My Top Five 2023 Favourite Restaurants

🔝5️⃣. Up next in my annual collection of Favourite things are Restaurants🥕. My ever expanding waistline is evidence of my propensity for eating out and that does not come without a lot of effort, and much good fortune to eat in some very nice places.

It was tough to pick a best five, but after a little digestion, I have, and these were My Top Five 2023 Favourite Restaurants 🥕:

1️⃣ Casa Madera, Toronto

Lavish Mexican & Mediterranean food topped by an opulent desert, which was a gold-painted chocolate orb filled with peanut butter and chocolate mousse with a cashew agave brittle, oat granola and mango sorbet. Great menu and raw bar plus loads of veggie options too. Brilliant server and ambiance.

2️⃣ Armani Ristorante, New York

This place is a gem. Off the cuff we went here after a little walking along 5th Avenue, and the food, venue and our server made for a memorable night. It had everything even such a thing as vegan foie gras.

3️⃣ Beauty and the Butcher, Coral Gables, Florida

A best friend’s 50th and food worthy of it. Unpretentious charm meets sophistication. Chef Jeremy Fox has created a relaxed setting with a mouth-watering meat forward menu. We had a great night.

4️⃣ La Mar, Miami, Florida

Nine year’s after its last appearance in my annual Top Five I was at Chef Oka’s Peruvian restaurant in Miami again last year, and the food was still absolutely delicious. The whole fried fish (photo) was awesome as were the Pisco Sour’s.

5️⃣ Cleo Mediterraneo, Bahamas

This was really about the company. Swim parents on tour in the Bahamas having a lot of laughs at a great restaurant with superb food. Mixed Mediterranean cuisine using local ingredients.

🥕Honourable mentions: Momofuku, Las Vegas; Il Caminetto, Whistler, Canada; China Live, San Francisco; Javiers, Newport Beach, California; Mirabelle, Beaver Creek, Colorado; Element, Sarasota.