Top 5 Best Restaurants to Visit in the World in December

We will present suggestions of some of the best restaurants in the world that can be great experiences to visit in December:

The Clove Club – London, UK

The Clove Club’s interpretation of ‘modern British’ is refreshing and full of surprises, with fresh produce from across the UK reinvented in creations that feature natural flavors and blend playfully with tradition.

Scottish chef Isaac McHale is in charge, with Daniel Willis and Johnny Smith in charge of the dining room. The three friends ran an experimental supper club in Shoreditch, East London, before opening The Clove Club in 2013. McHale trained at The Ledbury, Noma and Eleven Madison Park before embarking on his own venture.

There is a full tasting menu and a shorter five-course version (also available at lunchtime), as well as wine and ‘ambient tea’ combinations. Orkney’s exclusive raw scallop (from the eponymous archipelago of northern Scotland) with Périgord, hazelnut and tangerine truffle is among the most Instagrammed dishes, along with the hot pot of Scottish spider crab ‘parten bree’, inspired by a traditional soup Scottish. As a dessert, you can taste burnt clementine granite and buttermilk mousse.

Situated within the historic Shoreditch Town Hall, the blue-tiled dining room has a relaxed East London vibe with an open kitchen and relaxed service.

Boragó – Santiago, Chile

Boragó offers the full spectrum of Chile’s wide diversity, with Chef Rodolfo Guzmán hunting for ingredients from the northern Atacama desert to the deepest Patagonia in the south to dig up forgotten or often overlooked products. He works directly with 200 foraging communities and small producers to bring ultra-seasonal ingredients to the table through his Endemic menu. Its cooks meet on the coast and in the nearby mountains on most days, and the menu is formed depending on what arrives at your door on the day.

The highly artistic toasted Van Gogh flowers, which include fake mushrooms cooked in a seaweed bladder, have revised the flora and algae. The lovely Black Sheep Cake of the Family follows Boragó’s seasonal philosophy and is made with plum, sheep’s milk and arrayán, a wild fruit available only one month a year.

In line with zero kilometer cooking, many vegetables are grown in Boragó’s own orchard, located just 30 minutes from the restaurant and cooks are encouraged to get involved from planting to harvest. Guzmán also won the first sustainable restaurant award from the 50 best restaurants in Latin America in 2018.

Blue Hill in Stone Barns – Pocantico Hills, USA

Approximately 30 miles north of Manhattan, chef Dan Barber’s ambitious farmstead restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns, set within an enchanting barn on an 80-acre estate shared with non-profit educational space Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, builds a beautiful 30-course tasting menu centred on produce that is often pulled from the earth mere hours before hitting a plate. Barber is committed to deriving the greatest flavour potential from every animal and botanical on the land and devoted to producing food with a low environmental impact.

Barber consistently seeks out eco-friendly and low-waste practices to enhance his menus. For example, he cooks vegetables in the heat created by vegetative compost. His latest version of a cacio e pepe style dish uses Tetra squash stems (sourced from Row 7, see below) to create the ‘penne pasta’ element.

For years Barber has worked with seed breeders at the genetic level to develop more nutritious fruit and vegetables with deeper flavour. In 2018, he and several long-time seed breeder associates launched Row 7, an operation that sells seeds for plants like Badger Flame Beets and Habanada Peppers designed to taste better, yield more, and resist disease.

Piazza Duomo – Alba, Italy

A taste of Piedmont, one of the best gastronomic and wine regions in the world, through the culinary lens of Enrico Crippa, now firmly established as one of Italy’s most creative chefs. Diners can choose from the à la carte options or choose from three tasting menus, one of which focuses specifically on the local Langhe region, while the others are more comprehensive (though still distinctly Italian). During the white truffle season, tables are even more valuable than normal.

Crippa opened Piazza Duomo in 2005 with the support of the Ceretto family, themselves pioneers in the resurgence of winemaking in the region in recent decades. A silent and extremely dedicated professional, he trained and worked extensively in Europe and Japan and was mentored by the legendary Italian chef Gaultiero Marchesi.

The restaurant’s most famous dish is Salad 21, 31, 41, 51 which incorporates a cornucopia of leaves, herbs and vegetables, the precise number and composition of which changes according to the season. However, it is the variety of appetizers full of flavor of one or two bites – also mainly from the garden of Piazza Duomo itself – that remain in the customers’ memories longer.

Restaurant manager Vincenzo Donatiello leads a young and personable service team in the restaurant’s two dining rooms.

Elkano – Getaria, Spain

Aitor Arregui’s father said that to buy the best fish you need to look into the animal’s eyes and see if it still maintains the shine that means it is fresh. Today, his son and his family manage the most prestigious barbecue in the Basque Country.

Pedro Arregui turned his mother’s grocery store into a bar. Next to it, he installed a small barbecue by the side of the street. One day, a fisherman brought him a huge turbot, which he placed on two barbecues because it did not fit in one and roasted it whole, without removing the skin. This innovation, like roasting the whole hake’s head – previously used only to make soup -, transformed Elkano into an establishment that would take the grill to a new level.

Arregui’s innovations in the art of grilling triumphed and the house filled up every day. Elkano, who would receive his first Michelin star after the death of Pedro Arregui, is one of the cathedrals of the ingredient that pilgrims the best chefs on the planet.

Let Aitor Arregui take you to the top of the neighboring mountain, from where you can see the entire landscape of Getaria, to discover the secrets of Cantabrian fishermen and the culture that give meaning to Elkano. Then, go home and enjoy the kokotxas (cod throats) in three textures, mullet and the best turbot you will ever taste, served with a simple sauce at the table.

Article Written by Luís Leão