7 Restaurants Worth the Hype
It’s no secret; we love to eat. Everywhere we go, we check Google Maps for the top-rated restaurants and get to work on making a ‘must eat’ list while we’re in town. Seriously, we prioritize eating over sightseeing.
Just because we’re vegetarian doesn’t mean that we want to order a boring dinner salad every night. For us, eating is one of the best ways to discover a culture. There are so many time-honored traditions centered around food, and it’s the activity we cherish more than anything when we’re on the road.
But how can you tell if a restaurant with hundreds or even thousands of reviews is actually worth the hype? Isn’t it disappointing to go to a spot with a bunch of mentions only to find out it’s the equivalent to an Olive Garden in Italy? Personally, we scour the photos to see how mouth-watering the bites really look. Never forget: reviews might lie, but photos never do.
After eating out at nearly 1,000 restaurants in the past two years, we decided to put a list together of our MUST EAT restaurants that had even locals raving around the world.
1. Expendio de Maiz Sin Nombre // Mexico City, Mexico
Mexico City is full of delicious bites. Maybe more so than anywhere in the world. Expendio de Maiz is one of those places that doesn’t take reservations (since they only have two small family style tables), has no menu, and stays open until they run out of the food they bought earlier that day at the market. They ask you if you have any food restrictions — including whether or not you eat bugs — and they get to work bringing you out one plate at a time, all served atop homemade corn tortillas, of course. Eat till you’re full and don’t expect to be able to move the rest of the day.
2. White Rabbit // Moscow, Russia
To know it is to love it. You may have heard the name from the popular Chef’s Table series on Netflix, and for good reason. On top of an already amazing dining experience, this restaurant comes with a not-so-subtle side of Alice in Wonderland vibes, complete with a giant pepper grinder. The changing menu features unique delicacies such as moose milk ice cream (so creamy!) or quail eggs baked in an avocado.
3. HaKosem // Tel Aviv, Israel
Not gonna lie, we gobbled up this falafel so fast that we didn’t even take a photo (these are all from their website). But we are big time falafel eaters, so when we went to Tel Aviv, we asked around and every single local told us to go here. You order at the counter, and they give you falafel samples right outta the fryer while you wait. On top of falafel, they have the most out-of-this-world eggplant we have ever tasted. The hummus is — as you would expect — good enough to lick every last dollop from the bowl with your finger.
4. Pizza Studio Tamaki // Tokyo, Japan
Leave it to us to sniff out the best pizza joint in Japan, of all places. But seriously, Chef Tamaki perfected the pizza crust art in Italy and brought it back to Tokyo, where we welcomed a familiar meal after we had been navigating the not-so-vegetarian world of sushi for the past two weeks. We are BIG wood fired pizza lovers and this rivaled anything we had in Italy. Go early and sit at the counter so you can watch the oven magic happen.
5. Peskesi // Crete, Greece
We found Peskesi because it had nearly 5,000 reviews on Google Maps. That’s a lot. They tout ‘authentic Cretan cuisine’ which was right up our alley. The only problem was that we were only in Heraklion for one night, and there were no reservations available, so we popped in as soon as they opened even though it was a bit early for us to have a big meal. We ordered their ancient grains and a few other things to share, and our tastebuds were instantly delighted. The only disappointment was that we didn’t have more room in our bellies.
6. Mullixhiu // Tirana, Albania
We’ve written about Mullixhiu before and this certainly won’t be the last time. This restaurant is all about tradition infused with quality. Every dish on the menu is served with a story about the Albanian culture, from what sheep herders brought as a snack in the fields to the porridge that children across the country grew up eating. This unique experience was one of our favorites amongst all the places we’ve eaten.
7. Maria Antonieta // Mendoza, Argentina
Honestly, we were just looking for something walkable from our Airbnb. Who would have thought that Italian food in Argentina could rival even the best pastas we nibbled on during a month in Italy? Our server was very knowledgeable about wine and suggested the perfect food to go with what we were craving. There were ample options for non-meat eaters and we were so pleased with the veggies and pastas that were brought out. Again, we ate too fast to take photos, so we took a few from their Instagram to show what we had.
We must mention that this is not a complete list of all of our favorite restaurants in the world; just the ones that had a lot of attention around them, and for good reason. Just about every pasta place in Italy, all the organic vegan food in Bali, and every brunch place in Australia that we ate at also deserves a congratulatory nod. But hey, we like to think we pick winners everywhere we go.
What do you think? Have you eaten anywhere that was worth all the attention it garnered?
