With exotic locations worldwide, from Paris to Kazakhstan, the Annual Prix Versailles has unveiled its World’s Most Beautiful Restaurants List for 2024, featuring 16 newly opened or reopened restaurants that have left an extraordinary imprint. They will all compete for three 2024 World Titles – Prix Versailles, Interior, and Exterior – whose laureates will be announced at UNESCO Headquarters by late November.
Jérôme Gouadain, Secretary General of the Prix Versailles, tells me that the list represents the best recent openings around the world and is a tribute to architecture and its commonality with people. “Conviviality is magnified not only by the culinary experience but also by the singularity of the setting,” he says. “The artistry of designers and restaurateurs alike resides in their ability to contribute to the coherence, airiness, and harmony of the whole. In their ongoing pursuit of the good and the beautiful, these fabulous dining venues are also the ones where nature and culture come together in an admirable pairing.”
These are the 16 Most Beautiful Restaurants in the world selected by Prix Versailles:
Ariana’s Persian Kitchen (Dubai, UAE)
Located in Atlantis The Royal, Ariana’s Persian Kitchen is helmed by Award-winning TV chef and author Ariana Bundy. Her debut restaurant is a female-led concept that promises a fresh take on the best Persian food, serving classics with a unique modern twist. Inspired by family recipes handed down for generations, the Iranian restaurant offers complex comfort food.
Reine & La Rue (Melbourne, Australia)
Since 1891, the Melbourne Stock Exchange trading floor has been abandoned for decades until the arrival of Reine & La Rue. This heritage-listed space with Gothic architecture has been transformed to provide a unique French-fare dining experience in its elegant restaurant and adjacent dark, intimate La Rue bar, which sits off the courtyard outside the main dining room.
Tuju (São Paulo, Brazil)
In São Paulo, Chef Ivan Ralston defines his cuisine at Tuju according to the weather and the seasons, with specially named menus like Umidade, Chuva, Ventania, and Seca. On a quiet street in the city’s Jardim Paulistano district, a vertical garden rises three stories to become a parallel universe dedicated to fine dining. On the ground floor, a wine bar with glass walls and an interior patio provides an oasis before guests enter the dining room and open kitchen on the first floor.
ALBERTO RICCI
Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic (Hong Kong, China)
Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic is where the world’s most decorated Michelin-starred female chef showcases her French art, engineering, and craftsmanship. With a stunning view of Victoria Harbour, the Gilles & Boissier design office offers a futuristic design with a mirrored centerpiece chandelier that comes to life engulfed in flames thanks to an optical fire illusion.
Tomacado (Hong Kong, China)
Each Tomacado store is designed to reflect its specific location’s local culture and ambiance. A theme flower is carefully chosen as inspiration for the store’s design. The restaurant’s concept revolves around “one city, one flower, one restaurant, one theme.” The Hong Kong orchid inspired the intimate garden area that has become one of the most Instagrammable places in the city. The restaurant is hidden behind an abundant florist’s window display and offers Western-style dishes, incorporating elements of Chinese, Southeast Asian, and Japanese cuisine.
Virador Beach Club (Papagayo Peninsula, Costa Rica)
Located at the Four Seasons Resort, the Virador Beach Club, helmed by Chef Khaled Natour, sits directly on the sand, with a new raised pool and private terrace. Mexican architect Jorge Borja transformed the new space into an oceanside eatery and lounge focused on Eastern Mediterranean flavors and an adults-only infinity-edge pool and private Cabanas.
Blanc (Paris, France)
Blanc and its Michelin-starred Chef Shinichi Sato create magic starting from the entrance of a discreet opening leading to a path that directs guests to a walnut bar, all in semi-darkness. Finally, a burst of light appears in the main dining room, crowned by wooden vaulting and padded with baffles. A table is set up in a glass bubble in the middle of the kitchen, treating guests to a theatrical experience. A hallway decked out in bronze extends the performance into the private dining areas and the tasting room.
Ladurée (Champs-Élysées Paris, France)
Each renovation of the iconic Ladurée is comparable to a museum’s restoration of a masterpiece. The desire to create a natural flower garden in the heart of the City of Light came to fruition with a floral-inspired living composition from the imagination of Chef Anne Vitchen. The venue has a 180-seat restaurant, winter garden, music room, café area, and dessert bar.
Riviera Fuga (Paris, France)
The floating Riviera Fuga restaurant is docked on the Seine with a unique view of the Pont Alexandre III in front of the Grand Palais. The venue offers a unique Italian & Japanese fusion cuisine. JP Demeyer & Co brought the French Riviera to the City of Light as diners were transported to the Riviera of the 70s without leaving Paris. On one deck, columns made of rope, varnished tables, boat chairs, and loungers appeal to a yacht club vibe.
Beefbar (Milan, Italy)
Located in the vibrant, historical heart of Milan, in what was once a former seminary, the architectural duo of Humbert & Poyet installed Beefbar Milan in the newly opened 5* Hotel Portrait Milano, owned by the Ferragamo family. The design is filled with Baroque details from 1652, and columns frame the inner courtyard. Riccardo Giraudi and his Executive Chef imagined Italian-inspired comfort food in addition to the Beefbar classics. Homemade Wagyu and veal Bolognese with fresh pappardelle, lemon & yuzu osso bucco risotto, and exclusive Kobe beef bresaola are all highlights.
The Oreum (Goyang, Republic of Korea)
For residents of the densely packed city of Seoul, the Space Dot agency has created the illusion of an outdoor hike at The Oreum. Rising up from extensive beds of reeds on the ground floor, the central staircase – a modern designed birch forest – leads to a space that looks like a mountain cave, where water and mist merge to soothe the senses. Upstairs, a sea of clouds unfurls, while the adjoining space, offers 100,000 cloudlike objects made of mother-of pearl. The Oreum makes visitors feel like they are walking on air as a start to their culinary adventure.
Auyl (Almaty, Kazakhstan)
Auyl is located inside a monument inherited from Soviet modernism, a former yurt residence where a dignitary of the socialist republic would receive foreign guests. An experimental restaurant project in the Medeu mountain district, the restaurant is the brainchild of architects, artists, artisans, designers, and creative producers. The structure was originally built in Aktau and only eventually relocated to the mountains, where Chef Ruslan Zakirov and designers NAAW and Dunie Design have created breathtaking spaces around an open kitchen.
Madi Hiyaa (North Malé Atoll, Maldives)
Located within the Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru island resort, the exclusive Madi Hiyaa overwater restaurant serves authentic Japanese cuisine. The sustainable architecture is crafted entirely from bamboo, setting a dramatic stage for a unique dining experience. The design of this overwater Yakitori Restaurant and Bar was created by Nomadic Resorts to revamp the existing jetty structure at the resort.
Harudot (Chonburi, Thailand)
Harudot is a coffee shop in the city of Chonburi, which is located on the seaside. The structure is a collaboration between the owner of the Nana Coffee Roasters chain and the land owner, a rare plant connoisseur. Natural warm pine wood completes the interior space as visitors enter the cafe through the gable, and the space morphs and bends with curves.
Nusara (Bangkok, Thailand)
Nusara is named after Chef Ton and brother Tam’s grandmother as a memorial. Nusara is created from the pure love we have for her and Thai cuisine. This fine-dining venture combines lavish fanfare with authentic Thai flavors, taking fine Thai food back to its roots, focusing on intricate flavors served in a sophisticated but cozy setting. The restaurant serves a 12-course tasting menu proceeds from small, creative dishes to mains served in the traditional Thai family style.
ILIS (New York, United States)
When the Danish chef Mads Refslund came up with the idea of converting an old cavernous industrial hangar in Brooklyn into a restaurant, he reached out to the Californian architect Grant Blakeslee with the challenge of disrupting all the usual conventions. ILIS is a wood-fired kitchen highlighting North America’s seasonal plants, seafood, and game. Chefs cook and serve the entire meal from the central kitchen, where food is theatrically designed with chefs and servers acting as performers starring in a dance between fire and ice with elaborate presentations for a meal surrounded by a scene of delightful, controlled chaos.
This article first appeared on forbes.com.
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