A curated collection of my restaurant reviews documenting fine dining experiences across Michelin starred kitchens and exceptional independent restaurants. These impressions focus on craftsmanship hospitality and the details that define memorable dining.
28 articles
Smoked Room Madrid is Dani García’s fire-first omakase: smoke as structure, not show. Despite the name, it isn’t a Japanese restaurant but modern Spanish cooking with Andalusian heart and a few quiet Japanese touches.
Waitlist luck led to one of my finest three-star dinners at Plénitude, Cheval Blanc Paris. Donckele’s sauce-led Symphonie showed absolute control, from a perfect scallop to precise, warm service.
A midday visit to L’Ambroisie: precise, classical cooking under Shintaro Awa, with a legendary langoustine feuillantine and the quiet formality of Place des Vosges.
Le Gabriel at La Réserve shows Paris at its most polished: a palatial room, flawless service and precise, French cooking. The €148 four-course lunch is a clear, generous window into Jérôme Banctel’s three-star craft.
Pierre Gagnaire’s a la carte menu is demanding, complex and almost overwhelming at times. But the depth, clarity and expression of the dishes stay with you long after the evening ends.
In my view the best restaurant in Marbella, Skina pairs high ambition and high prices with polished two-star technique, yet still needs more creative identity before a third Michelin star becomes inevitable.
A curated list of Spain’s most exceptional fish restaurants — from Elkano in Getaria to Los Marinos José near Málaga.
A first visit to Le Clos des Sens in Annecy: nature-led, lake-fish focused Michelin three-star cooking, precise service, and a luminous Savoie mushroom composition.
A ranked guide to Barcelona’s 3-Michelin-star restaurants: Disfrutar, Hermanos Torres, Lasarte and ABaC. Based on multiple visits at each and 50 visits to different three-star restaurants worldwide, with highlights and booking tips for 2025.
Twice-dined at ABaC in 2025 confirms polished service but a tighter, safer menu. At 295 EUR, the tasting shows control yet less ambition than 2021. Good restaurant-with-rooms setup, but 30 minutes by taxi to the centre. Three stars now feel uncertain.
Chef Tohru Nakamura refines his signature blend of French technique with Japanese elements at Tohru in der Schreiberei in Munich, delivering a calm, precise and deeply mature cuisine that fully justifies its three-star Michelin status.
In the grand setting of Hamburg’s Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten, Christoph Rüffer’s Haerlin embodies modern French refinement with northern precision and emotional warmth.
