainably caught Maldivian lobster. Intricately speckled and smaller than I’d expected, it was unlike any shellfish I’d ever tasted, seasoned simply with lemon, salt, and pepper. I washed it down with my favorite depressed-on-vacation beverage: minibar Diet Coke. For dessert, I floated in my infinity pool, at peace with the fact that I’d peaked.” – Maria Yagoda, Food + Leisure digital restaurant editor
NOMA, Los Angeles
“René Redzepi’s one-night-only Noma dinner in Los Angeles made most of my dinners from 2019 seem like a handful of M&M’s in comparison. The steamed and smoked king crab was served with a sonicated horseradish sauce that worked its way through your body and landed with a tingle at your undercarriage. I looked around the table and asked people if the horseradish was hitting them you-know-where, or if it was just me, and they all nodded with a smile. There was black garlic leather tempered with ant paste, sloe berries, and black currants and shaped like a leaf. There was pheasant broth gel topped with caviar and whipped cream. The caramelized milk skin was a little alien freak. The first course was a plate of padrón peppers. Most of them were mild except for the atomic one that I took, so my very first bite of the night caused me so much pain that I started to laugh-cry like I was having a psychotic break. By the time we finished the cardamom mousse dessert, I was convinced I’d actually lost it.” – Ryan Grim, Food & Leisure digital executive editor
Antichi Sapori, Montegrosso, Italy
“My family traveled to Puglia over the summer, and the most memorable meal from that trip was at Antichi Sapori in Montegrosso. I knew that Antichi Sapori, run by chef Pietro Zito, was going to be on Food & Wine’s World’s Best Restaurants list, so naturally I made my family drive two hours each way just to dine there. From a miniature eggplant parmigiana to a bowl of spicy rigatoni, from all iterations of caciocavallo cheese to a dessert course that covered our table in tiramisu, candied almonds, and fresh fruit, the long ride to this special trattoria was worth it.” – Nina Friend, Food & Leisure assistant editor
Bubbledogs, London
“Thanks to the wise counsel of my colleagues Ray Isle and Melanie Hansche, I made a point of sniffing out Bubbledogs during a whirlwind trip to London. I’ve thought about that meal at least once a week ever since. The concept is simple and joyous: elaborately topped hot dogs (‘spicy garlic mayo, pickled vegetables, peanut powder, and coriander’ on one and ‘hot giardiniera mix, caramelized onions, jalapeños, and cheese sauce’ on another) served alongside carefully chosen grower Champagnes that aren’t usually available by the glass, and an array of tater tots. If that hadn’t been enough to lift my spirits, all I’d have to do would be to look around the room at the ridiculously charming illustrations of a happy little dog in the midst of endeavors like being a vampire, clutching a flying Champagne cork, nestling between bun halves. The cherry on top came in the form of ‘ketchup’ (the ‘mustard’ was banana) in a teensy little bottle to squeeze atop a chocolate dog tucked into a brioche bun. Yes, there’s also a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Kitchen Table, hidden away behind a discreet entrance at the back of the bar and I’ll get there someday. But for now, I feel … awfully lucky.” – Kat Kinsman, Food & Leisure senior editor