Consolidated "Michelin Restaurants" thread
Oct 3, 2018, 1:14 pm
#1441
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,518
Salzburg
Hi, I need some help. In the past I stayed many times near Salzburg so I know many of the restaurants. Because my last visit is a few years ago I like to ask what´s up at the moment. I stay 4 nights at Salzburg so I have some time. I already reserved a table at Ikarus. I thought About Esszimmer and Carpe Diem which I enjoyed both in the past. While not starred what do you think about St. Peter Stiftskulinarium? It´s my girlfriends favourite but I never visited before and I´m not really convinced. Anything else someone would recommend? Senns (the "logical" choice) is out as I don´t like the menu.
Oct 3, 2018, 3:43 pm
#1442
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Boulder
Programs: AA Plat, CX Silver
Posts: 2,361
I went to Tickets Bar last weekend, Albert Adria's Michelin starred "Tapas Bar". My expectations were high the overall experience exceeded them. The food (while not my style) consistently tasted strong and amazing. Service was excellent and most importantly the whole thing was just a lot of fun.
We gave the restaurant carte blanche which meant a whole load of tapas and a very well selected list of ultra-rare Spanish wines to match. I'd definitely recommend doing this if you're going to go. Given the venue, the wine matching was relatively conservative - no vermouths, cocktails or beer, which was a bit of a surprise given current trends.
I don't want to go into too much detail or post any food photos as I think you'll get the most out of the venue if you don't over-analyse it beforehand. Definitely recommended and well worth its star.
We gave the restaurant carte blanche which meant a whole load of tapas and a very well selected list of ultra-rare Spanish wines to match. I'd definitely recommend doing this if you're going to go. Given the venue, the wine matching was relatively conservative - no vermouths, cocktails or beer, which was a bit of a surprise given current trends.
I don't want to go into too much detail or post any food photos as I think you'll get the most out of the venue if you don't over-analyse it beforehand. Definitely recommended and well worth its star.
edit: hooboy yes it's too late.
Last edited by txflyer77; Oct 3, 2018 at 3:50 pm
Oct 3, 2018, 3:58 pm
#1443
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: In the air
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Bonvoy LT Plat, Hilton Gold, GHA Tit, BA Gold, Turkish Elite
Posts: 8,717
Yes 
I had a well connected friend who made things happen for me, but I believe in general you have to book exactly 3 months out when availability opens up.
I had a well connected friend who made things happen for me, but I believe in general you have to book exactly 3 months out when availability opens up.
Oct 4, 2018, 6:40 pm
#1444
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
Jan Van den Bon and Horseele are rather classic, what you expect from a 1-2 *
Publiek is much more accessible and eccentric. 20% of tables can be reserved by phone on the day only, could be a good option if you can't get a table somewhere else.
There are some good restaurants that do not have a *: I recommend Volta and Vrijmoed.
3* Hof Van Cleve is 30 minutes drive, different league (also price wise...), one of the best in the world.
Publiek is much more accessible and eccentric. 20% of tables can be reserved by phone on the day only, could be a good option if you can't get a table somewhere else.
There are some good restaurants that do not have a *: I recommend Volta and Vrijmoed.
3* Hof Van Cleve is 30 minutes drive, different league (also price wise...), one of the best in the world.
Oct 6, 2018, 2:20 pm
#1445
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: here and there
Programs: some
Posts: 3,381
Went to 'Funky Gourmet' (terrible name) in Athens last night. This was really great. Innovative but with strong links to local produce. Excellent ingredients from all around the country. Really enjoyed it. It definitly deserves its 2*
Oct 6, 2018, 8:42 pm
#1446
Moderator, Omni, Omni/PR, Omni/Games, FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Between DCA and IAD
Programs: UA 1K MM; Hilton Diamond
Posts: 67,129
Definitely felt they deserved 2* when we were there last September. They had a few gimmicky presentations which were odd, but the food itself was terrific.
Oct 11, 2018, 10:09 am
#1449
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Southern California, USA
Programs: Marriott Ambassador and LTT, UA Plat/LT Gold, AA Gold
Posts: 8,764
Just returned home from Florence and Pienza in Italy, and Zurich in Switzerland. Had so me fabulous dining:
FLORENCE:
3* Enoteca Pinchiorri--From start to finish, this was sublime. We chose a very expensive wine pairing that included only Italian wines--since we were in Italy, we most wanted to see Italian wines. And the pairing was incredible. Almost as incredible as the food. Every course--sublime. Every course, presented like a gift from the culinary gods. This was for us the best meal we'd ever had in Italy. That includes our amazing dinner 2 years ago at Le Calandre. The meal was outrageously expensive at $2400 for the two of us. But it was worth every penny (euro). We'd go back in a second.
1* Winter Garden by Caino (in the St Regis Florence)--dined here twice, the second time because it was so good the first time! We dined here after arriving at the St Regis after a full day of travel from the USA, expecting to simply order a la carte, but the tasting menu looked so darn good that we had to try it. And it was sublime. We loved every course. We also loved the wine pairings. The staff was wonderful, extremely friendly and helpful and enthusiastic in assisting us from start to finish. The Winter Garden courtyard restaurant space is truly impressive, too, without being gauche. Real genuine Florentine elegance, while still being quite comfortable. We loved it so much that we brought my mother for our final night, 5 nights later, canceling on another top restaurant. We ordered a la carte this time, and some of us had to reorder a few items we'd just had our first time since they were so darn good. But we also tried to beef and rooster, all of which were again sublime.
1* Borgo San Jacopo (in the Hotel Lungarno)--This was our 2nd best meal in Florence, right after 3* Enoteca Pinchiorri where we had dined only 2 nights prior. We absolutely loved this restaurant, from the interior modern and sexy ambience, to the views onto the Arno, to the incredibly polished and yet very friendly service, to the absolutely mind blowing food. It was all decadent and incredibly delicious, and the wine pairings were matched perfectly. This truly felt more like a 2* dinner. We'd heard from the StR team that this restaurant is rumored to get its 2nd star in the coming months, and we wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. It certainly was that good.
1* Ora d'Aria--I think Ora d'Aria suffered a bit by comparison with Pinchiorri and Winter Garden. We hadn't yet dined at Borgo San Jacopo. The food was very good, thought the service started off a but curious--they seemed to expect we were a party of 4 rather than 3 for some reason. We heard another party of 5 that they expected to be 4, so I'd have guessed someone there had their wires crossed. Still, after a little clumsiness, we all got seated and sorted.The chef appeared quite surly at the start, but he quickly warmed. But his surly attitude at the beginning made us all a bit nervous. The food was great, but lacked the inventiveness and more bombastic approach to flavors that I normally prefer. It was very good but more subtle than I prefer. Service otherwise was pretty good--but my biggest beef was how incredibly warm the restaurant space was that night. Overall, this is a great restaurant. It just didn't quite impress us as much as the other restaurants of similar caliber did.
RURAL TUSCANY NEAR PIENZA
1* Osteria Perilla--Wow. We ate here our final night in nearby Pienza. We knew it had 1 Michelin star, but we still weren't prepared for how incredible our dinner would be. After dinners in Florence the week prior you just don't expect a restaurant in so small a village as this to compete with the big guns. And compete it most certainly did. I'd say this dinner was easily as good as that at 1* San Jacopo, which we truly believe deserves a 2nd star. We similarly believe Perilla to be worthy of a 2nd star. We ordered a la carte, but my mother ended up with 3 course and I ended up with 5. Everything was absolutely spectacular. The sommelier recommended a wonderful Brunello that matched my meal incredibly well, and recommended a Sauvignon Blanc that also perfectly matched my mother's choices. The restaurant is quite small with only 6 or 7 total tables. We were the only diners for the first hour, and eventually we were one of only 3 occupied tables. The service was spectacular from start to finish--friendly, accommodating, and extremely helpful in every way. The only miss might have been waiting a bit too long after requesting the bill.A pretty perfect end to our time in Tuscany. Anyone in the vicinity should take pains to make it to Perilla. It was one of those amazing dinners that was so unexpected and yet will be remembered for quite a long time.
ZURICH
2* Ecco Zurich (in the Atlantis by Giardino hotel)--My husband, mother, and I were joined by 2 Danish friends for dinner at Ecco on the first night of our recent stay at Atlantis by Giardino. Wow--what a meal. We really were blown away by the entire experience. We were particularly impressed by the variety of options allowed for diners--we each could order different number of courses at the same table, quite unusual for any top restaurant. As it turned out, everyone else ordered 5 courses, while I ordered 7 (including the cheese course and dessert course).
The food really was exquisite, easily worthy of the 2 Michelin stars. My husband's venison is unquestionably the best we've ever tried anywhere. The wine pairings that my husband and I ordered were excellent--with perhaps one exception that didn't quite match up well to our tastes. Dining in the private dining room was also a treat. Service was tremendous--very polished and knowledgeable while also being friendly, enthusiastic, and very accommodating to our group's crazy cult of personality. Yes, it's very expensive. But it's also 2 stars in Switzerland, and it's absolutely top notch.
FLORENCE:
3* Enoteca Pinchiorri--From start to finish, this was sublime. We chose a very expensive wine pairing that included only Italian wines--since we were in Italy, we most wanted to see Italian wines. And the pairing was incredible. Almost as incredible as the food. Every course--sublime. Every course, presented like a gift from the culinary gods. This was for us the best meal we'd ever had in Italy. That includes our amazing dinner 2 years ago at Le Calandre. The meal was outrageously expensive at $2400 for the two of us. But it was worth every penny (euro). We'd go back in a second.
1* Winter Garden by Caino (in the St Regis Florence)--dined here twice, the second time because it was so good the first time! We dined here after arriving at the St Regis after a full day of travel from the USA, expecting to simply order a la carte, but the tasting menu looked so darn good that we had to try it. And it was sublime. We loved every course. We also loved the wine pairings. The staff was wonderful, extremely friendly and helpful and enthusiastic in assisting us from start to finish. The Winter Garden courtyard restaurant space is truly impressive, too, without being gauche. Real genuine Florentine elegance, while still being quite comfortable. We loved it so much that we brought my mother for our final night, 5 nights later, canceling on another top restaurant. We ordered a la carte this time, and some of us had to reorder a few items we'd just had our first time since they were so darn good. But we also tried to beef and rooster, all of which were again sublime.
1* Borgo San Jacopo (in the Hotel Lungarno)--This was our 2nd best meal in Florence, right after 3* Enoteca Pinchiorri where we had dined only 2 nights prior. We absolutely loved this restaurant, from the interior modern and sexy ambience, to the views onto the Arno, to the incredibly polished and yet very friendly service, to the absolutely mind blowing food. It was all decadent and incredibly delicious, and the wine pairings were matched perfectly. This truly felt more like a 2* dinner. We'd heard from the StR team that this restaurant is rumored to get its 2nd star in the coming months, and we wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. It certainly was that good.
1* Ora d'Aria--I think Ora d'Aria suffered a bit by comparison with Pinchiorri and Winter Garden. We hadn't yet dined at Borgo San Jacopo. The food was very good, thought the service started off a but curious--they seemed to expect we were a party of 4 rather than 3 for some reason. We heard another party of 5 that they expected to be 4, so I'd have guessed someone there had their wires crossed. Still, after a little clumsiness, we all got seated and sorted.The chef appeared quite surly at the start, but he quickly warmed. But his surly attitude at the beginning made us all a bit nervous. The food was great, but lacked the inventiveness and more bombastic approach to flavors that I normally prefer. It was very good but more subtle than I prefer. Service otherwise was pretty good--but my biggest beef was how incredibly warm the restaurant space was that night. Overall, this is a great restaurant. It just didn't quite impress us as much as the other restaurants of similar caliber did.
RURAL TUSCANY NEAR PIENZA
1* Osteria Perilla--Wow. We ate here our final night in nearby Pienza. We knew it had 1 Michelin star, but we still weren't prepared for how incredible our dinner would be. After dinners in Florence the week prior you just don't expect a restaurant in so small a village as this to compete with the big guns. And compete it most certainly did. I'd say this dinner was easily as good as that at 1* San Jacopo, which we truly believe deserves a 2nd star. We similarly believe Perilla to be worthy of a 2nd star. We ordered a la carte, but my mother ended up with 3 course and I ended up with 5. Everything was absolutely spectacular. The sommelier recommended a wonderful Brunello that matched my meal incredibly well, and recommended a Sauvignon Blanc that also perfectly matched my mother's choices. The restaurant is quite small with only 6 or 7 total tables. We were the only diners for the first hour, and eventually we were one of only 3 occupied tables. The service was spectacular from start to finish--friendly, accommodating, and extremely helpful in every way. The only miss might have been waiting a bit too long after requesting the bill.A pretty perfect end to our time in Tuscany. Anyone in the vicinity should take pains to make it to Perilla. It was one of those amazing dinners that was so unexpected and yet will be remembered for quite a long time.
ZURICH
2* Ecco Zurich (in the Atlantis by Giardino hotel)--My husband, mother, and I were joined by 2 Danish friends for dinner at Ecco on the first night of our recent stay at Atlantis by Giardino. Wow--what a meal. We really were blown away by the entire experience. We were particularly impressed by the variety of options allowed for diners--we each could order different number of courses at the same table, quite unusual for any top restaurant. As it turned out, everyone else ordered 5 courses, while I ordered 7 (including the cheese course and dessert course).
The food really was exquisite, easily worthy of the 2 Michelin stars. My husband's venison is unquestionably the best we've ever tried anywhere. The wine pairings that my husband and I ordered were excellent--with perhaps one exception that didn't quite match up well to our tastes. Dining in the private dining room was also a treat. Service was tremendous--very polished and knowledgeable while also being friendly, enthusiastic, and very accommodating to our group's crazy cult of personality. Yes, it's very expensive. But it's also 2 stars in Switzerland, and it's absolutely top notch.
Oct 11, 2018, 8:44 pm
#1451
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
Glad to hear you liked Pinchiorri! You definitely went all-out on the wine based on your bill 
I really enjoyed the food, but I can't say it's the best I have had in Italy - that goes to the newly-bequeathed 3-star St. Hubertus in San Cassiano, up in the Dolomites.
I really enjoyed the food, but I can't say it's the best I have had in Italy - that goes to the newly-bequeathed 3-star St. Hubertus in San Cassiano, up in the Dolomites.
Oct 11, 2018, 9:57 pm
#1452
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 167
I really love Enoteca Pinchiorri and St. Hubertus, but Osteria Francescana is definitely the best restaurant in the country. My god, there are very few meals in my life that can top the experience I had at Francescana (Alinea, En Celler de Can Roca, Noma, The Fat Duck, and Nihonryori RyuGin are also top contenders). Chef Bottura came out to our table after the meal, and it really put the cherry on top of an already fabulous experience.
Oct 14, 2018, 2:29 pm
#1453
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
I really love Enoteca Pinchiorri and St. Hubertus, but Osteria Francescana is definitely the best restaurant in the country. My god, there are very few meals in my life that can top the experience I had at Francescana (Alinea, En Celler de Can Roca, Noma, The Fat Duck, and Nihonryori RyuGin are also top contenders). Chef Bottura came out to our table after the meal, and it really put the cherry on top of an already fabulous experience.
Oct 15, 2018, 8:47 am
#1454
Join Date: Sep 2018
Posts: 25
Francescana was my favourite too. I must admit, Noma 2.0 wasn't as impressive, as I went during the seafood season. It felt like they were trying too hard to fit the theme into places where it didn't belong, e.g. a seaweed dessert that ended up tasting like off matcha. I much preferred Geranium and Kadeau when I went.
Ryugin was great, though Can Roca and EMP are also on my bucket list!
Ryugin was great, though Can Roca and EMP are also on my bucket list!
Oct 15, 2018, 8:53 am
#1455
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: ORD (formerly SAN)
Programs: Hilton Diamond; IHG Platinum; Bonvoy Gold; AA Platinum Pro and United Premier Silver (DH = AA EXP)
Posts: 1,928
Hmm... I was told to try Oriole after our favorite Michelin starred restaurant (Tru) closed last year. Sadness.