What is the best restaurant you’ve ever eaten at?

[PosyPrettyToes]

Just ate some delicious pho for dinner and it reminded me of a tiny place a few streets away from my childhood home. (Rural, EU foreign country) There was a little Vietnamese family run restaurant and it was the most INCREDIBLE place. They didn’t speak anything but Vietnamese, and while my dad spoke a little, it wasn’t very good and most of the diners spoke none at all. There was no menu either, they had a card with vegetables on you could point at if you were a vegetarian, you’d sit and delicious food would just start appearing. It was always packed, and they never turned people away - if there were spare seats on your table you’d get budge up gestures and be joined by whoever just came in. I loved that place! We used to eat there every week as a family.

From what my dad understood, the couple who ran the restaurant moved over with their adult daughter who was some kind of wealthy banker, and they were supposed to be retired but they got bored so they started the restaurant. We later understood all the waiting staff were their grandkids and all spoke the local language perfectly well but the grandparents thought it was fun to bamboozle the locals

About 25 years ago I lived in a not very nice part of Yorkshire (gentrified since) and an Indonesian Restaurant opened run by a returning ex pat and his wife.
It was amazing and people travelled for miles to eat there, I can still almost taste the food when I think about it. It was before there were many Thai or other Asian restaurants apart from Indian were in The North so it was very unusual and popular.
The owners retired after around 4 or 5 years and other people tried to run it but it was never the same and shut down.
I cant find an Indonesian Restaurant near me now unfortunately, I think i need to search further afield

Not the best food I've ever had by a long shot, but the most memorable meals I've ever had are at a little wine bar/restaurant just off the Piazza Nirvana in Rome. Rammed into a tiny seat, shoulder to shoulder with other customers, sitting outside, eating a cheese and pate plate, with a choice of over 1000 bottles on the wine list - it was like a telephone directory! We've been there several times, and I really want to go again! Really love it.

Talay Thai in St Ives. Tapas style Thai dishes overlooking the harbour. Lovely.

Also really loved By The Wine in Lisbon 👌🏽 gorgeous place, food, atmosphere and wine and reasonably priced for how lovely it all was.

Menchetti in Florence for pizza!

L’Enclume is the best by a country mile. Every single thing, every tiny detail, was just perfect.

Possibly my favourite, though, is Cafe Sol in Saint Lawrence Gap, Barbados. Fab Mexican food, lovely cocktails, bright colours everywhere and you can practically touch the beach from the deck. Definitely a happy place.

I’ve eaten at lots of the smart places (and am pretty obsessed with good food) mentioned here and while I’ve enjoyed them, they’ve never excited me that much. I don’t really care for the show, the fancy menus, the etiquette and the dressing up. Although I did love Le Gavroche in the nineties when the Maitre D’ would offer to turn the heating down if a gentleman took his jacket off!

My most memorable eating experiences (and so I guess the best ‘restaurants’) been the perfect combination of beautiful, fresh local food, place and community. I am thinking of fresh frito misto by the sea in Essouria (or the Marche), a kudu braai in the Namib desert, a village bistro in the Dordogne at lunchtime, steamers on the beach in Cape Cod and fresh scallops in a fresher seabreeze in Lochinver.

I live for those sorts of meals!

The silver darling in Aberdeen, set inside an old lighthouse right down at the beach. Best freshly caught lobster I’ve ever had, service was second to none, views to die for and it wasn’t even that expensive.

My favourite is Le Manoir and I also loved Claude Bosi's Hibiscus, sadly it's closed now.

The Prawn on the Lawn at the Farm was a lovely experience a couple of years ago, not just good food but fantastic views over the river and great service.

Weirdly, I didn't really rate L'Enclume although I'm glad I tried it.

Ooh a few.

Gastro MK in Marrakech was great. I begged them for the recipe for their spiced cucumber sorbet of all things, but they wouldn’t tell me 😂

Treby Arms in Devon when Anton Pietrowski was the chef. Fabulous food but the overall ambiance and service was fantastic and the waitress was amazing. I remember ending the night having a good old chat with her about ghost stories in the area!

also loved Dubh Prais off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, not there now sadly.

La licorne in Fontevraud. Perfect meal sitting amongst the roses in their garden. It was so good we never went back in case it was not as good the next time…..

Faugeron in Paris ( now closed) was perfect , not just for food, but for the impeccable service. The Ladies loo was so beautifully decorated , I’ve never forgotten the bowl of hyacinths the last time I went there.

A local restaurant in Prague where we ate hot creamed cabbage on our honeymoon

I still dream about that fucking amazing cabbage

A short menu is always a good sign. It usually means fresh cooked food done well.

Serve too many dishes and you can't achieve that unless you have a huge staff.

Oh and I would Joro in Sheffield is probably my current winner.

Gordon Ramsey Petrus in London. Everything about it was wonderful.

theemmadilemma I agree that a short menu is a good sign. I remember visiting an amazing restaurant in Florence that only served steak and cannellini beans. Absolutely delicious and perfectly executed every time.
If you needed to go to the loo, you walked through the kitchen where there was a cow on the table, being made into perfect Florentine steaks!

SOSBAN MENAI

https://www.cornerhouserestaurants.co.uk/

a restaurant in alanya turkey, on the side of a hill leading up to the castle over looking the harbour and ocean. At night it's unbelievable. service and food wer very good but experience over all was amazing

I'm delighted to see someone else loved the Mauritian restaurant in South End, Croydon, it was fab!

Mine is probably Stark in Broadstairs. Tiny place, open kitchen, run by a husband-and-wife team. Incredible food. We're going for the last time next month before they close 😫

Also have a wonderful memory of a restaurant in the backstreets of Rome years ago, where you were served whatever they'd cooked that evening - no menu, no choice, all delicious. DS was 12 at the time and still talks about it!

A place in Rye. Run by woman and her daughter. Very quiet, quite dark, not many customers. Can't remember the name but I could find the location again if I went to Rye. French bistro style food. Just absolutely the loveliest meal. I can remember some courgettes which were honestly the most delicious thing (I know!). It was 35 years ago and I have never had a nicer meal.

Putien, Kitchener Rd, Singapore.
Still thinking about the dinner I had there less than a month ago.

I didn't have a bad meal in Prague. Vytopna was my favourite, food was lovely and the theme is great.

A beach trip in Goa. We bough King fish and red snapper from a man floating around in the ocean spear fishing, and then the captain pulled out a pan of rice and veg cooked by his mum. Absolutely delicious, but as much about the experience as the food

Not sure 'the best', but I would recommend Corarima in Wakefield if you want something a bit different.

Service excellent, unusual (to me and I have quite a broad palette!) flavour combinations, everything was fabulously cooked, promptly served and just perfect.

Some of the group I went with recently said it was a little on the pricey side and I see what they mean-It's not /expensive/ , but because they don't use meat the ingredients are cheap-so I can understand why people would say it was overpriced.

For me, it wasn't as everything was so perfect and I loved the flavours. It was about £120 for four of us for two sharing platters and a couple of starters/sides, including corkage (we took two bottles of wine, they aren't licensed.

It's only a little place just up a side street. Their 19 spice chips are amazing.

Stunned at the love for Sat Bains. Really goes down as the worst Michellin starred restaurant I have eaten at. Even tried it on a few occasions to check whether it was just that visit.

Le Manior / L’Eclume/ waterside inn/ alain ducasse( le louis) far superior in both ambience and food.