Culinary Capitals: Where’s Best for Michelin Quality Food?

Treating yourself to a meal out is something most of us love to do, especially while on a city break or weekend away. But where in the world offers the best chance of finding a top-quality restaurant? We turned to the prestigious Michelin Guide in order to find out!

Alongside providing restaurant insurance information to restaurants and take away businesses, we also wanted to find out where in the world actually offers the greatest chance of landing on a Michelin rated restaurant, and being served a meal to really remember.

To do this, we looked at more than 100 towns and cities from around the world to find out how they stacked up when calculating how many restaurants featured in the Michelin Guide vs. the total number of eateries in the city or town. The results revealing that in some locations, you’re much more likely to stumble upon great food than others. Find out the results below!

In this article:

• The 20 Best Cities for Michelin Quality Meals in the World
• The 10 Best Cities for Michelin Quality Meals in the UK

The 20 Best Towns and Cities for Michelin Quality Meals in the World

The charming English fishing port, Padstow takes the top spot when it comes to finding the most Michelin quality meals around the world. Situated on the north coast of Cornwall, the restaurants of Padstow serve up delicious local produce, including seafood fresh from the harbour. The Cornish town is home to an impressive 7 restaurants featured in the Michelin Guide and with a total of 57 eateries in the area, means there’s an impressive 12% chance of experiencing fine dining during your visit – more than anywhere else on the planet!

One of the jewels in Padstow’s crown is Prawn on the Lawn, which is widely known for its tapas-style sharing plates of fresh seafood. So popular, it’s even opened a sister restaurant in London and for the summer of 2021, has taken over a nearby farm with views over the Cornish coast for the inaugural Prawn on the Farm.

 

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Cannes in France secured second place, with the French Riviera’s resort city boasting 37 dining options currently included within the Michelin Guide, amongst its 719 restaurants. This means that just over 5% of the restaurants in Cannes are featured in the guide, a real achievement when taking into account Michelin’s highly particular criteria and rating system.

The highest rated of them all in Cannes is La Table Du Chef; an intimate bistro offering a set menu and seating only 20 patrons at a time, it offers a true ‘Chef’s Table’ experience. Outside of just Cannes, France itself fared particularly well, featuring 4 times in the top 20 – more than any other nation, showing that it truly does have the culinary credentials it often boasts.

 

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Bruges in Belgium and Macau in China followed, with both cities able to pride themselves on having almost 5% of their restaurants included in the Michelin Guide. The Belgian city of Bruges, with its network of canals snaking through medieval architecture, offers a plethora of dining options; its highest rated being Le Mystique, an opulent eatery offering up creative dishes in its stylish surroundings.

 

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Meanwhile in Macau, the vibrant city has a number of fine dining restaurants nestled in between its many casinos and skyscrapers, such as the Michelin starred Golden Peacock, found within the vast Venetian complex.

The Success of the States

Elsewhere, the United States was also shown to play home to an abundance of highly-rated food, especially considering just five of its cities are currently featured in the Michelin Guide. Of those, two placed in the top 20, with Washington DC and its 111 Michelin rated restaurants ranking fifth overall, above New York City and San Francisco, which fell just outside in 21^st position.

Top of the pack when it comes to TripAdvisor reviews is the Michelin-rated Ambar in Capitol Hill, an affordable, relaxed restaurant with rustic décor that serves up Balkan delights to its steady flow of customers.

 

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Over on the East Coast, New York City’s revered restaurant scene that plays home to a staggering 11,419 restaurants (305 of which are featured in the Michelin Guide) features the likes of Daniel. Honoured with not one but two Michelin stars, this is one to note down for a seriously special occasion, with everything from the setting to every last bite matching up to the lofty expectations it sets itself.

 

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Over in San Francisco, you’ll find 109 Michelin rated restaurants, with many bringing more of a relaxed, Californian vibe, and locally sourced seafood aplenty. Arguably the most special of them all is Quince, a three Michelin-starred culinary wonder on Pacific Avenue, headed up by Chef Michael Tusk and serving food that has also gained the restaurant the Michelin Green Star, for its focus on sustainable gastronomy.

 

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The 10 Best Cities for Michelin Quality Meals in the UK

Finally, for anyone in the UK opting for a staycation, or simply wondering where is best for Michelin-quality meals a little closer to home, we also looked at where ranks highest in the United Kingdom. Within the overall top 20, three places in the UK featured, with Cornwall’s Padstow and St. Ives sitting alongside Oban in Scotland.

Where a solely UK based top 10 is concerned, the likes of Oxford and Bath follow, with London ranking in sixth. The English capital home to an impressive 372 Michelin rated restaurants, but with over 20,000 eateries across the city, the concentration of Michelin-guide restaurants wasn’t quite enough to take the crown.

The Cornish coast is home to some of the best places in the UK to experience fine dining, with three towns making it into the top ten. Those heading to Padstow will have the best chance of dining at a Michelin rated restaurant, with 7 in the town to choose from. Here you’ll find restaurants including the aforementioned Prawn on the Lawn, along with The Pig and Rick Steins Café – where you can find seasonal dishes with influences from Thailand, Morocco and the Med.

Options to look out for include the humble Porthmeor Café Bar in St Ives, featured by Michelin for its good cooking, great setting and affordability. While Penzance plays home to the likes of Harris’s, bringing more seasonal Cornish produce to customers lucky enough to get a table. Oban’s Etive brings the best of Scotland, with locally sourced ingredients creating a menu that is ‘full of flavour and classically based with subtle modernity’.

 

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If you’re looking for the very best in the capital, head to CORE by Clare Smyth on Kensington Park Road. Awarded 3 Michelin stars, this beats tough competition where TripAdvisor reviews are concerned in the city, with its focus on not just the food, but the entire dining experience. Described by Michelin as providing some of the most attentive service around, you won’t leave disappointed, with exceptional cuisine creating a meal you’ll definitely remember!

 

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Hungry? Maybe its time to book somewhere!

If you’re a restaurant owner looking for insurance, check out our restaurant insurance guide.

Methodology

We compiled a list of 100+ popular tourist cities from around the world and used both TripAdvisor and Michelin Guide data to discover how many restaurants in each city featured in the guide itself. This was then divided by the total number of restaurants, in order to reveal what percentage of the city’s restaurants were of Michelin standard. The city with the highest percentage was then crowned the best city to find Michelin quality food. All data correct as of July 2021.

The data was updated in September 2021 to include more towns and cities, to provide a broader view of Michelin quality dining around the world.