Best Restaurants of 2018

There’s one list left in my Best of 2018 series, and it’s a doozy: best restaurants of the year!

As I mentioned in my introductory post to this series, I spent a bit more time travelling than I did staying at home this year. So my list of ‘best” London restaurants is pretty short while the one for restaurants everywhere else is quite long. And maybe – just maybe – another reason for that difference is that the London dining scene possibly has started to plateau.

As for the ‘everywhere else’ …

From Cleveland to Kobe, I ate exceptionally well in all sorts of places over the course of 2018. Other towns making an appearance in this ‘best of’ list include Chattanooga, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, Frankfurt, Milan, Liverpool and a few outposts up in the Catalan Pyrenees.

Please note, this list merely reflects how I chose to spend my time during the year and is comprised of well established and brand new venues as well as businesses that are somehow related to where work and play took me.

Items appear in alphabetic order, not ranked.

Best Restaurants in London

Darjeeling Express
Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, W1B 5PW

Asma Khan’s all woman kitchen is all about the flavour with plenty of south Asian fire to enhance it.

Etles Uyghur Restaurant
235 Hoe Street, E17 9P

I wigged out over the hardy and substantial western Chinese cuisine cooked up in this humble Walthamstow eatery on my first (but not last) visit.

Goodman – Mayfair
24-26 Maddox Street, W1S 1QH

Incredibly gracious service, a phenomenal selection of steaks (and wines), and a firm grip on the concept that exceeding customer expectations is smartest way to market a business came together in a glorious way to make my lunch at Goodman a hallmark of my year of dining out.

Mien Tay
Outlets across London

A variety of Vietnamese dishes are made with pride and authenticity at Mien Tay’s quartet of London restaurants. My experience was at the Fulham branch. The stewed Mekong catfish with fish sauce, dark soy sauce and chilli is one of the tastiest dishes ever had in London.

Pizarro
194 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3TQ

Chef Patron Jose Pizarro’s eponymous restaurant is a London gastronomic mainstay and an ideal setting for quality conversation over exemplary Spanish cuisine and an anything but fussy wine list.

This is the second time that Pizarro has made my ‘best of’ list for Restaurants.

Wiltons
5 Jermyn Street, SW1Y 6LX

Since 1742 Wiltons has been the gem of Jermyn Street and the stalwart of St James’s. Cordial service, sumptuous interiors and well executed British cuisine and one of London’s most celebrated oyster bars are some of the reasons why.

Yuu Kitchen
29 Commercial Street, E1 6NE

Head Chef Jon de Villa (ex-Nobu, ex-Flesh & Buns) blends fine dining flair with casual dining fun at this playful Pacific Rim restaurant emphasising Southeast Asian flavours cooked mostly on two Big Green Egg BBQ grills.

This is the second year in a row that Yuu Kitchen has made my ‘best of’ list for Restaurants.

Best Restaurants Beyond London

Acorn
5528 Walnut St, Pittsburgh, PA 15232, USA

Finely crafted comfort cuisine is the mainstay at Acorn, a welcoming neighbourhood restaurant with enthusiastic and inventive Chef Scott Walton having serious fun in the kitchen.

Café Pessets
Avinguda dels Comtes de Pallars 29, 25560 Sort, Spain

The off chance of happening upon places like Café Pessets is a major reason why I travel: affordable, regional and seasonal dishes made with equal admiration of tradition and innovation and presented with warmth and pride in a homey and friendly setting.

Clementine
2195 Northwest Military Highway, San Antonio, Texas 78213, USA

Grilled okra with blackberries, almonds and feta; ricotta cavatelli with broccoli top pesto, Sichuan peppercorns, toasted pecans, and Parmesan; and fried strawberry pies with crème fraîche ice cream: Chef John Russ fulfilled foodie fantasies I didn’t even know I had when I dined at his family-owned San Antonio restaurant. I

Free State Kitchen
1 Maryland Street, Liverpool L1 9DE, UK

Dinner at Free State Kitchen was one of the most memorably yummy of the year for me. Who know Liverpool was such a great place for burgers and American nosh? Most Scousers I suppose. But it was news to me. I hope to make it back to there to explore its underrated food scene more thoroughly, and I’ll be sure to revisit FSK when I do.

Free State Kitchen is also listed in my ‘best of’ list for Burgers.

Greenhouse Tavern
2038 East 4th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44115, USA

Foie gras steamed clams with grilled sourdough toast and a side of garlic, rosemary and aioli pommes frites and a locally brewed beer was enough to ensure Chef Jonathon Sawyer’s Downtown Cleveland tavern would be featured on this list. I wished I’d been more hungry or had more days during my visit to Cleveland; I was keen to explore his menu much further that I did.

Heimat
Berliner Strasse 70, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

This Frankfurt restaurant set in a beautifully refurbished tram stop impressed immensely with knowledgeable and appreciative service, a fantastic wine list, and small open kitchen creating big flavoured dishes.

Ishida Kobe Beef Steak
1 Chome-2 Nakayamatedori, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

Ishida is a top end teppanyaki serving highest grade Kobe beef in a serene and comfortable dining space in the heart of Kobe.

Katia
Hotel Castell de Ciutat, Carretera N260, Kilometro 229, 25700 La Seu d’Urgell, Lérida, Catalunya, Spain

Epic dishes (snails with prawns, braised octopus with potatoes and romesco), extraordinary service, and access to what’s got to be one of the finest wine cellars in Catalunya: dinner at Katia at Hotel Castell de Ciutat was a gourmet highlight of 2018.

Hotel Castell de Ciutat is also included in my ‘best of’ list for Hotels.

Larder: A Curated Delicatessen
1455 West 29th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44113, USA

From the first sip of the home brewed root beer through to every last bite of my koji-cured pastrami on rye sandwich, lunch at Chef Jeremy Umanski’s Larder was an inspired and yummy treat.

Lume
Via Giacomo Watt 37, 20143 Milano, Italy

Michelin star chef Luigi Taglienti’s eight-course tasting menu at highly lauded and multi award winning restaurant, Lume, in Milan was quite possibly the most elegantly restrained and exquisitely flavourful dining experiences of my life.

Metzgerei Tombers
Brückenstraße 48, 60594 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

This humble little butcher shop in the old part of Frankfurt served a lovely lunch plate of cordon bleu with gravy and potatoes and a side salad that wowed my palate as much of the Michelin starred meals I had this year.

Mon
2 Chome-12-12 Kitanagasadori, Chuo Ward, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture 650-0012, Japan

Kobe’s oldest “western style” restaurant is also one of its quaintest. The beef cutlet sandwich is as moist and tender as anything I’ve ever eaten.

Old Plantation Barbeque
1515 Dodson Avenue, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37406, USA

Onion Maiden
639 East Warrington Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15210, USA

Onion Maiden with its a “punk rock fuelled, heavy metal spawned” vegan eatery with a menu of plant-based versions of East Asian and American comfort foods. I’m obviously not vegan but if I lived in Pittsburgh, I’d eat at Onion Maiden all the time.

Rodney Scott’s BBQ
1011 King Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29403, USA

Rodney Scott’s BBQ in Charleston specialises in whole hog BBQ smoked low and slow over a wood fire pit. I loved my initial visit there so much I made sure to repeat it before I left town. The ribs were thick, tender and juicy. The chopped pork was some of the best I’ve had anywhere.

Le Roi Fou
1 Forth Street, Edinburgh EH1 3JX, UK

Having another madly majestic dining experience at Chef Jerome Henry’s Le Roi Fou, was my main concern when I visited Edinburgh at the start of the year. My meal there in 2017 was possibly the best had that year. Ditto 2018!

This is the second year in a row that Le Roi Fou has made the ‘best of’ list for Restaurants

Sam Jones BBQ
715 West Fire Tower Road, Winterville, North Carolina 28590, USA

When I was in Greenville in 2015, I had the pleasure of visiting Skylight Inn, an acclaimed BBQ joint about ten miles out from Greenville in Ayden. Without a lick of hyperbole, I can say my lunch there was one of the best meals of my life. At the time Skylight’s third generation proprietor, Sam Jones was in the final stages of opening another outlet, Sam Jones BBQ, closer to town. I was chuffed to get to swing by there for dinner while in Greenville. As at Skylight, the restaurant featured perfect wood-fired whole hog BBQ along with other smoked meats and a range of southern staples such as catfish, collards, and more.

Sampei
3 Chome-9-5 Kubochō, Nagata-ku, Kōbe-shi, Hyōgo-ken 653-0041, Japan

Something like a neighborhood bar jumbled up with a Waffle House and a Benihana for working folks, this okonomiyaki restaurant specialising in Kobe-style short order sobameshi dishes, family-owned Sanpei was as homey nightspot for a satisfying array of local comfort food favourites.

Uncle Larry’s Hot Fish
736 East Martin Luther King Boulevard, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403, USA

Nashville can keep its hot chicken. I want Chattanooga’s hot fish. With fried catfish that’s “so good it’ll smack you” accompanied by a range of Southern and soul food staples, Uncle Larry’s does an honest trade in honest downhome flavours.

Honourable Mentions

1777 Kaffee Restaurant Bar, Im Schmiedenhof 10, 4001 Basel, Switzerland
Academie der Schonsten Kunst, Charlottenstraße 5, 70182 Stuttgart, Germany
Flat Iron Steak, outlets across London
Gokyuzu, outlets across London
Issinbou, 29-2 Kondacho Kamaya, Sasayama, Hyōgo Prefecture 669-2143, Japan
Kanada-Ya, outlets across London, Japan and Hong Kong
M Threadneedle Street, Unit 2-3, 60 Threadneedle St, London EC2R 8HP, UK
Restaurant Juquim, Plaça Sant Martí, 2, 25597 Espot, Lleida, Spain
The Winding Stair, 40 Lower Ormond Quay, North City, Dublin 1, D01 R9Y5, Ireland