How Destination Dining Transforms Travel

For me, it’s always the food— whether it’s from a food truck or fine dining that widens my perspective and makes my vacations and work trips more memorable.

I like to scour the James Beard Awards semifinalists, which helps me plan road trips and side trips, imploring me to check out a nearby town just to try a café or a bakery.

The 50 Best Restaurants lists in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East encourage diners to visit cities within those regions for exceptional dining experiences. Even Bon Appétit’s very own Best New Restaurants list is a helpful guide for great places to eat throughout the US.

In the last few months, I ate shawarma after landing in Abu Dhabi that was tender with fresh, crunchy pickles. I slurped ramen on my favorite street in Paris. And recently, I took a cable car to the top of a mountain in Bogotá, Colombia, for chicken soup with beans served in a Styrofoam bowl.

My appreciation for these dishes sits right along the mind-bending tasting menus I had at Lasai in Rio de Janeiro and Kasama in Chicago, which are among the world’s finest restaurants.

Destination dining is a form of entertainment, where the restaurant visit brings as much magic as traveling for a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé concert or staging a selfie in front of a landmark.

Restaurants and cafés are among the first lines of cultural exchange, where diners can experience cuisines in different contexts with new interpretations.

Throughout the April Travel Issue we explore the global influences on food and drink, such as the rise of gin distilleries in places like Kenya and Vietnam.

Restaurant editor Elazar Sontag has curated a list of can’t-miss pizza spots that highlight the evolution of the dish in the US. We also visit London for a redefined guide to British flavors and dining. And in San Antonio our contributor mixes English and Spanish when ordering the best breakfast taco. We also take you to Naar, a restaurant in the Himalayan foothills that is part of a global trend of luxury dining in the clouds.

Of course, we always bring what we learned back to the kitchen. We have recipes to make from all those culinary souvenirs.

Hotels With Good Tastes

PARIS

The Bristol hotel has several ateliers who make treasures you can add to your pantry, including flour milled on-site, fresh pasta, and customizable chocolates.

BOGOTÁ

Four Seasons Casa Medina Bogotá is a colonial era hotel with a chic speakeasy hidden on the second floor that focuses on whiskey. Order the Boulevardier.

ATLANTA

Atlas, a new American restaurant inside the St. Regis hotel, is among the city’s best. It has an exquisite art collection where you can dine under a Picasso.

LONDON

China Tang, the Cantonese restaurant inside The Dorchester hotel, has one of the most sought- after reservations for dim sum. Don’t miss the morel dumplings.