Italian cuisine around the world is moving at warp speed. Our enogastronomic excellence, even at niche level, constantly travel from one part of the globe to another, accompanied by a community of professionals that’s increasingly well-prepared, motivated, and talented. Since 2016, the Gambero Rosso Top Italian Restaurants guide has highlighted the best Italian flavour destinations abroad, constantly seeking authentic experiences that enhance our artisans and our way of life and understanding the table.
Surprises abound, both in terms of cuisine and service: Italian chefs, sommeliers, managers, and bartenders often have to cross borders to see the quality of their work rewarded. As every year, we have gathered some visits that marked the 2023 season, and with Special Awards, we revisit a rich world tour.
The Best Italian Restaurants Abroad
The Restaurant of the Year is in Singapore, an increasingly competitive destination with at least three outstanding Italian restaurants. The award goes to Art by Daniele Sperindio, a Liguria native chef who has travelled extensively before building an elegant and joyful emporium of Italian taste with a view within the National Gallery Singapore.
The Chef of the Year is Marco Calenzo, among the major sources of inspiration for our guide since 2014 when he worked at Mio in Beijing. In 2023, he landed at Lido At the Surf Club in Miami, and the leap in quality was clear and fast. To find the Wine List of the Year, we move to Australia: Caterina's Cucina e Bar in Melbourne. Caterina Borsato has built an intelligent collection: fresh, accessible, and affordable. Rare Italian wine bottles can now be found abroad, even in the major Italian cities. The Opening of the Year takes us to South Africa, with the consultancy of the Roman chef Luciano Monosilio: Scala in Cape Town. It is a successful format halfway between a pasta laboratory, grill, and cocktail bar; and success was immediate.
The emerging restaurant takes us to China, New Wave Bistrot, inside the UCCA Contemporary Art Museum, confirming the extraordinary ability of the Da Vittorio brand to ferry a standard, a style, and an idea of cuisine. Although at the end of January, they will close the Vietnam venue due to a definitely unreliable partner. We stay in China for Pizzeria of the Year: Bottega dei fratelli Salvo, who brought brilliant pizza and Neapolitan cuisine formats to Beijing and Shanghai with vision and entrepreneurial skills. The Guardian of Tradition Award takes us back to Europe, on the North Sea: Corrado Falco in Hamburg. He is the owner of the Gallo Nero restaurant, a dream cellar, and a kitchen of rare precision in recipes and cooking, with excellent starting ingredients purchasable in the adjacent shop.
The Dish of the Year? It's a fragrant and delicious taco prepared by Valerio Serino at Terra restaurant in Copenhagen: Celery, turnip, and mussel. While the Tasting Menu of the Year takes us to Ginza Tower in Tokyo: Ristorante Luca Fantin inside Bulgari. Since 2009, Fantin has offered a different model of Italian cuisine abroad, and this year too, the journey thrilled us for the precision of detail, pairings, and the succession of courses. We conclude with the Surprise of the Year: Alfredo in Tbilisi. Yes, we found a good Italian restaurant in Georgia too. Big names abroad? They deserve a special mention, of course - Ristorante Niko Romito Dubai, thanks to chef Giacomo Amicucci; and Gucci Osteria by Massimo Bottura in Tokyo, thanks to the sensitivity of Antonio Iacoviello.
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