100 Restaurants Worth a Pilgrimage: Europe

On a farm turned amazing restaurant and inn near the Belgian-French border, chef Kobe Desramaults cooks in a brasserie space that once belonged to his mother. He forages with the staff and highlights local ingredients like pigeon, aged for a month to intensify its gamey flavor. indewulf.be

Chef-hero René Redzepi is out to define New Nordic cuisine at the pioneering Noma. His fiercely regional vision disavows black pepper, olive oil and other nonlocal staples; Redzepi’s dishes highlight vegetables and wild edibles. A signature dish: white asparagus cooked with branches from pine trees grown nearby. noma.dk

In 2010, a sous-chef and a waiter from Noma—Christian Puglisi and Kim Rossen—opened this minimalist Scandinavian spot on a hip shopping street. It’s now one of the best deals in Copenhagen. Plain wooden tables fitted with drawers hold menus and table settings and two $60 prix fixe menus (one is vegetarian) showcase pared-down dishes like pickled mackerel and paper-thin shavings of cauliflower on a bed of pureed lemon. restaurant-relae.dk

Rising star Laurent Petit’s locavore restaurant is set in a bed-and-breakfast with five cozy-elegant rooms. Chef Petit takes a creative approach, like the preparation of his fera fillets sourced from Lake Annecy, which he serves partially smoked and partially marinated. closdessens.com

Michel Bras, one of France’s most venerated chefs and a farm-to-table forebear, turns out painstakingly pure cuisine at his three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Laguiole. He elevates humble ingredients like onions, bread and mushrooms with astonishing, often whimsical results. His signature dish is the gargouillou (gar-gu-YU), a composed salad of 60 individually prepared vegetables, flowers and seeds that vary daily. bras.fr

In 2003, Alexandre Gauthier turned his family’s sleepy auberge in the idyllic French town of Montreuil into a molecular gastronomy destination. Seawater, his signature creation, features a bowl of seaweed-infused water served alongside a compressed cube of either shrimp and avocado, or rabbit tartare with white asparagus. lagrenouillere.fr

In a jewel box space, chef Pascal Barbot creates tasting menus with ethereal, architectural dishes—like a multilayered galette of thinly sliced raw mushrooms with verjus-marinated foie gras. 4 Rue Beethoven.

Swedish chef Petter Nilsson serves haute cuisine at low prices at this Art Deco restaurant in Paris’s 12th arrondissement. The tasting menus change weekly, costing 38 euros for five courses or 50 euros for seven courses. Nilsson’s inspired, eclectic food has Scandinavian roots, with dishes like new potatoes from the French island of Noirmoutier, served with seaweed butter and dill. lagazzetta.fr

At this 1930s-style neo-bistro, Basque rock star chef Inaki Aizpitarte surprises diners with provocative combinations like a tabbouleh of black radish with sardines. Aizpitarte also champions natural wines. lechateaubriand.net

The forerunner of modern French cuisine, Pierre Gagnaire still stuns diners with dishes such as an iced burrata cocktail with Champagne and foie gras, and his dazzling seven-part le grand dessert. His flagship restaurant has a surprisingly informal interior with lots of lacquered wood. pierre-gagnaire.com

The traditional Hungarian-Jewish dishes, like goose leg with red cabbage and veal with berry sauce, as well as house-made ice creams are only part of the charm at this beloved family-owned restaurant. The service is warm and atmospheric, with an accordionist providing musical entertainment. rosenstein.hu

The former Noma head chef, San Diego-native Matthew Orlando, opens a harborfront venture in a 60-year-old former shipping depot with a newly planted chef’s garden. A communal table in the dining room will be set up so guests can share their food. amassrestaurant.com

Gastronaut Spanish brothers Ferran and Albert Adrià assembled a team of Peruvian and Japanese chefs for this 30-seat annex to their hard-to-book spot Tickets. Inspired by Nikkei cuisine (created by Japanese expats using regional ingredients in Peru), dishes include nigiri-causas, a type of sushi served over potato cakes instead of rice.

“This is one of the most inspiring restaurants in Italy,” says chef Marc Vetri about this modern Italian spot housed in an elegant villa. “The chef Paolo Benigni and owner Stefano Arrigoni are always searching out the best products and refining what they do. I know everyone thinks they do this, but these guys are true masters.” osteriadellabrughiera.it

On a quiet street in Modena, chef Massimo Bottura’s experimental restaurant serves modern, often deconstructed versions of classic food from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. osteriafrancescana.it

Self-described pizza freak Tim Cushman refers to this historic pizzeria as mecca. It serves only the two purist styles of Neapolitan pizza: Margherita, which comes topped with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil, and Marinara, which is the same but without cheese. damichele.net

At the top of the Waldorf Astoria’s Rome Cavalieri hotel, La Pergola features breathtaking panoramic views of the city. German chef Heinz Beck takes a highbrow French approach to Italian cuisine, like his maccheroncini al ferretto, pasta hand rolled over a wire, paired with red shrimp and smoked eggplant coulis. There wine list offers 53,000 bottles; the water list is also impressive, with 29 selections. romecavalieri.com

Offal—from oxtail to lamb brains—is the main draw at this 100-plus-year-old Roman standby. The charming dining room is painted with murals of the Italian countryside. 39 via Marmorata.

Located in a converted Carthusian convent that dates to 1314, this Siena restaurant is unexpectedly cutting edge. relaischateaux.com

Master French chef Alain Ducasse is so lauded by the culinary community that he has groupies, including Top Chef alumnus Dale Talde. “Alain Ducasse is synonymous with the best of the best,” says Talde. Ducasse’s legendary Monaco restaurant is modeled after Versailles, with sparkling chandeliers and clocks frozen at 12—because in such a luxurious setting time doesn’t matter. alain-ducasse.com

One of Barcelona’s most beloved tapas bars is located right inside the entrance to the famous Boqueria market. Owner Juanito Bayen, sporting his signature bow tie, dishes out superb snacks like tomato-rubbed toast and grilled rock lobster. pinotxobar.com

Victor Arguinzoniz built his worldwide reputation around the grill. Arguinzoniz carefully chooses different kinds of wood and charcoal to infuse his impeccable ingredients with the best and most complementary flavor. asadoretxebarri.com

Molecular gastronomy meets sustainability (ingredients sourced from within 50 miles of the restaurant) at Quique Dacosta’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant. Located just minutes from the beach in Alicante, this avant-garde Mediterranean spot relies heavily on extremely fresh seafood such as sweet pink prawns. quiquedacosta.es

Three Roca brothers (chef Joan, pastry chef Jordi and wine director Josep) run this postmodernist Catalan destination like a culinary playground. Surprises might include caramelized olives presented in the branches of a miniature tree and palate-cleansing Campari bonbons. cellercanroca.com

Chef Ángel León’s laboratory is a destination for trying incredibly creative seafood dishes like yeast-fermented mackerel and a nose-to-tail shrimp bisque garnished with smoked and fried shells. His imaginative preparations earned León the title of “the René Redzepi of the sea,” from F&W contributor Gisela Williams. aponiente.com

Chefs Juan Mari Arzak and Elena Arzak are an extraordinary father-daughter duo who create brilliant, modernized Basque recipes in their small but influential San Sebastián restaurant. Elena’s great-grandparents opened the restaurant in 1897 but it wasn’t until Juan Mari took over in 1966 that the kitchen turned experimental. arzak.info

Chef Martín Berasategui takes a radical approach to Basque food and ingredients, resulting in signature dishes like his much-copied mille-feuille of smoked eel and foie gras. martinberasategui.com

Chef Andoni Aduriz turns herbs and vegetables grown in the restaurant’s gardens, into an emotional, narrative meal using avant-garde cooking techniques. Any produce not grown on-site is sourced in the fields and woods of the surrounding countryside. mugaritz.com

One visit to Swedish iconoclast Magnus Nilsson’s remote mountain restaurant was not enough for The Spotted Pig’s April Bloomfield. “All of the food is foraged from the surrounding land and it would be great to experience what a different season has to offer. The first time I went was in the early winter, so I’d like to go in the spring or summer.” favikenmagasinet.se

Inspired by Spain’s legendary Etxebarri, chef Niklas Ekstedt prepares everything on a wood-burning grill and an old-fashioned woodstove, from chimney-smoked lobster to turbot baked on hay. ekstedt.nu