Foodle

40 Michelin stars. 3 Days. 1 Hotel.

This might be the biggest culinary event in the world.

I joined @heiko_nieder and a constellation of the world’s finest chefs at The Epicure, @thedoldergrand for a celebration of skill, passion, and pure culinary excellence.

And as Oscar Wilde said: ‚I have a very simple taste, I’m simply satisfied with the best.‘

Follow along as I take you behind the scenes of this epic journey. ✨
Thank you Chefs and Team!

@heiko_nieder
@evjordnaer
@not.a.pastry.chef
@nickbril
@chefkirk_w
@kaiho1011
@davidzefran
@alain_weissgerber
@eerovottonen
@lewiswilsonpastry
@massidv
@christoph.rainer_ikigai
@pascalsteffen.ch
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Epicure I
6 Hands dinner - @chefkirk_w Westaway**, @nickbril **, @heiko_nieder **

A British 🇬🇧, a Dutch 🇳🇱, and a German 🇩🇪 walk into a kitchen and this is not a joke. Six hands, six stars, one lunch at Epicure ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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📍 The Dolder Grand - The Epicure - Zurich, Switzerland 🇨🇭
💶 CHF 449
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This might be the world’s best Mexican restaurant 🇲🇽

In Barcelona’s vibrant heart lies @comerestaurant , the 1-star home of Chef @pacomendezv . His life’s work: a love letter to Mexico, infused with Mediterranean ingredients and a touch of El Bulli magic.

From liquid-nitrogen coconuts and the world’s thinnest Totopo with caviar, to a salsa verde built on 30 shades of green, Méndez takes risks most chefs wouldn’t dare. High risk, high reward.

At times I had to pinch myself, was this reality or a dream? His deconstructed Caesar even moved me to tears. And then, the finale: 14-hour smoked pork cheek tacos, handmade tortillas, condiments galore. A knockout.

COME isn’t just Mexican food at the highest level, it’s Méndez’s soul on a plate. A paradigm shift for me as a food fetishist. And soon, he’s bringing this magic to my own backyard at @tivolicph in October, fittingly in the month leading up to Día de los Muertos.
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📍 COME, Barcelona 🇪🇸
💶 Menu: €185
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This is the Netherlands’ next Michelin-starred restaurant 🇳🇱

Opened just six months ago, @restaurant_create is Chef @guidobraeken new chapter in Maastricht, a place where ambition meets precision in the beautiful @van.oys .

Once the youngest Dutch chef to hold two Michelin stars, Braeken now channels that same mastery into dishes defined by control and clarity.

From paper-thin tartlets filled with hamachi and wagyu, to Balfego tuna with smoked eel, ponzu and passionfruit, his style is confident and bursting with flavor.

The signature langoustine with bisque and vin jaune sauce is pure refinement, while pigeon cooked perfectly to the second shows the kitchen’s technique and craft.

For a restaurant this new, the level of execution is remarkable. Service, pacing, and plating, everything moves with quiet precision. Create already feels ready for a star and to me it should be two ⭐️⭐️
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📍Create, Maastricht 🇳🇱
💶 €245 for complete menu
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At @ynyshirrestaurant @garethwardchef puts the P in Product driven restaurant.

Located in the middle of nowhere Wales, Chef Ward has put Ynyshir on the culinary world map through his ruthless approach to sourcing what he believes is the world’s best products.

Over the course of 30 servings, you will encounter A5 Wagyu as tartare and in a curry, you’ll taste fish imported straight from Japan and have duck from Ireland.

The menu is unorthodox and when I asked Chef Ward what drives his inspiration, his answer was very blunt:
“Mate, I just cook stuff I love to eat”.

Amen 🙏 oh, and there’s a DJ and a disco ball in the dining room as well 🪩 🕺

Here a few impressions from my recent visit in August, and fun fact: Ynyshir is the most expensive restaurant in the UK at a price of £486

For more details, check out my recent Chasing Stars review: https://www.instagram.com/thefoodfetishist/reel/DNL3gZfMP0R/
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📍 Ynyshir - Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
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@knystaforsen the lit fire show led by couple @nicolaitram and @evahtram

One of my most memorable restaurant visits this year and let’s see if the second star will co e next year - for me there should be no doubt.

Below, an outtake of the notes I take and use as inspiration for my Chasing Stars scripts:

Increifble flavors - so much flavor and smoke.

Nicolai Tran is obssssesd with fire like a scientist

Masterclass in flavor and texture.

Every dish is given to u in paper after being served so u can discuss

Wine is on the table while u drink it

Identity is completely his own

Leek dish one of the best I’ve tried. Tears in eyes the sauce is from the gods.

Better than Vyn and Frantzen, but I guess it’s a Danish chef so I’m not surprises.

Take on a Waldorf salad but with caviar instead of grapes

If you are visiting Jordnær, Noma and Geranium on Copenhagen, consider adding Knystaforsen to that list.

Geometricsl Shapes

It’s like new Nordic cuisine but it tastes good , bloody good.

Here burnt is not a bad word but the whole point

The most exciting Danish chef is cooking in Sweden, and swedens best chef is Danish.

You embark on a journey in Eva and Nicolais world. One of love, taste and smoke.

Master of sauce.

Something is cooking deep in the Swedish woods.

Fairytale
You can smell the smoke from far away
The camp fire
🔥
I rather travel 3 hours in the middle of nowhere Sweden than jylland.
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📍 Knystaforsen - Sweden 🇸🇪
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This is Austria’s next 3-star restaurant 🔥🇦🇹

In a moody basement in Vienna, Chef @stefandbk Stefan Doubek and @selina_nora Nora Pein built their dream from the ashes, investing everything into a vision where fire is the only source of heat, light, and inspiration - this is @restaurant_doubek

No electricity. No gas. Only raw flame and instinct.
From the moment Doubek lights a fire at your table, the night unfolds like a Mozart symphony of smoke, precision, and obsession.

A hamachi tartlet balanced with citrus.
A lobster roll with Serrano ham that defines umami.
A 10-day dry-aged turbot cooked over embers and crowned with almas caviar, the best I’ve ever had.

Awarded 2 Michelin stars just months after opening, if you ask me, it’s only a matter of time before Doubek claims a third. Go here and get lit up 🔥
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📍 Doubek, Vienna - Austria 🇦🇹
💶 Tasting menu: €305
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@comerestaurant from Barcelona is one of the best Mexican restaurants in the world! 🌎 🇲🇽 🇪🇸 🌮

And until the 2nd of November they are doing a pop up in Tivoli, Copenhagen 🇩🇰

Behind is @pacomendezv , one of the most creative chefs I’ve experienced - the menu is a ménage a trois between heavy Mexican culture, cooking with Mediterranean ingredients and the legacy of El Bulli where Chef Mendez trained.

Here you will find everything from the most divine pork cheek tacos, to deconstructed Caesar salads and caprese to liquid nitrogen pina coladas. The flavors here are powerful and distinct but incredible precise and balanced.

Also, the cocktails are some of the best I’ve ever had - also better than most well respected bars 🍸

And honestly, there is a reason it placed in the top 3 of my Chasing Stars Q3 Ranking - it’s one of the top dinner experiences I’ve had.

So if you’re in Barcelona, go here you won’t regret it, or if you happen to be in Copenhagen - this is a must try!
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📍 COME, Barcelona - Spain 🇪🇸
💶 Menu €185
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This Chef has 3 Michelin stars, but it wasn’t what I was expecting… 😳

Part 1 of a special Chasing Stars series from the Algarve, a 4-day tribute at @vilajoya celebrating Chef Dieter Koschina’s @dieterkoschina 30 years of Michelin stars.

Kicking off: Chef @edip_sigl_official from 3⭐️ @essenz_edipsigl . He warned me to temper expectations, it was an away game, but what followed was a masterclass in precision under pressure.

Champagne on Wheels was the theme: free-flowing Pol Roger, Churchill’s favourite, and décor from 20,000 corks and bottles.

Flying appetisers, including his signature “Cloud”, led into 15 ambitious courses from roasted chicken with caviar and white truffle to hamachi with caviar and lemongrass.

Watching a chef cook for another chef is a rare kind of respect and as Koschina, the grand old man of Portuguese gastronomy, looked on, it was clear this was a tribute deeply earned.

Maybe it was the ocean view… maybe the serotonin from a sunset swim… but this felt like Bayern Munich playing away against PSG and winning with one man down.
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📍 Algarve, Portugal
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Es:senz Chef Edip Sigl
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Copenhagen’s most overhyped Italian? 🇮🇹🍝

@barabbacph is one of the city’s most hyped spots, chefs talk about it, @bambambaklava Action Bronson loves it… but most dishes fell flat with more ambition than execution.

Trout was bland, ravioli was chewy, and the red fish tried too hard.

The one thing worth coming for?
That anchovy butter pasta. Rich, funky, perfectly al dente, genuinely great. The rest? Not for me.
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📍 Barabba, Copenhagen
💶 500kr - €65 p.p.
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