The Top 10 International Cities for Food and Drink, According to the Experts

When you’re traveling to a city, whether for business or pleasure, one of the easiest ways to immerse yourself in the local culture is to embrace the food and drink scene. It usually doesn’t require too much effort, since you’re going to have a meal or go out for a drink anyway.

Food is often representative of a city’s soul. It’s not just something to fuel our bodies, it’s family, community, agriculture, business. It symbolizes the interconnectedness of humanity, and each destination has a distinct food identity. We’ve tapped Food & Wine’s network of food and travel experts to nominate their go-to cities for international culinary experiences. These winners are where to travel this year.

Bangkok

While Bangkok is home to 34 Michelin-starred restaurants, including Sorn, with its exceptional pan-Thai fare, it’s hard to ignore the city’s roots in street food. Many visitors come to this cosmopolitan capital of Thailand specifically for that. Sidewalk grills and woks sizzle in popular street food districts like Khao San Road and Yaowarat (Bangkok’s Chinatown). Daring foreigners may partake in fried insects before they enjoy other authentic street dishes beyond green curry and pad Thai, from simple moo ping (pork skewers) to palate-twisting kuay tiew ruea (“boat noodles”).

Food & Wine's 2025 Global Tastemakers Awards were determined prior to the Myanmar earthquake that's impacting Thailand. Here's how you can help.

Tokyo

Japanese cuisine in its capital city comprises more than just steaming bowls of udon, sizzling yakitori skewers, smooth drams of Japanese whisky, and slivers of raw seafood — including some that are still moving on a bed of rice. In Tokyo, it’s practically obligatory that each cocktail and every dish, from fast-casual to fine dining, is prepared with the utmost meticulousness. Locals treat the preparation of food and drink as an art form. It’s the city with the greatest number of Michelin-starred restaurants on the planet, with 239. However, beyond the gourmand’s guide, there are so many other accessible options in the entire gamut of its restaurants and izakayas that a satisfying meal is not hard to find. Rather, the options are hard to narrow down for a single visit.

Mexico City

Culinary experts agree that Mexico comprises seven distinct styles of cuisine, and all of them can be found in its cosmopolitan center, Mexico City. After you’ve had your fill of tacos at one of the many puestos (street food stands), save room for rich, savory moles from Oaxaca, prepared as haute cuisine at two Michelin-starred Pujol, or baked huachinango (red snapper) a la Veracruzana. Mexico City also boasts a vibrant scene for inventive cocktails, like at Licorería Limantour or the applauded speakeasy Handshake, ranked No. 1 on the 2024 World’s 50 Best Bars list.

Barcelona

Gothic and Gaudí’s architecture set the stage for this culinary Catalonian capital, which constantly seeks to express its unique identity from the rest of Spain. Culinarily, this translates to Catalan staples like romesco de peix (a fish stew) and pato con peras (duck with pears). Though it’s easy to enjoy pan-Spanish classics like Valencian paella, Andalusian gazpacho, or pulpo a la Gallega (Galician octopus), to name a few. You can’t go wrong, whether you have a meal at acclaimed Disfrutar, ranked No. 1 on the 2024 World's 50 Best Restaurants list, or simply a session in a cozy, casual bodega over tapas, jamón Iberico, or tinned fish, along with fine Spanish wine, or vermut negre (vermouth).

Hong Kong

The 156 years of British rule may have made this southern Chinese megalopolis a hub of global cuisines, but at its core are local Cantonese culinary traditions like cuts of char siu (roast pork) hanging on racks, or steamy trays of dim sum carts rolling through banquet halls. While food is deeply ingrained in Hong Konger culture, from the famed food stalls of Temple Street to the destination’s 77 Michelin-starred restaurants, the cocktail scene is also well-established. There are many highly praised bars around the city, like Artifact, No. 2 among our 2025 Top International Bars.

London

Gone are the days when the only way to have a good meal in London beyond fish ’n’ chips and a proper Sunday roast was to “go out for a curry.” Today, the modern British cuisine movement is apparent across the city, not just at higher-end restaurants associated with the likes of Gordon Ramsay. Britain’s imperial history has brought many immigrant cuisines to the crossroads of the empire’s capital. African, Cantonese, Caribbean, and South Asian restaurants thrive among an array of many international offerings, often not far away from a good old-fashioned English pub. Mangal II, Bar Termini, and The Fumoir are among this year’s Global Tastemakers.

Paris

In France, the country so synonymous with the art of gastronomy that its Michelin Guide has become an authority for gourmands around the world, wining and dining is truly the raison d'être (reason for being). Paris is no exception, with 130 Michelin-starred restaurants that run the gamut of international fare, from Japanese to Mexican. However, underneath the newer additions to the city’s culinary repertoire is a deeply ingrained tradition of classic French cooking, where foie gras and escargot will always have a home. Whether you enjoy moules frites with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc at a bistro, bite through the crispy crust of a warm, fresh baguette from a local boulangerie, or satisfy your sweet tooth with macarons or a mille-feuille for dessert, any act of eating can be a moment of joie de vivre (joy of living).

Paris is the No. 1 International City for Pastry among the 2025 Global Tastemakers awards, and three bars rank among this year’s best: Bar Nouveau, Danica, and Bar Les Ambassadeurs.

Lima

With culinary influences from Indigenous people, Spanish colonials, and communities of Japanese and Chinese immigrants, Peruvian cuisine is a diverse orchestra of textures and flavors that garners international praise. Lima, formerly a short, inevitable layover on the way to Machu Picchu, has long been a destination of its own, particularly for foodies who seek anything from street food to fine dining. The folks of award-winning Astrid y Gastón spearheaded the new Peruvian cuisine movement and inspired a new generation of chefs. They’ve reinterpreted classics like lomo saltado (sautéed beef), causa limeña (a potato casserole), and citrus-forward ceviche, which dances with Japanese flavors at celebrated Nikkei cuisine restaurant, Maido. When in Lima, explore its great cocktail scene, too. These days, it’s much more than the place that introduced the world to the pisco sour.

Copenhagen

For more than two decades, Denmark’s capital has also been its culinary one, if not the gastronomy center of the entire Scandinavian region, long before it was featured on The Bear. René Redzepi’s revolutionary Noma paved the way for the era of new Nordic cuisine, where traditional techniques of foraging, fermenting, curing, and pickling are celebrated on each artfully plated dish of local ingredients. Noma may be slated to close daily dining in the coming year, but its legacy will live on with international pop-ups and at new Copenhagen restaurants from the many alumni running exceptionally creative eateries.

Melbourne

Australia may be geographically “down under,” but its history as a British penal colony inadvertently helped bridge the cultures of Indigenous people, Asia, and Europe. This may be best experienced by eating in the cosmopolitan city of Melbourne, where a roster of talented chefs offers a diverse selection of restaurants. For example, at Vue du Monde, chef Hugh Allen modernizes Australian fare with local ingredients and inspiration from French bistros. Flower Drum, under the helm of chef Anthony Lui, serves seasonal Cantonese fare with hauls of daily market produce. And chef Nornie Bero, a descendant of the Indigenous Komet tribe, elevates ingredients like kodal (crocodile), kami (emu), and wattleseed in innovative, modern dishes at her acclaimed restaurant, Big Esso. Travelers can look forward to starting each day in our No. 1 International City of Coffee.

Global Tastemakers is a celebration of the best culinary destinations in the U.S. and abroad. We polled over 400 chefs, travel experts, food and travel writers, and wine pros from across the globe; including over 300 Best New Chef alums and our international editorial teams. We then entrusted those nominations to our Global Advisory Board to rank each category’s top winners. The purpose of this curation is to cultivate lists that feel surprising and a true discovery and taste of place. See all the winners at foodandwine.com/globaltastemakers.

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