While the world’s culinary capitals offer a plethora of superlative restaurants, sometimes, taking the road less travelled allows for the discovery of unexpected, exceptional culinary experiences.
From the winelands of Ontario and the heart of Mexico City to the bustle of Istanbul and the skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur, these restaurants sit as bastions at the forefront of their respective regions’ fine dining culture, shaping conversations, changing perceptions and receiving critical acclaim as they do so.
Neolokal, Istanbul
Ascend the stairs to the rooftop of an old Ottoman Bank building and Istanbul unfurls before you — domes, minarets, rooftops and spires, with pinpricks of light flickering on as the sun sets over the city. This is Neolokal, and it is chef Maksut Aşkar’s homage to Anatolian cuisine.
There are chefs who cook with their heads and those who cook with their hearts, and then there are the likes of Aşkar, who brings both to the table. His love for his Anatolian heritage is evident in every course, accompanied by vast knowledge of, respect for, and dedication to this historical and geographical heartland.
At Neolokal, Aşkar reinterprets the flavours of Anatolia with restraint and reverence. His food is rooted in rural and ancient traditions — fermented yoghurts, pickled herbs, grains, and slow-cooked meats — yet delivered in a thoroughly modern form.
There’s erişte, the hand-cut pasta once made by Anatolian women in winter, here paired with Mersin red shrimp, lemon zest and a red-pepper-skin sauce. A lamb neck, slow-cooked for 12 hours, is shredded and shaped and served with bulgur pilaf, roasted red-pepper purée, and his mother’s meatballs in an understated nod to lineage and memory.
Dessert, too, honours tradition. A baklava filled with pistachio and candied walnut is served alongside kaymak and burnt sheep’s-milk-yoghurt ice cream. The everyday Middle Eastern sweet, taken up a notch.
From his vantage point above the city — both physical and philosophical — Aşkar offers a clear vision: to preserve the culinary past by bringing it into the present, while shaping it for the future.
Dewakan, Malaysia
At Dewakan, situated on the 48th floor of Naza Tower in Kuala Lumpur, chef Darren Teoh is pioneering a uniquely Malaysian approach to fine dining — one that draws deeply from the country’s rich biodiversity and Indigenous culinary traditions.
With a name that references the Malay words dewa (god) and makan (to eat), the restaurant pays tribute to the land and its people. Diners are led through the working kitchen and past shelves of ceramic jars filled with house-made ferments to gain an understanding of this unique style of cuisine before entering a dining room with dazzling views of the city’s skyline.
Once the meal begins, the view quickly fades into the background. A cold soup of button mangosteen conceals hot-smoked sturgeon from Tanjung Malim, punctuated with bursts of briny sea grapes. A rice tempeh dumpling filled with clams arrives in a traditional-style egg broth, while Adan rice steamed in mahang leaf is served alongside venison and sharp kerdas.
The desserts are equally thoughtful — perah ice cream with candied kundang and a cacao-less “chocolate” made from dabai, paired with rose fudge and housed in a tart shell of heart of palm and keluak.
Each plate is grounded in a philosophy of respect — for ingredients, for heritage, for terrain — offering diners a sensory journey through Malaysia’s culture, ecology, and cuisine.
Quintonil, Mexico
At Quintonil in Mexico City, chef Jorge Vallejo crafts a menu that reads as a love letter to his homeland. Here, escamoles (ant larvae) are treated with the same reverence as caviar — both appear on the menu — and insects such as grasshoppers, stinkbugs and beetles are given the same care wagyu would receive elsewhere.
Vallejo’s food does not seek to contrast or shock — instead, it speaks of honesty, respect and integrity. Each dish is grounded in memory and place. A crisp plantain buñuelo arrives topped with escamoles and finished with a cream infused with the floral sweetness of Melipona bee honey. A tamal of duck al pibil is served with a delicate cream of young corn, and a ribeye arrives with chichilo negro mole and huitlacoche-laced pico de gallo, accompanied by fire-charred vegetables.
The desserts honour tradition too — think Mexican cornbread with rompope de nixtamal and Veracruz vanilla, or a coconut sorbet infused with marine plankton and crowned with caviar.
The meal unfolds with quiet confidence — each course a tribute to land, legacy, and the modern Mexican table, as envisioned through Vallejo’s fine lens.
Restaurant Pearl Morissette, Canada
Chefs Eric Robertson and Daniel Hadida run this two-Michelin-starred restaurant on the Pearl Morissette wine estate in Jordan Station, Ontario.
Here, each dish is an expression of the terroir, drawing from what the farm provides as well as from small-scale, like-minded suppliers. Think of the elegance of East Coast poached lobster with rhubarb juice and textures of daikon and radish, or a beautiful roast pork with seasonal greens from the garden and a deep, rich jus.
What they do with ingredients is perhaps only overshadowed by what they do without. If it cannot be grown in Canada, it’s not on the menu. However, rather than inhibit the chefs, this has led to innovation: herbs, florals and fermentations step in for the vibrancy and acidity of citrus, while blackened barley koji substitutes for chocolate.
It is understatedly daring cooking, staking a claim and holding a torch not only to the exceptionalism of what Canada can produce, but also to the rich and diverse land from which it all grows.
From the November issue of Wanted, 2025
