Nancy Novogrod, Editor in Chief of Travel + Leisure magazine, shares her picks for the best best restaurants in the world.
1. Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria, NYC
My New York favorite these days, a market restaurant selling breads, pasta and sauces, salami, jams, and other provisions, and serving rustic Italian specialties, including brined spit-roasted short ribs, which I can't resist, escarole with anchovies, and spaghetti with bottarga.
2. Pauly-Saal, Berlin
This year-old restaurant, in the gymnasium of a former Jewish girl's school in Berlin, is the winner of a Travel + Leisure 2013 Design Award. The food is traditional German fare, but the decoration, including three-tiered Murano glass chandeliers, is anything but. A vibrant new life has taken root in a building with a past: it was closed by the Nazis in 1942 and now, in addition to Pauly-Saal, includes galleries and a center for the revival of Jewish culture.
3. Yardbird, Hong Kong
It's loud and fun and cool, presided over by a young Canadian chef who trained at Masa in New York, and it's all about chicken, the Japanese yakitori way. They don't take reservations, and the décor has been described as "skateboard chic," but this place is definitely on my list in Asia.
4. Da Giacomo, Milan
I try to go here whenever I'm in Milan for the really delicious fish and seafood. The mood is cozy and casual, but in truth the restaurant was ever so skillfully designed by the great Italian decorator Renzo Mongiardino. I adore the pasta with fresh lobster.
5. Zuma, Dubai
Among my favorite travel experiences is getting off the Emirates flight past nine at night and going straight to Zuma. The place is always buzzing, with a Las Vegas, meets Star Wars, meets UAE feel. It's sushi and other modern but authentic Japanese Zuma specialties you can eat in their London and Miami locations, but this one is a real experience.
