We will present suggestions of some of the best restaurants in the world that can be great experiences to visit in June:
Den – Tokyo, Japan
Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa started his career at the age of 18 in the kitchen of a ryotei (exclusive Japanese traditional restaurant) in the Kagurazaka geisha area of Tokyo. Eleven years later, he opened Den, which moved to its current location in late 2016.
Instead of sticking to the elegant and refined, but often impersonal, traditions of high-quality kaiseki cuisine, Hasegawa offers an elevated and deeply personal approach to Japanese home cooking. It is based on several influences, both homemade and acquired on trips abroad, but always based on first-rate ingredients from the ocean, pastures and the forest.
Most of the ingredients change with the seasons. Constant points of reference include foie gras monaka (wafer sandwich) as an aperitif; the Den garden salad with more than 20 vegetables, invariably incorporating some surprises; and the now classic Dentucky Fried Chicken – probably the best chicken wings you’ll ever try, complete with a personalized take-out fast food box. At the base of everything, the culmination of each meal is donabe-gohan, rice cooked in a clay pot with wagyu meat or seafood.
Pujol – Ciudad de México, Mexico
Famous chef Enrique Olvera is credited with proving that rustic Mexican flavors deserve as much attention as any other haute cuisine in the world. Pujol has been your pedestal for doing this through a tasting menu of refined and elegant dishes made from indigenous ingredients that pay homage to Mexico’s rich culinary history. His vision is brilliantly justified when he wins the 2019 North American Best Restaurant award.
In 2017, Olvera moved his 17-year-old restaurant to a stunning mid-century home in the same neighborhood, building a comfortable space that shines with natural light. In addition to large windows, the new Pujol involves a wood oven, tile floors and a long dining bar that offers a separate taco tasting menu.
While the Pujol menu changes seasonally, the signature of the Mole Madre restaurant, Mole Nuevo will always grace the menu. Think of a perfect circle of fresh mole surrounded by a larger ring of mole aged for more than 1,500 days, next to a basket of hot tortillas – a taste of Mexico’s past.
White Rabbit – Moscow, Russia
With a spectacular 360 degree view of Moscow, from its dining room on the 16th floor, White Rabbit is the best place in the capital to dine with a view. But it’s also the right place to get to know Vladimir Mukhin’s creative cuisine with Russian ingredients – think of swan liver pate with burnt marshmallow or roasted cabbage with caviar.
Mukhin, a fifth-generation cook, started his career at the age of 12 in the kitchen of a restaurant where his father worked. He trained at La Barone in France, El Celler de Can Roca in Spain and Khajimi in Japan, before opening White Rabbit in 2012. In 2017 he founded IKRA, Russia’s first international gastronomy festival, and in the same year he starred in Netflix’s hit documentary series, Chef’s Table.
Opulent, colorful and fun, the main dining room is under a vaulted glass roof and offers turquoise, yellow and red velvet sofas and cozy curved cabins. Guests get their first taste of the Alice in Wonderland theme when they enter the elevator, which is painted to look like the doors to a mysterious room. Strange and wonderful rabbit-themed art adorns the restaurant, including giant Russian dolls, or matryoshka, with white rabbits in their arms.
There are à la carte options and two tastings: Contrast, which celebrates the union and struggle of opposites, and Russian Evolution, which explores the development of the country’s cuisine. Highlights of the tasting menu include sea urchin with tangerine in the baked potato and coconut lardo with black caviar and black bread, while a la carte options range from barley porridge with hazelnut grouse and mushrooms to the calf tongue with mashed potatoes.
Azurmendi – Larrabetzu, Spain
Azurmendi is more than one of the most beautiful restaurants in Spain. It is more than a business committed to sustainability, more than a striking architecture in the building designed by Naia Eguino, and more than the way it relates to food. Azurmendi is, above all, the home of a chef who seeks gastronomic excellence through hospitality – it is the winner of the Westholme Altitude Climber Award.
To visit Azurmendi in the Basque Country is to feel that you are entering Eneko Atxa’s house. The Spanish chef and his team take you by the hand to discover every corner of this wonderful space. At the same time, enjoy a gastronomic experience in which the flavor and beauty of each preparation are always linked to the landscape and the culture that shaped it.
Eneko Atxa is one of the most beloved figures in Spanish gastronomy and a chef full of sensitivity and commitment to his environment, his team, the small producers he works with and the landscape he loves, respects and wishes to honor through his cuisine.
Septime – Paris, France
Septime is a super relaxed place on a relaxed street, run by relaxed people, frequented by relaxed clients. The food is relaxed, full of flavors and served without pretensions. The hyper-sustainable Septime was also the winner of the Sustainable Restaurant Award in 2017.
One of the greatest charms of this neo-industrial is its fair price: € 60 for four courses and € 95 for seven courses. Chef Bertrand Grébaut’s modern, seasonal French dishes have attracted customers from all over the world since the cozy restaurant opened eight years ago. The food is sophisticated and uses some of the best producers from around the world, but unlike some of the neighboring restaurants, there is no need to complain. The dishes themselves speak. Expect inspired dishes like egg yolk cured in salted pepper vinegar with raw cuttlefish, lardo and chili oil; and beet cooked in brown butter, with red sorrel and a sauce made of red wine and tuna bones.
Due to its limited number of over-subscribed seats, booking a table at Septime is not the simplest task. The restaurant accepts reservations three weeks in advance by phone or online.
Article Written by Luís Leão
