Hi, it’s Kate Krader, the food editor at Bloomberg Pursuits. With my job, if I’m eating, I’m working. While my friends kick back with cocktails at a restaurant, I’m digging through the menu like a forensic scientist, looking for trends—for instance, humble chips taking over London’s fine dining spots. When I get to the airport early, I’ll scope out the best places to eat. (I’m pleased to report the options are improving exponentially.)

My job title also doubles as an automatic party trick, because everyone—everyone—wants to talk about food. They want to tell me what their favorite restaurant is. And they really want to know mine.

It sounds innocuous, but it’s a big question, like asking to choose your favorite child—but with an exponentially bigger field to choose from. There’s also the tricky task of deciphering what the asker means by “favorite.” Do they mean “familiar”? The place you could visit weekly that delivers comfort and solace in a chaotic world? Is it the spot you discovered before everyone else, which therefore has your flag planted in it? Or is it the big-deal restaurant you save for the most special occasions?

Usually I get caught up in trying to decide what exactly they’re asking me. Complicating things further, I’m a people pleaser—so I have a lot of favorites.

But you’re catching me at an opportune moment. I’m based in London but have recently been on the road. In the past three months, I’ve touched down in Tokyo, Kyoto, Paris and New York—five of the world’s top food cities. (Also a less obvious, but still notable, culinary destination: Edinburgh.) Over that period, I’ve eaten more than 100 restaurant meals in a wide range of places, from street stalls to Michelin-starred spots. Not only do I have a favorite restaurant at the moment; I also have a favorite food city that I will confidently declare is the best in the world. So let’s hand out a few superlatives. 

Plénitude at the Cheval Blanc Paris. Source: Cheval Blanc

The best restaurant is… Plénitude in Paris

This restaurant comes with no small number of bells and whistles. It’s set in the Cheval Blanc hotel and, like the property, owned by the most luxurious of outfits, LVMH; it quickly scored three Michelin stars after opening in 2021. Almost every one of the sumptuous 26 seats in the white, fairy tale setting of a dining room at Plénitude looks out on the Seine. The attentive servers wear Christian Dior, because why wouldn’t they? But what would bring me back as many times as I could possibly afford (the tasting menu goes for €490, or $513) is chef Arnaud Donckele’s exceptional cooking and the thought that goes into it.

There’s a grilled oyster with a pouf of Champagne foam on top—it’s like drinking sparkling wine in a dreamy ocean. Later, a meaty grilled sardine is embellished with a pillowy tarragon egg emulsion, alongside an exquisite toast decorated with stripes of potent anchovy; it could have been designed by Gerhard Richter. Sauces are of paramount importance to the chef: Diners are advised to taste the sauce before they dig into the dish as a whole—like looking closely at the surface of a painting before stepping back to admire the full effect. The pretty poached scallops are accompanied by a small digestif glass filled with the lemon balm and brown butter sauce to savor. Petit fours are presented in a pop-up book with delightful illustrations of Paris landmarks. As if I hadn’t already been completely transported.

Seafood towers animate the View, Danny Meyer’s renovated rotating bar overlooking Times Square. Photographer: Eric Medsker

But the best food city in the world? That, my friends, is New York 

From top to bottom, the restaurant scene in New York is buzzing. Neighborhoods that once were designated as anti-dining destinations are on fire. The Upper East Side now boasts spots like the picturesque town house bistro Chez Fifi and the relocated Cafe Commerce, where chef Harold Moore has brought back his monumental coconut cake. The razzle-dazzle food desert Times Square has also moved to the front burner of the food scene with Danny Meyer and designer David Rockwell’s renovation of the View, the rotating sky-high bar, which now has a commanding menu of chops and roast chicken from chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley, and the glamorous Gui Steakhouse, from local-hero chef Sungchul Shim, which is set to open any day now.

There’s already a string of white-hot dining spots around New York that represent the most coveted reservations in the world right now. Sometimes, these places base their impossible-to-get-in status on not much more than social media supported mountains of caviar and outrageous cheese pulls.

I’m happy to report that in New York this winter, the most packed places—where the nightly waitlist can top 7,000 and Saturday Night Live producers barter show tickets for seats—are uniformly excellent.

Spiced-up Jamaican beef ragu at Torrisi, one of New York’s top restaurants. Photographer: Evan Ortiz/Bloomberg

The list includes: the modern Italian-American Torrisi, which specializes in piping-hot crispy-doughy zeppole on a bed of glistening sliced cured hams and cavatelli with Jamaican beef ragu; Coqodaq, the clublike Korean fried chicken and Champagne temple; Bridges in Chinatown, which has a listening bar vibe and compelling dishes like sea urchin custard and smoked eel dumplings; and the aforementioned Chez Fifi. Entertaining a wide range of diners (from hipsters all the way up to their grandparents), they all represent, as Coqodaq’s owner Simon Kim smartly describes it, the intersection of a Venn diagram. In one circle there’s the fine dining crowd; in another circle there’s the club crowd. At the intersection are restaurants like his.

Coqodaq’s “Bucket List” fried chicken feast. Photographer: Gary He

Be warned: This fabulousness doesn’t come cheap. If you’re planning to dine in New York City any time soon, don’t expect many bargains.

You don’t often get to say that the hottest restaurants are worth all the effort you might have to make to get into them, but I will: New York’s dining scene hasn’t shone this brightly in a while. Cue the Frank Sinatra soundtrack.

Noodles at Dream Xi’an in London. Photographer: Kate Krader/Bloomberg

Here’s a short list of other places I loved during my recent travels. 

If you’re in London:

A shout out to the relatively great value you can find in the British capital right now.

Bar Valette: At his cozy new dining room, chef Isaac McHale conjures up addictive tapas like fried, greens-filled Swiss chard barbajuans and tender pork chops imbued with honey and fennel.

Dream Xi’an: In this no-nonsense dining room, handily located behind the Tower of London, chef Guirong Wei shows off the terrific, hand-pulled biang biang noodles that made her a star on a recent episode of Netflix’s Chef’s Table. 

Alley Cats Pizza: You’ll probably have to stand in line for Francesco Macri’s New York-style pies. Do it. His pizzas combine a chewy-charred crust and both classic toppings and unconventional ones like the outstanding pulled pork with fermented pineapple.

Ten Belles, Paris Photographer: Kate Krader/Bloomberg

If you’re in Paris:

If you need more recommendations, follow Wendy Lyn at Paris Is My Kitchen, who has all the need-to-know dining recs.

Frenchie Pigalle: In the Grand Hotel Pigalle, nestled into a side street in the 9th arrondissement, chef Gregory Marchand has opened a place that’s easier to get into than his destination dining room, Frenchie. The menu here runs the gamut from bacon scones to pappardelle with lamb-and-black-olive ragout. 

Ten Belles Bread: There are a couple outposts of this outstanding coffee roaster and bakery. Head to the largest location, in the 10th, where there’s plenty of seats, tons of outstanding loaves and focaccia sandwiches and a superb fudgy chocolate rye cookie.

Soces: At chef Sam Schwarz’s inviting corner dining room, which is well worth a visit to the 19th, you’re given the option of a spicy tequila shot with a platter of oysters (say yes), as well as the chance to eat dishes like pistachio-studded beef tartare and barbecued trout.

Shutoku adds red vinegar to rice, a practice dating to the Edo period. Source: /Shutoku

If you’re in Tokyo:

You’re going to eat sushi, and I have a current favorite. But consider some non-Japanese food — yes, pizza — while you’re here, too. 

Kotaro: This platonic ideal of an izakaya in Shibuya requires reservations, and they’re not easy to come by. But work it, because the deceptively simple dishes, from the smoked-egg-topped potato salad to the daily sushi selection and icy udon, are phenomenal. So is the sake selection.

Shutoku: Up a set of stairs, this long-standing sushi spot near the old Tsukiji fish market offers terrific deals on raw and cured fish. A meal, which might start at ¥7,000 (about $46) can include aji (horse mackerel), ebi (shrimp) and luxurious toro and otoro.

Seirinkan: Pizza might not be on your Tokyo list, but it should be. This place is famed for playing the Beatles on repeat and serving a short list of well-crafted pies: margherita, bianca, and the surprise winner, an intensely tomato marinara. Another pleasant surprise? The pastas—like a clam-studded linguine—are also well worth ordering.

The martini at Schmuck! Source: Schmuck

Butter, by Asako Yuzuki. Of course I’m going to pick up a book that’s got this compelling title, especially when it’s been an off-the-hook hit in the UK. The story, which is translated from Japanese, languorously tracks the relationship between a journalist and an alleged female serial killer who is sitting in jail. The descriptions of dishes, like ramen imbued with butter, are astonishing.

Pump Street’s Cookie Chip. This confectioner, based in Suffolk, England, specializes in supremely chocolatey bars with unconventional pastry flavors: Almond croissants is one, gingerbread is another. They’re all excellent, but consider the cookie chip: borderline dark chocolate that slowly melts in your mouth with the taste of the namesake cookie hanging on.

The Bread With Tomatoes cocktail at Schmuck! The terrifically groovy new bar in Manhattan’s East Village with the unforgettable name has a list of compelling drinks; I’m happy sipping on any of them. But a special shout out to this vodka-based concoction that 100% evokes the sunny-sweet flavors you get when you drag a stray piece of baguette through the juices left over from a tomato salad. 

Edith’s Iced Cafe Slushie. I know 99% of the crowds at the new outpost of Edith’s in the West Village are there for the bagels—after all, they’ve never been hotter in New York. Literally. But I’m going for the completely addictive, sesame-flecked slushie that mixes cold brew with tahini and oat milk. It’s sweet and nutty and fortifying, especially if you’re waiting half an hour for your bagel order. 

Woodland Honey Trio. In a partnership that might rival Reese’s for the greatness it creates, the spice experts Burlap & Barrel have teamed up with Dr. Jane Goodall. They’ve created three honeys—amber, dark and a vibrantly flavored smoked number—that benefit local farmers, the Jane Goodall Institute and chimpanzees.

And if you read just one thing ...