The Meal That Changes Everything
The meal you will remember for the rest of your life is waiting in a city you have not been to yet. Every culture tells its story through food. The best way to understand a place is to eat what the locals eat, where they eat it, at the hour they eat it.
The ramen shop under the train tracks. The counter with eight seats where the chef has been perfecting one dish for thirty years. The meal that makes you understand why people fly to Tokyo just to eat.
Must try: Tonkotsu ramen, Kaiseki, Yakitori at 2am
The mole has been cooking since yesterday. Seven varieties, each one a different story. The mezcal was made by a man in his seventies who learned from his father. This is not Mexican food as you know it.
Must try: Mole negro, Tlayudas, Mezcal with sal de gusano
Mezze culture means you eat slowly, communally, endlessly. Small dishes keep arriving. You think you are done. Another dish arrives. The hummus alone will ruin every other hummus you ever eat.
Must try: Mezze spread, Kibbeh, Manakish at dawn
A cuisine so good and so unknown that chefs who discover it cannot stop talking about it. Khinkali dumplings filled with spiced broth. Natural wine made in clay pots buried underground. Bread baked in a torne oven.
Must try: Khinkali, Khachapuri, Amber wine
Editor's Pick
Anthony Bourdain sat at a plastic stool here with a US president and ate six dollar noodles. He said Vietnamese food was some of the greatest on Earth. Hanoi is where you stop taking his word for it and find out yourself. The pho, the bรบn chแบฃ, the bรกnh mรฌ โ each one a reason to extend your stay.
Read Full GuideSoutheast Asia
The greatest street food city on Earth. Follow your nose. That is the entire plan.
North America
Seven varieties of mole. Mezcal made by hand. Markets unchanged for centuries.
Middle East
The mezze keeps arriving until you cannot eat anymore. Then it keeps arriving.
Eastern Europe
Natural wine buried in clay. Dumplings filled with broth. A cuisine the world has not yet found.
East Asia
Not the tourist version. The basement counters, the thirty-year perfections, the meals with no English menu.
South Asia
The south Indian food that the rest of the world has never tasted. Dosas, rasam, the thali that keeps refilling.
North Africa
The medina at midnight. Spice markets that have been in the same location for five centuries. Food that requires no translation.
West Africa
The cuisine Bourdain said made him rethink everything he thought he knew about food.
"You learn a lot about someone when you share a meal together."
โ Anthony Bourdain