Georgiana Viou is self-taught and pours her soul into her food, blending her Beninese heritage with the riches of the Mediterranean. Viou learned to cook at her mother’s restaurant, but she came to Paris 25 years ago to study and worked in communications before the call of the kitchen took over. At her Nîmes restaurant, Rouge in the Margaret - Hôtel Chouleur, you’ll find some of the most stylish plates in the south of France. The tasting menus are bursting with local seafood lifted by saffron, basil, coconut, and spices, as warm and convivial as the space itself. At Viou’s bistro Gigi, the cooking is equally exquisite though more casual, and complemented by bespoke cocktails and an impressive wine list.

19-year-old E.J. Lagasse is pioneering a fresh chapter at iconic New Orleans establishment Emeril's, founded by his father in 1990. E.J.’s menu sings the praises of Louisiana's food heritage along with local, organic, and seasonal produce, giving each dish a truly regional voice. E.J. is reimagining the classics but with his own contemporary twists. The beloved Potato Alexa is now adorned with an indulgent truffle and parmesan mornay, while Louisiana’s essence is captured in a decadent Oyster Stew gently laced with Herbsaint cream. The commitment to locality is demonstrated in dishes like the Barbecued Maine Lobster Gumbo, which marries local rice with the Holy Trinity of Cajun cooking (onions, bell peppers, and celery), and a sumptuous Wagyu with a rich beef jus. Vegetarian specialties share the spotlight, with a refined Cauliflower and Caviar dish in a smooth allium velouté. E.J.'s inventive spirit is unmistakably present in dishes like the Scorpion Fish with Louisiana corn and fresh greens, and the White Sand Homestead Farm Quail in a risotto of Southern Grains. Each dish shows diners E.J.'s unwavering dedication to sustainability as well as culinary evolution.

After training in some of Europe’s best kitchens, including Geranium and Amass, Brazilian chef Tássia Magalhães returned home to São Paolo to introduce her fiercely personal interpretation of Italian cuisine to the city. Eating at Nelita has been compared to stepping into the chef’s own home, though the warm natural stone, wood, and leather interiors are as elegant as any fine dining restaurant. Choose a tasting menu or à la carte, and try snacks including octopus vinaigrette donut and brioche with foie gras and matcha. Pasta dishes feature tomato and fresh curd risotto, and agnolotti with goat cheese and lime, followed by meat or vegetarian courses and an entertaining dessert selection. Visit on a Tuesday for the most elaborate menu, including ‘The Stage’ selection of six snacks and ‘Ballerina’s Box’ of petits fours, with the dancers represented by corn, honey, beetroot, and hibiscus candy.

Chef Son Jongwon strives to capture a taste of contemporary Seoul in every bite at L’Amant Secret, his first fine dining restaurant in the South Korean capital. In Eatanic Garden, he is more playful, blending the culinary and the botanic (‘eatanic’ is a play on the word ‘botanic’ in Korean), and daringly redefining classic Korean pairings, such as with his abalone and beef dish, accented with charcoal smoke. Son Jongwon was living in New York when a glimpse of students in uniform at the Culinary Institute of America showed him his calling, but after training all over the world, he found his gastronomic identity in Seoul and in creating 21st century expressions of Korean cuisine. Street food becomes gourmet in ‘Small Bites of the Namsan Trail’ with chestnut-stuffed choux and truffle and comte potatoes. Korea’s BBQ culture is expressed in grilled lamb with Ssam greens, while a rhubarb dessert highlights sweet and sour flavors together. Herbs come from a rooftop garden and, as the name suggests, L’Amant Secret’s interiors are sultry and romantic. Think of both L’Amant Secret and Eatanic Garden as more than restaurants. They give access to chef Son’s passionate culinary journey while offering a deep dive into the heart of Seoul's evolving gastronomy.

By his mid-twenties, Merlin Labron-Johnson was already famed for his cooking at London restaurants Portland and Clipstone. But he gave it all up to pursue his back-to-the-land dream, moving to the town of Bruton in Somerset, a rural haven for food and art lovers in south-west England. He has brought his culinary aspirations to life with Osip, a tiny farm-to-table restaurant where diners put their faith in the chef instead of choosing from a menu. Labron-Johnson cooks an ever-changing menu based on what arrives on Osip’s doorstep that day. Perhaps raw vegetables and herbs with a cream of bread and toasted sesame; Devon eel with cucumber, russet apple and chervil; apricot and mead sorbet with local honey and bee pollen. For a more casual experience, try Labron-Johnson’s neighbouring wine bar and bistro, The Old Pharmacy.

Chef Vanika Choudhary returns to her Kashmiri roots and traditional Indian fermentation techniques to bring her unique dishes to Noon in Mumbai, each of which celebrates indigenous ingredients and honors the people who grow them. With her mostly female team, Choudhary works with farmers’ collectives, social enterprises, and food anthropologists to investigate ancient foodways and bring fermented and foraged foods to a modern audience, inspired by her grandmother who made 40 different pickles every season. The evolving menu at Noon (Kashmiri for ‘salt’) uses produce from Maharashtra, Ladakh, Jammu, and Kashmir, and dishes include Pani Puri with lacto-fermented pineapple, pineapple & pandan Kombucha, and Aloo Papadum with nolen gur garum tomatoes, mahua, shio koji chutney, and khambir roti. Prepare for a unique and authentic journey through India’s regional food history.