All-time favorite meals in Europe

I have lived in Europe since 2019 so it is the area I know best - at least when it comes to Michelin restaurants. I have recommendations for specific countries below but there are two restaurants that stand above the rest in Europe (or anywhere in the world for that matter). If you find yourself within 100 miles of either of these restaurants you owe yourself to stop by.

Frantzen, Stockholm: The most expensive meal I have ever eaten and the one I most want to go back to. Beautiful open kitchen that seamlessly blends the front of the house with the back of the house.

Azurmendi, Bilbao: A tour de force. Stunning setting in the mountains above Bilbao that reimagines the normal dining experience, giving you far more than a meal at the dinner table. Managed to flawlessly serve us two different tasting menus of 10+ courses simultaneously, a feat most three stars would not even bother to try.

Full Azurmendi Review Full Frantzen Review

Germany

In my mind, Germany is vastly underrated as a culinary destination. Known mostly for big beers, pretzels, and sausage, people searching for a gourmet vacation are more likely to head to France, Spain, or Italy than Germany. While those countries have more depth in places to eat, at the top-end three Michelin star level, I’d argue Germany is just as good as any. I have been to 9 of the 11 three stars in the country and they are of an excellent standard so it is hard to pick favorites but there are a few that stand just a notch above the rest.

Atelier: Incredibly intricate dishes that manage to be well balanced. An ambitious kitchen that knows exactly what to do with those ambitions. Besides knowing how to make great tasting food, Chef Jan Hartwig also has a flair for presentation, putting out some of the best presented dishes I have seen anywhere.

Waldhotel Sonnara: Classic French cuisine, friendly service, and a well-priced wine list. The skill and quality of a top three-star in Paris at almost half the price. The interior could use a bit of updating (which they are actually in the process of doing) but a gem off the beaten track in Germany.

Victor’s Fine Dining: A place I feel like I need to give another chance. Flawless cooking of top-class ingredients with heavy Japanese influences which is right in my wheelhouse. The rigidity of the FOH policy made it feel a tad unwelcoming (no use of my silent shutter camera while the table next door was firing away with iPhone flash, both diners must order the same exact menu including all supplements, etc.) but it is hard to argue with kitchen’s display of skill.

United Kingdom

The Ledbury: One of the first Michelin restaurants I went to and I would have revisited on my last trip to London had they chosen to reopen after COVID19. We only did the cheaper set lunch menu and based on how good that was I can only imagine the highs of a proper tasting menu here.

Fat Duck: Despite feeling like they care more about maximizing the GBP per seat than providing good hospitality, a stunning meal with perhaps the best display of molecular gastronomy I have experienced. I visited during their 25th-anniversary menu which played the greatest hits instead of the more recent ones, making me worried the food would feel dated. That worry was without merit - the dishes may have been 10-20 years old but provided as much whimsy and fun as if they were invented yesterday.

The Clove Club: Casual and fun, Clove Club’s vibe fits its Shoreditch location and is pretty much the opposite of another restaurant I liked very much, The Ritz. Clove Club is one of many restaurants in London highlighting British produce and based on my visit, they seem to be one of the best.

The Ritz: Pure comfort. Proper painstakingly laborious French cooking. Sauce after sauce that made you want to lick your plate. Top-flight meat and seafood. How this place only has one star is beyond me.

France

I have been to more three-stars in France (11) than any other country so I feel like it deserves its own category but for some reason, I struggle picking out favorite meals here. Favorite dishes? Sure. The spaghetti timbale at Le Cinq. Waygu millefeuille at Ledyeon. The chocolate torte at L’Ambroisie.

But favorite meals? It is tough to say any of the places I have visited to date were as memorable as those listed in other countries. If I had to pick one I would go with Mirazur not so much for the cooking (its hyper-local style of cuisine will never be my favorite) but for the garden tour, the views of the Mediterranean and the best piece of hospitality I have ever experienced when they brought out the signature beetroot dish (without charge or me asking for it) because I seemed disappointed when they told me it was not on the tasting menu that day.

Rest of Europe

I could not pick just one of the three stars in Switzerland. They all cost a pretty penny but show they are worth it, each in their own unique way.

Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville Crissier: Chef Frank Giovanni produced some of the most remarkable sauces I have ever had - the morel cream sauce served with lamb and sauce américaine with lobster will stick with me for a very long time. Expensive but worth a visit if you appreciate a classical style of cooking.

Schloss Schauenstein: had the most terroir of any of the Swiss three stars, taking inspiration from its isolated surroundings. Its parade of dishes, starting on the veranda overlooking the mountains before moving into one of many smaller dining rooms and then back out to the veranda again, was impressive. It may not have had the best-tasting food of the trio, but it was the most imaginative and the most memorable experience.

Cheval blanc, Basel, Switzerland: Peter Knogl’s cooking was a happy medium between Schloss Schauenstein and Hotel De Ville - not as creative as Schauenstein or as classic as Hotel De Ville but just right. Consistency was the star here, each dish being flawless in its composition and execution.

El Cellar De Can Roca, Spain: The first Michelin restaurant I visited when moving to Europe. Reservations are notoriously hard to come by but I lucked out and got in off the waitlist (this works surprisingly well at restaurants that book out 3 months+). To whoever canceled, your loss was my gain.

Kadeau, Denmark: The “new Danish” focused on hyper-local food popularized by Noma is not my favorite style of cooking. Why limit yourself to products from such a small area in modern times? The most successful implementation of this style of cooking was at Kadeau. Perhaps it was because the location, eating outside on Bornholm island just a stone throw from the Baltic sea, actually seemed connected to the story the restaurant was trying to tell through the food. Or maybe it was because Nicolai Nørregaard just knows how to make damn good food.

Hisa Franko, Slovenia: A whole that is greater than the sum of it parts. I could quibble with some of the flavor combinations but I am not sure I have been anywhere where the food on the plate and the hospitality of the restaurant so clearly reflected the personality of the chef and the terroir she grew up in.