Multiple Regions Food & Wine
The world’s most unforgettable dining experiences
Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn
Around the globe, visionary chefs and daring designers are redefining what it means to eat out, turning dinner into theatre, spectacle and sensory immersion
For seasoned travellers, dinner can be the destination. Around the world, a handful of restaurants have elevated the act of eating into immersive theatre, harnessing landscape, architecture, ritual or imagination (and sometimes all of the above) to create something so distinctive it justifies the airfare.
From dining beneath the North Sea to sharing breakfast with giraffes, these global tables are worth crossing continents for.
Sublimotion, Ibiza
If dining as spectacle is your idea of luxury, Sublimotion is the pinnacle. Located in Ibiza’s Hard Rock Hotel, this 12-seat experience by chef Paco Roncero is a meticulously choreographed affair, which uses projection mapping, virtual reality, scent, sound and temperature shifts to transform the room around you. Dine beneath a digital Mediterranean sky, then within a simulated Arctic landscape – this boundary-pushing (and wallet-stretching at around $3000 a seat) experience blurs the line between plate and stage.
The Rock, Zanzibar
Few restaurants can rival The Rock for sheer setting. Perched atop a coral outcrop off Michamvi Pingwe beach, this tiny restaurant in Zanzibar appears to float in the Indian Ocean. At high tide, guests arrive by boat; at low tide, they can wade across the sand.
The space itself is rustic and charming, but it’s the sense of isolation, with turquoise water stretching in every direction, that makes it unforgettable. Seafood dominates the menu, best enjoyed with salt on your skin and the ocean breeze in your hair.
Giraffe Manor, Nairobi
Breakfast here is a different kind of tall order. Set within five hectares of private land in Nairobi, Giraffe Manor is a boutique hotel famous for its resident herd of endangered Rothschild’s giraffes. At mealtimes, the giraffes wander up to the manor house, poking their elegant heads through the windows in search of treats. It is a delightfully surreal experience: fine china, crisp linens and a giraffe’s curious gaze inches from your coffee.
thesafaricollection.com/properties/giraffe-manor/
Freycinet Marine Farm, Tasmania
Just outside Coles Bay, with the Hazards rising pink and granite in the distance, Freycinet Marine Farm offers an unvarnished kind of immersion. Available to guests of Saffire Freycinet, this is a true farm-to-table experience, where the day’s harvest is shucked to order and handed over still briny from the Southern Ocean. Pair it with a crisp Tasmanian white and settle in.
Sketch, London
Part restaurant, part fever dream, Sketch in London’s Mayfair is an ode to maximalism. Each room has its own identity, from the blush-pink Gallery to the futuristic, egg-shaped pods in the bathrooms. The Lecture Room & Library, Sketch’s fine-dining jewel, offers refined French cuisine in a setting that feels more like a private salon than a restaurant. Dining here is as much about design immersion as it is about what’s on the plate.
The Witchery, Edinburgh
Steps from Edinburgh Castle, The Witchery is Gothic romance at its most decadent. Velvet drapes, candlelight, oak panelling and antiques set the tone in this historic collection of dining rooms and suites. Scottish produce anchors the menu – think Angus beef and seafood from cold northern waters – while the surrounds are all drama and old-world seduction.
Gaggan, Bangkok
Gaggan Anand, a self-described “conductor of chaos in the kitchen”, has redefined fine dining with a riot of colour, music and emoji-laden menus. Located in Bangkok, Gaggan is intimate and high voltage, with a communal counter where guests interact directly with the charismatic chef and his team. The progressive Indian tasting menu challenges notions of tradition and luxury alike.
Under, Norway
Back to Norway, but make it sub-aquatic. Under, the world’s largest and surely most striking underwater restaurant, is a monolithic concrete structure that appears to have slipped into the North Sea. Guests descend into a hushed dining room where a vast panoramic window frames swaying kelp forests and drifting marine life. The menu celebrates the rugged southern coastline, with hyper-local seafood and foraged ingredients presented in a sleek Scandinavian setting. The site also doubles as a marine research facility.
Sierra Mar, California
Clinging to the dramatic cliffs of Big Sur, Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn delivers one of the most spectacular dining views in the United States. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame the Pacific Ocean crashing below, while the ever-evolving prix fixe menu showcases seasonal Californian ingredients, complemented by a cellar of more than 3000 labels.
7 Paintings, Brisbane and more
If you’re after a side of Banksy with your veal carpaccio, 7 Paintings has you sorted. The worldwide dining phenomenon, which is about to launch at the Sofitel Brisbane, takes guests on a seven-course journey, each inspired by an iconic artwork. Banksy is joined by Michaelangelo, Pollock, Picasso, Dali, van Gogh and Warhol, with the accompanying course designed to mirror the emotion, energy and story of each work. As well as launching in Brisbane this month, with Executive Chef Alex Goyard at the helm, the experience is available in Melbourne and Adelaide, and other worldwide locations.
San Lucas, Costa Rica
In Monteverde, one of Costa Rica‘s most biodiverse regions, San Lucas offers treetop dining with panoramic jungle and ocean views. A narrow wooden footbridge, raised 10 metres above the misty cloud forest floor, leads to the eight private dining cabins, each enclosed by floor-to-ceiling windows. The six-, nine- and 11-course menus draw on Costa Rican flavours, but it’s the sensation of dining suspended between canopy and sea that defines the experience.
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