Another busy year travelling, eating and drinking so I can point you to the best experiences! Here’s my pick of the best dishes from around the world in 2026.
From the best restaurants in Edinburgh and Glasgow to fabulous regional risotto and seafood in Veneto, seeking out the finest versions of Rome’s classic dishes, and a long overdue reunion with the wonderful food of Istanbul – here’s what you need to know to inspire your next year of international eating. There were so many great sweet treats (and cheese courses) that I’ve made a separate list of the best desserts from around the world.
Beef Tartare Eleven Fifty Five (Glasgow, Scotland)
Earlier this year Peter McKenna and Keven Dow flipped fine-diner The Gannet into a bistro. It’s still among the finest dining experiences in Glasgow with excellent food, wine and service. The beef tartare is the best I’ve ever had: hand-cut Scottish beef rump cap with pickled shallot, parsley and capers. The separate piece of roasted bone with warm marrow to mix into the tartare makes it next level. The cold and warm combo is inspired.
Smoked Fish Agnolotti Barry Fish (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Barry Bryson serves some of the best seafood and hospitality in Scotland at his welcoming Leith restaurant. His smoked fish agnolotti in a light beurre blanc with shavings of tangy pickled fennel is definitely one of the best dishes I’ve eaten around the world this year. The agnolotti is filled with smoked trimmings accumulated as the kitchen breaks down whole fish each day then luxed up with generous chunks of local lobster. Thrifty and indulgent!
Scotch Eggs The Scran & Scallie (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Tom Kitchin’s Stockbridge gastropub offers a short menu of great tasting, mostly classic, dishes made with premium produce. I hadn’t had a Scotch egg in years, so couldn’t resist it when I saw it on the menu. Soft-boiled, wrapped in seasoned pork mince, deep-fried and served simply with house-made piccalilli relish and crisp shards of Chantenay carrot crisps. It is easily one of the best dishes from around the world this year!
Carciofio alla Romana da Enzo al 29 (Rome, Italy)
While I’ve always been a fan of Rome’s deep-fried Jewish-style artichokes (carciofi alla Giudia), this year I discovered Rome’s other classic artichoke dish. These are herb-stuffed, trimmed artichokes braised in olive oil and water. Sounds easy and tastes divine. Far and away the best I had were at casual, no-bookings da Enzo in Trastevere, where they tell me that the trick is including the minced up stems in the garlic and herb stuffing and sauce.
Abbacchio ar Forno Nonna Betta (Rome, Italy)
Romans love their lamb, and the best I ate this year was at Nonna Betta in Rome’s Jewish quarter. Here suckling lamb is seasoned with just garlic, rosemary and wine and oven-roasted with potatoes until it’s fall-apart tender with a touch of nicely charred crunch on the outside. The roasted potatoes are perfect for soaking up all the juices. While not strictly kosher, Nonna Betta is a great place to explore Rome’s distinctive Jewish cuisine.
Baby Cuttlefish on Polenta Vini da Gigio (Venice, Italy)
Vini da Gigio in Cannaregio – the residential neighbourhood at the back of Venice – has long been on my list of best restaurants in Venice. On my most recent visit, I had the tiniest cuttlefish I’ve ever seen – just char-grilled whole, dressed with olive oil and lemon juice and served on squares of grilled polenta. Simple and photogenic! Full marks to the octopus salad with potato, capers, celery and mustard emulsion too.
Reginette with Hand-Cut Goat Ragù & Peas Estro (Venice, Italy)
In Dorsoduro – another sestiere largely off the tourist trail – I discovered Estro run by two brothers from Murano: chef Alberto and sommelier Dario. Luckily I was there for Easter when they had a traditional goat menu. It included this thick scalloped pasta with a super tasty kid ragù and sweet young spring peas! It was followed by a main course of kid cutlet and pressed terrine of shoulder – all plate-lickingly good.
Monkfish & Scampi “alla Carlina” Ristorante Wildner (Venice, Italy)
Closer to the action, in Castello at the mouth of the Grand Canal, hotelier Luca Fullin hosted the welcome dinner for this year’s Venice Tour, including this tribute to his time working at Harry’s Bar. The original tomato sauce (named for Carla Cipriani) is spiked with capers and lemon juice, finished with butter, and traditionally served with pan-fried scampi or monkfish at Harry’s. Luca goes all out and uses both in his memorable version.
Prawns, Coriander, Ginger & Lime Osteria alle Testiere (Venice, Italy)
Just a few minutes’ walk from Piazza San Marco, at tiny Testiere, Bruno Gavagnin has a very light touch with the lagoon’s seafood. It’s hard to impress an Australian with prawn dishes – but Bruno’s gamberoni with coriander, ginger and lime butter saw me mopping up every last drop of the delicious sauce. His artichoke and ricotta ravioli with scallops also made the shortlist for best dishes from around the world this year.
Risotto Tastasal Massimago In Cucina (Mezzane di Sotto, Italy)
I love a good risotto but had never come across this intriguing classic Venetian risotto until a recent visit to Verona, where I stayed at a beautiful Valpolicella wine estate and was served what may be the best risotto of my life. Tastasal literally means ‘taste the salt’, and this dish came about when the family matriarch would cook off a little pork mixture to test the seasoning before using it to make the salami.
Vitello Tonnato Enoteca Realda (Soave, Italy)
Still in the province of Verona – in the white wine producing area of Soave – I had a benchmark vitello tonnato at Lisa Anselmi’s cool, casual restaurant-cum-wine-bar on flower-filled Piazza Castagnedi near the town’s medieval walls. Thinly sliced, pink, juicy veal was served with a creamy tuna mayonnaise, plump caper berry and a glass of Lisa’s brilliant garganega-chardonnay blend Capitel Foscarino.
Goat Tagliatelle Locanda Aurilia (Loreggia, Italy)
I had this dish at a family-run trattoria just outside Padua and immediately loved it! Only later did I look closely at the menu and discover its full name: tagliatelle alle ‘frattaglie’ di capretto. I’d missed the frattaglie in the first reading and, upon enquiry, discovered that the very tasty sauce on the super smooth pasta contained goat liver, heart and gizzards. Perhaps you can teach this offal-averse old possum new tricks!
Moeche Cantina Mediterraneo (Badoere, Italy)
Oh the luck of being in the Veneto when the famed moeche (soft-shell crabs of the Venetian lagoon) are in season! I tasted them several times this April and my favourites were at this rustic restaurant in sleepy Badoere where we had the farewell lunch for our tour. Dusted so lightly in fine cornmeal and deep-fried, they were served with fried polenta and a spring salad of artichoke, broad bean, peas and asparagus.
Roasted Eggplant with Tulum Matbah Restaurant (Istanbul, Türkiye)
In Istanbul I stayed at Ottoman Hotel Imperial overlooking Topkapi Palace. At the in-house restaurant, chef Kadir Yilmaz specialises in the royal Ottoman cuisine of the Sultans. The standout dish was an addictive oily, smoky dip of roast eggplant and walnuts with tulum, a pungent goat/sheep milk cheese aged in the animal’s skin. I wiped out the bowl with the delicious flatbread, which says it all!
Kale Biberi Efendy (Istanbul, Türkiye) – TEMPORARILY CLOSED
What a treat to experience Somer Sivrioğlu’s modern Turkish cooking in his hometown. I want to include the entire meal at Efendy Istanbul among the best dishes from around the world this year, but in the spirit of keeping it simple I’ll call out this dried pale orange chilli filled with labne, clotted cream and sesame seed. It looked great and tasted even better, with a touch of heat and mouth-filling fruitiness balanced by crunch and creaminess.
Published 16 Jul 2026 ~ Updated 3 Sep 2026
