Palate Preparation

El Celler Can Roca
Girona, Spain
Spain’s red-hot cuisine scene won’t suffer much from Ferran Adria’s temporary (two-year) shuttering of El Bulli thanks to places like this. El Celler moved to a new bright and airy space in 2007 and has since gone into hyperspace with its emphasis on “emotional cuisine” and inspired wine pairing techniques. (cellercanroca.com)

Adour Alain Ducasse
New York, NY
Didier Elena recently took over the formal dining room in Manhattan’s famed St. Regis Hotel at Adour, and he’s turning out tasting menus that turn a meal into an event. The multi-course tasting menus vary from meat-centric (with insane foie gras) to a veggie option that slays. (adour-stregis.com)

Osteria Francescana
Modena, Italy
Chef Massimo Bottura makes what some have called “the most cutting edge food in Italy,” including a dish that pays homage to NYC’s skyline with Italian meats standing in for buildings and parsley taking the part of Central Park. There’s sick contemporary art on the walls, though it can’t compete with what’s on the plate.(osteriafrancescana.it)

La Colombe
Constania, South Africa
A British chef serving Asian-influenced French food in a South African resort about 20 minutes from Cape Town? Sign us up. Wine pairing here takes on new meaning, like when the South African Riesling complements a halibut miso yaki with salted fig dressing. That’s a whole different kind of refreshing.(constantia-uitsig.com)

Iggy’s
Singapore
Recently located to a roomier locale inside the Hilton Singapore Hotel, Iggy’s continues to serve artful Asian fusion on custom-made Limoges plates. Chef Ignatius “Iggy” Chan continues to explore how Eastern flavors adapt to Western techniques, and the restaurant’s culinary experiments are yielding game-changing results. (Iggys.com.sg)