My Top Five Favourite Restaurants

🔝5️⃣. Next and last up in my annual listing of Top Fives is Restaurants. I tell people that when I am travelling with work I’m either eating in Michelin starred restaurants, or sitting at an airport gate munching my way through a packet of crisps and overdosing on Haribo.

I did have some great meals last year, and occasionally I took the family! Here are my 2025 Top Five Favourite Restaurants 🍕

1️⃣ L’Artusi, New York 🍝

Full of West Village locals, this is a lovely Italian place. It’s big, noisy, and a little boisterous, but the food was wonderful. The crudo and bucatini was amazing as was the homemade ricotta that had an air-like quality.

2️⃣ Frenchette, New York 🇫🇷

I went to this French bistro twice last year. Lunch was quiet sat in the window scoffing my way through sausages and oysters. Dinner was packed, but food was again lovely. The duck sausage satisfied my banger predilection.

3️⃣ The Chastain, Atlanta 🌌

Stunning location sat on the verdant edges of the beautiful Chastain Park. We sat outside under the stars eating great food, which had a southern nod. The menu changes depending on the season.

4️⃣ Zunfthaus Zimmerleuten, Zurich 🥩

Hidden away, everyone in the restaurant was Swiss, so fortunately we had a Swiss talking host, otherwise we might’ve gone hungry. The food was superb, in particular the steak tartare complete with raw egg, for which I didn’t want it to end. Guinea fowl for mains provided a protein-fuelled dinner.

5️⃣ Parisa, Doha 🫓

With the family in this authentic Qatari restaurant. This place was popular with locals, but we nabbed a table, managed to navigate the menu and scoffed on juicy lamb kebabs, vegetable curry and Persian breads.

🍕Honourable Mentions: Olivia, Tampa; Ocean Prime, Sarasota; Palomino, Bermuda; Javier, Newport Beach, California; La Stella, Addison, Texas; Burj Al-Hamam, Doha; Motek, Boca Raton.