Foodle

I’ve been to @homeburgbkk Homeburg in Bangkok several times now, and I’m pretty comfortable saying this is the best burger I’ve ever had.

What I love most, though, is the story behind it.

Homeburg started with its founder cooking just four burgers a night from his apartment. Two sittings. Two people at each. Mostly friends at first, while he obsessively geeked out over how to make his idea of the perfect burger.

And when I say obsessively, I mean every single detail.

The bun. The exact way it’s toasted and steamed at the same time. The weight of every ingredient. Getting the bacon precisely as crispy as he wants it. The temperature and cook on the beef. The ratios. The sauces. Constant tiny adjustments, night after night, all in pursuit of making the absolute best burger he possibly could.

Word inevitably got out. For a while there wasn’t even really a fixed price — people would come to his apartment, eat, and simply leave whatever donation they thought the experience was worth.

Eventually that tiny apartment experiment evolved into the eight-seat Homeburg counter I’ve now visited several times.

And it’s not simply a case of turning up and ordering a burger. He serves a little American-inspired tasting menu, applying exactly the same slightly obsessive philosophy to everything: his version of the perfect chicken wing, the perfect fries, and finally two burgers.

One is the OG Homeburg, his constantly refined interpretation of the classic burger.

The other changes, usually inspired by a burger maker somewhere else in the world whose work he admires, which he then studies, recreates and inevitably puts through the Homeburg lens.

There are restaurants doing infinitely more complicated food, using more luxurious ingredients and employing armies of chefs.

But there’s something incredibly satisfying about watching one person become completely obsessed with something as seemingly simple as a hamburger — then spending years tweaking every tiny detail until there’s almost nothing left to improve.

For me, Homeburg is the result.

And it’s still the best burger I’ve ever eaten. 🍔
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#Homeburg #BangkokFood #BangkokEats #BurgerLovers #BestBurger Less

NAWA @nawa.thaicuisine was another Bangkok restaurant I’d been meaning to get to for a while, and I’m very glad I finally did.

The restaurant takes its name from the Thai word for “innovation”, which pretty much sums up what chefs Napol “Joe” Jantraget and Saki Hoshino are doing here: taking recognisable Central Thai flavours and dishes and pushing them into a much more contemporary tasting-menu format without stripping away the thing that actually matters — the flavour.

That balance is much harder than it sounds. Modern Thai cooking can sometimes become so concerned with technique and presentation that the food loses the intensity and soul that made it exciting in the first place. NAWA doesn’t. There’s plenty of refinement and cleverness, but underneath it all the food still tastes unmistakably Thai — sweet, sour, salty, spicy, aromatic and properly punchy.

The menu moves between little snacks, smaller composed dishes and more substantial courses, often taking something familiar such as tom yum, nam prik or a curry and rebuilding it in a completely different way. It’s polished without becoming sterile, and playful without ever feeling overworked or self-conscious.

NAWA currently holds one Michelin star, and in a city absolutely overflowing with brilliant Thai food at every price point, it manages to justify the fine-dining treatment rather than simply dressing Thai food up for the occasion.

Another very good meal in Bangkok — a city that continues to make it ridiculously difficult to ever eat everywhere I want to.
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Michelin - ⭐️
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#NAWA #BangkokFood #ThaiFineDining #MichelinThailand #Achefabroad Less

Taken to @margobkk by @dmoudios Dimitrios, the chef/co-owner from @ore.bkk Ōre — more to come on that brilliant little counter later — which felt like a pretty solid recommendation before we’d even walked through the door.

Margo is chef Wilfrid Hocquet’s @chefwilfridhocquet neighbourhood French bistro in Sathorn, a much more relaxed expression of the cooking pedigree that previously saw him lead Blue by Alain Ducasse in Bangkok to a Michelin star and a place on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants.

And this is exactly the sort of place I increasingly love finding in Bangkok. Proper cooking, proper sauces, great produce and plenty of technique, but without all the ceremony that can sometimes come attached to it. French at heart, but loose enough around the edges to feel completely at home in Bangkok.

There’s a generosity to the food here — terrines, roasting, wood fire, sauces you actually want to mop up, and dishes designed to make you happy rather than make you sit there trying to decipher the chef’s intentions.

Margo only opened in 2025 but has already made quite an impression, being named MICHELIN Guide Opening of the Year 2026 and entering the guide as a MICHELIN Selected restaurant.

Interestingly, Dimitrios at Ōre won the very same Michelin Opening of the Year award the previous year. So when one of Bangkok’s most interesting chefs says, “you should eat here”, you listen.

Very, very good bistro cooking. And another reminder that Bangkok’s restaurant scene currently has ridiculous depth.
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Michelin - new opening of the year
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#MargoBangkok #BangkokFood #BangkokRestaurants #FrenchBistro #Achefabroad Less

Back at @samrubsamrubthai in Bangkok in January, sitting at the counter again — and I absolutely loved it.

Chef Prin Polsuk has created something very special here. His cooking digs deep into Thai culinary history, regional dishes and old recipes, then brings them to the counter in a way that feels completely contemporary without ever losing their identity.

And the counter is absolutely where I want to be. Watching Prin and the team work just adds another dimension to the meal — seeing the dishes come together, hearing a little of the story behind them and being right in the middle of it all.

The food is bold, complex and unmistakably Thai: heat, acidity, richness, smoke, funk and sweetness all flying around, but with a real precision underneath it.

Then, as a rather excellent finale, a glass of cannabis-infused rum to finish the evening.

Another brilliant meal at one of my favourite counters in Bangkok.
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Michelin - ⭐️
Asia’s 50 Best - 29
Best Chef Awards - 🔪🔪
OAD - 47 (Asia list)
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#SamrubSamrubThai #ChefPrinPolsuk #BangkokFineDining #ThaiCuisine #AChefAbroad Less

Back at @haomabkk Haoma in Bangkok in January for what must have been my fourth or fifth visit.

Chef-owner Deepanker “DK” Khosla was incredibly kind enough to open the restaurant just for me, and I enjoyed another fantastic meal.

Haoma’s approach to modern Indian cooking has always really interested me. DK takes the flavours and foundations of Indian cuisine and looks at them through a contemporary lens, making extensive use of local Thai produce and ingredients grown and sourced around the restaurant. It’s clever and thoughtful cooking, but most importantly it’s absolutely delicious.

Personally, I actually prefer the vegetarian menu here — which probably says quite a lot coming from me — although both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian menus are excellent. There’s so much depth of flavour and spice without the food ever feeling unnecessarily complicated.

The wine side is taken seriously too, with a great list and a very good pairing that works particularly well with the complexity of the food.

And DK himself remains one of the most humble and genuinely lovely chefs you could meet. Considering everything he has achieved with Haoma, there’s absolutely no ego — just a huge amount of passion for what he does.

Another brilliant meal at a restaurant I’m always very happy to return to.
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Michelin - ⭐️🍀
OAD - 89 (Asia list)
Best Chef Awards - 🔪🔪
Asia 50 Best - 90
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#Haoma #BangkokFood #IndianCuisine #BangkokRestaurants #AChefAbroad Less

チャーシューワンタン麺 + メンマ + 生玉子 / Chashu Wontonmen + Menma + Nama Tamago / 川越大勝軒 (Kawagoe Taishōken) — Kawagoe, Saitama

Clear shoyu soup contains a base of niboshi and dried fish, finished with a layer of lard that keeps the oversized bowl extremely hot. Medium-thin, lightly curled noodles are supplied by Kusamura Shōten, the historic noodle manufacturer closely connected to Eifukucho Taishōken. Noodles are served relatively soft and in the traditional large portions associated with the lineage. Topped with extra lean pork chashu, thin-skinned wontons, half a boiled egg, nori, negi and long hosaki menma, with additional menma added to this bowl. The wontons contain very little filling, placing greater emphasis on the soft wrapper and its texture in the soup. Nama tamago is served separately and can be used sukiyaki-style, dipping the hot noodles into the raw egg before eating.

The master trained at the original Eifukucho Taishōken in Suginami before receiving permission to open Kawagoe Taishōken as a direct noren-wake shop. Eifukucho Taishōken was established in 1955 by Kenji Kusamura-san and developed a distinctive style centered on niboshi soup, large portions and noodles from the founder’s family business, Kusamura Shōten. Unlike a franchise, Eifukucho operates through noren-wake: apprentices are permitted to use the Taishōken name after completing their training, while the resulting shops operate independently. Kawagoe preserves fundamental characteristics including Kusamura noodles, niboshi-shoyu soup, surface lard, oversized bowls and large portions while developing its own interpretation, notably the use of long hosaki menma and a broader menu. The shop is also unusual among the lineage for beginning service at 6am. 17 seats. Since November 3rd, 2010. @honkawagoe_taisyouken Less

@rosewoodsaopaulo is one of those places that makes you forget you’re in São Paulo.

You come in from the noise, the traffic, the concrete, and almost immediately everything changes. Suddenly there’s green everywhere, the city feels far away, and the whole place has this sense of calm that almost doesn’t make sense considering where you are.

The rooms are beautiful, the pools are stunning, the design is incredible, but what impressed me most is how complete the experience feels. Every detail has been thought through, and the team delivers it with that rare kind of hospitality that feels effortless.

Three @michelinguide Keys 🗝️🗝️🗝️ and a spot on @the50hotels list and, for me, easily one of the best hotels in the world.

A true escape hidden in the middle of one of the busiest cities on earth. Less

There are restaurants where, for reasons that aren’t always easy to explain, you get the feeling that something isn’t quite right. You sense a certain tension in the air, moments of uncertainty in the service, rehearsed smiles, dishes with overly contrived creativity, and staff who don’t seem very happy.
Then there are others where everything simply seems to flow, where the drinks, the dishes and the conversations slot together in a natural succession, like scattered pieces coming together in this complex jigsaw that is the art of hospitality.
And perhaps that is why starters such as the shrimp vol-au-vent with garlic sauce and tosazu strike us as superb. And the octagonal plates on which they are presented look beautiful.
And a dish such as ‘Iberian ham, roasted melon consommé and lardo’, in which the ham is a jelly made from its own consommé, cut into noodle-like strands, served with lardo and crispy pieces of chicharrón in a cold broth seasoned with rice vinegar and basil, takes us by surprise.
And there’s a real pleasure in discovering more about Spanish wines, such as that Chupadero Listán Blanco from Lanzarote. And time to delve into the richness of traditional surf and turf dishes, such as ‘Pintada amb gambes’, which Fran Agudo reinterprets and perfects in his commitment to ‘haute cuisine at the bar’. And there’s pure joy in spreading the smoked tuna belly with pine nut emulsion over a slice of toasted bread.
And there’s room to finish with the dessert of coffee, mucilage and umeboshi. And to reflect on what Iván Castro told us when I asked him about the team: “I look for good people; it doesn’t just matter that they’re very good at this or that, I want good people”.
Fran Agudo was a regular at this bar. When Tickets closed, Iván challenged him to come here. In a few years, they earned two Michelin stars. Both thought first about ‘who’, then ‘what’.
It’s always the people (who, as I understand it, all have three days off a week here) who make the difference.
And with the right people, you can go anywhere. Less

Quédense con quien les sirva una quenelle de rodaballo con espinacas, salsa de Champagne y Beluga 000. O con quien les prepare un codorniz Rossini. Y con quien les ponga una copa de Trévallon o una de Dartigalongue del 82. Amor incondicional a El Jardín de Lutz y a Finca Cortesín. @fincacortesin @lutzbosing @alex.pinton @barra80 Less

Quanto mais nos cansamos das “experiências” e das fórmulas repetidas e copiadas ad nauseam, mais procuramos esta espécie rara - alô @prado_restaurante - de restaurante onde tudo parece fácil: um equilíbrio elegante entre produto, técnica e vinhos; pratos que chegam à mesa e nos fazem salivar; descontração e uma hospitalidade que nos deixa em casa.

O Cepa é assim. Um restaurante que impressiona, fica na memória e ao qual queremos sempre voltar. Só me arrependo - não foi por falta de aviso - de ter demorado tanto tempo a descobri-lo. Obrigado @ivanralstonb

@restaurante.cepa
@lucasdanteb
@gabriellifleming Less