We will present suggestions of some of the best restaurants in the world that can be great experiences to visit in April:
Mirazur – Menton, France
Argentinian chef Colagreco moved to France at the age of 20, working with celebrated chef Bernard Loiseau until his death in 2003. Later, he worked in Paris with Alain Passard in Arpège and Alain Ducasse at Hotel Plaza Athénée before settling in Menton, where he opened Mirazur in 2006.
The restaurant has unrivaled views of the French Riviera, three levels of cascading vegetable gardens producing the sweetest produce and an incredibly talented team of cooks and house staff combined to make Mirazur the best restaurant experience. Mauro Colagreco’s unique cuisine is inspired by the sea, the mountains and the restaurant’s own gardens, including the emblematic citrus fruits of Menton.
Over the three months that the restaurant was closed 2020 due to the pandemic, Colagreco took the opportunity to reformulate Mirazur’s culinary offer. The new ‘Lunar Menu’, inspired by the nature cycle, is divided into four offers – root, leaf, flower and fruit – based on seasonal adjustments. They include creations like a delicate rose built with San Remo prawns or an impressive combination of cucumber and nasturtium.
It should be noted that 2019 was the year of Mirazur. The restaurant finally won the coveted three Michelin stars, as well as the start of a three-year renovation project involving a new dining room, extensions to the gardens and a more engaging gastronomic experience.
Noma – Copenhagen, Denmark
The original Noma was undoubtedly one of the most important restaurants of its generation. With his food, René Redzepi has developed a new genre of cuisine. The new Nordic kitchen looks back to look to the future; digging deeper than seasonality to explore un celebrated foraged products. Redzepi’s visionary approach to celebrating terroir through minimalist dishes focused on ingredients earned Noma’s first incarnation the title of The Best Restaurant in the World in four years: 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014.
Redzepi closed the original Noma in February 2017. He moved the restaurant from Copenhagen’s Christianshavn neighborhood to a more spacious setting on the artistic Refshalevej Island. The new restaurant’s first service took place in February 2018. According to the Best of the Best rules, the new Noma is a restaurant separate from the original location and therefore wins the highest new entry award by debuting on the list this year in 2nd place.
When Noma relaunched, Redzepi introduced a new dining structure in which the restaurant offers three menus a year, each with about 20 dishes, based on the main ingredients available during a given season. The seafood season runs from January 9 to June 1; the vegetable season runs from June 25 to September 21; and the hunting and forest season runs from October 15 to December 21. Guests are advised to make a reservation in the period that suits their taste. In each menu, the ideology that gave Noma its name remains true: native ingredients explored through the lens of a myriad of culinary techniques that come together to become much more than the sum of its constituent parts.
Asador Etxebarri – Axpe, Spain
The chef, Arguinzoniz, was born and raised in the agricultural community of Axpe, a small, picturesque village located in the mountains an hour’s drive from Bilbao. He is self-taught and worked only in his own kitchen, where he designed and built his famous adjustable heating grills.
Victor Arguinzoniz has a remarkable ability to extract explosive flavors from seemingly simple ingredients, most of which are grilled over an open fireplace.
The restaurant respects the intrinsic natural flavors of local products and delicately encourages each ingredient to show its potential, for example: goat’s milk beaten in ethereal butter, peas amplified in their own juice, dried meat aged for so many days that it bites with umami . Arguinzoniz cooks vegetables and proteins on a variety of coals that he makes with a variety of woods, kissing most dishes with at least a hint of smoke.
Gaggan – Bangkok, Thailand
Being considered the best restaurant in Asia for four consecutive years (2014-2018), Gaggan is a testament to the constant innovation and improvement in this constantly evolving center of creativity. Chef Gaggan Anand, influenced by El Bulli, serves a menu of 25 or more plates of small, quick portions, many of which are eaten by hand.
Although Gaggan is currently the best restaurant that Asia has to offer, it won’t be for long, as Anand has promised to close his main restaurant in 2020, after 10 years serving gastronomes from around the world. After the final service, he plans to open a small restaurant in Fukuoka, Japan, with chef Takeshi ‘Goh’ Fukuyama from La Maison de la Nature Goh, one of Asia’s top 50 restaurants.
With the help of a test kitchen and some shiny new equipment, Anand’s menu has evolved from purely modern Indian cuisine to much more global cuisine, as the chef has traveled and gained influence from restaurants around the world. The menu now includes Mexican-inspired taco pieces, Indian nigiri sushi nigiri and even Oreo eggplant crackers. The classic Yogurt Explosion remains on the menu alongside more recent subscriptions, such as Lick It Up, where customers are encouraged to lick a tasty curry straight from the dish.
Geranium – Copenhagen, Denmark
The seemingly unlikely duo of nature and technology is at the heart of Chef Rasmus Kofoed’s progressive tasting menu: over 17 inspired artistic courses, made up of wild and organic Scandinavian ingredients. While a presentation of fragile and almost translucent leaves is made of a Jerusalem artichoke puree, what appear to be razor clams are, in fact, pasta painted with squid ink.
With a very impressive track record, Rasmus Kofoed is the first chef in Denmark to receive three Michelin stars, which the French fine dining guide awarded Geranium in 2016. Kofoed is also the only chef to have won gold, silver medals and bronze in the prestigious global culinary competition, the Bocuse d’Or, and its meticulous approach to seasonal Danish cuisine has raised Geranium in the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world, from 49 in 2012 to 5 in 2019.
The rather unexpected location of a national football stadium serves as a backdrop for Geranium. The restaurant is located on the eighth floor of the premises and its dining room offers panoramic views of the Fælledparken (Common Gardens).
