About The Fine Dining Journal

The Fine Dining Journal began with a simple intention. I wanted a place to document the restaurants I visit and to keep track of the meals that stood out. Over the years friends and colleagues often asked where to eat or stay, and I noticed that I was repeating the same explanations many times. Creating a central place for these notes felt practical.

The journal focuses mainly on high-level gastronomy, especially three-Michelin-star restaurants, but not exclusively. It also includes experiences in hotels, ryokans and other places where hospitality and cuisine are inseparable. Some meals stand out for technical excellence, others for their setting, atmosphere or cultural context. The aim is not only to highlight the exceptional, but to understand what made an experience meaningful, memorable or simply revealing in some way.

Every place I describe is based on my own visits, my own notes and my own sense of context shaped over many years of travel and eating. To give readers clearer orientation, I now also include the FDJ Score. It is a calm, minimalist 5.0–10.0 scale that reflects flavor, product quality, craftsmanship, harmony, emotion and the overall experience. The score does not replace the narrative. It frames it, offering a single transparent reference point for the level of a meal.

The FDJ Score is independent and personal. Michelin stars are mentioned only as a point of reference; the evaluation follows its own logic. The purpose is not to judge from a distance, but to describe what I experienced, what worked, and occasionally what did not, with clarity and context.

The Fine Dining Journal is also a way to share recommendations independently, without the filters of external platforms or social media. It is simply an organised archive of places I have been to, what I ate there, and why it might matter to someone planning a trip or looking for a certain kind of dining experience.

If you would like to know more about the person behind the journal, you can find a personal introduction here: About William Herbert