This International Women’s Day we celebrate the pioneering powerhouses leading the charge in some of the best restaurants and bars on the planet
Gabriela Lozada et al., Brujas
Mexico City
This all-female bar means business, making its debut on The World's 50 Best Bars 2022 extended ranking at No.64
Conjuring drinks driven by Mexican herbalism, Gabriela Lozada leads a powerhouse all-female team at moodily-lit bar Brujas, in the Roma Norte neighbourhood of Mexico City. The name is coined from the building in which it resides, La Casa de Las Brujas – literally: ‘house of the witches’ – which was once home to renowned local shaman, Pachita, who had a rich knowledge of native herbal medicine and declared she had been possessed by Aztec spirits. Today, the cossetting space is a hotbed of a different kind of female talent… though they still fondly refer to themselves as the ‘witches’.
Lozada may have cut her teeth at city stalwart bars like Hanky Panky and restaurants like Pujol, but at Brujas, her own unique approach to cocktails reigns supreme. The heady scent of copal (an incense used to cleanse energies) provides the backdrop to a rolling menu filled with creative flexes on the classics in tribute to notable women – writers, activists – who have broken down stereotypes, challenged norms and fought for their ideas to be heard. A programme of idiosyncratic, herb-led pours, designed to honour, as Lozada says “all the brujas in our lives” who have provided cure-alls for anything from heartbreak to illness with flowers, herbs and barks, sits alongside. Harnessing the power of nature, drinks like Epifanía, with mezcal, plum shrub, cempasúchil liquor, lemon verbena, lime and jasmine saw it debut at No.64 on The World's 50 Best Bars extended list in 2022. With modern-gothic interiors and a back bar masquerading as an apothecary, consider it a bubbling cauldron of creativity with boundless big witch energy to drink in.
La Casa de Las Brujas, Calle Rio de Janeiro 56 Local B Col, Roma Nte., 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
Maryam ‘Mimi’ Al Nusif, Bonjiri
Kuwait
Mimi is the mastermind behind two of Kuwait's hottest Japanese restaurants
It takes a certain character to piggyback on a supplier’s access to one of London’s top restaurants on the off chance of getting a tête-à-tête with the chef in their office. But that’s exactly what Kuwait-born Maryam 'Mimi' Al Nusif did – and it served her well: a few days later she was working in the kitchen of her favourite restaurant, Nobu. It’s a move that says much about her slant – tenacity, creativity, passion and vision are the cornerstones of her route from investment banker to hot-shot restaurateur.
From training at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school to stints at London stalwarts Ottolenghi and The Providores, Al Nusif’s eventual homecoming laid fresh foundations for her culinary career – no mean feat when you consider that cheffing wasn’t seen as the ‘done thing’ for women in her community. A reimagining of her father’s organic farm shop sprouted the launch of Kuwait’s first farmer’s market, Shakshooka, and Secret Garden, which encourages locals to engage with the country’s rich natural larder. It all plays in to her ardent approach to local, organic, sustainable produce, which was made manifest at her first restaurant Tampopo, an easy-going flavour-filled ramen joint.
Located next door and bringing a bold new culinary territory to the streets of Salmiya, Bonjiri – launched in 2021 – takes Japan’s humble yakitori and raises it to lofty heights. Majoring in authentic chicken skewers, you’ll find Al Nusif twisting the sticks behind its open kitchen – a conscious design to break down the barriers between chef and diner. A beak-to-tail mantra is at the heart of a menu serving more parts of the chicken than you knew existed – see nankotsu aka knee cartilage – with the pioneering chef-owner on hand to help navigate it all. As Al Nusif says, “I used to dream my life, now I’m living it”. And living it well: Bonjiri was crowned No.50 on MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants list 2023.
Baghdad St Block 9, Lane 9, Building 702 Salmiya, 20009, Kuwait
Renauda Riddle and Angela Barnes, Nobody's Darling
Chicago
This queer-owned bar and community hub is a joyous safe haven for all
Those familiar with the American writer Alice Walker will recognise the name of this Chicago watering hole in a heartbeat. The poem it’s borrowed from – inscribed on the bar’s wall, for reference – champions life’s misfits and outcasts and embraces authentic selfhood, so it’s apt that Nobody’s Darling has emerged as a queer community-centric space to gather. It’s the brainchild of friends Renuada Riddle and Angela Barnes, Black queer women all too familiar with feeling uncomfortable or unwelcome in a space. Looking to change the narrative, the businesswomen – Riddle is a financial auditor working with marginalised communities; Barnes, a corporate lawyer and compliance specialist – took their penchant for quality cocktails, advocacy and community activism and set plans in motion to step into the fray and create a safe place for people to come together.
Fondly known as ‘Chicago’s queer Cheers’, the modern, low-key sexy set-up – found in the Andersonville area – is a vision of inclusivity, filled with a sense of bonhomie. Guests are invited to kick back and relax over a roll call of riffed-on craft classics, with a great turn out of African American-, queer- and female-owned products represented, and a few choice no or low-alcohol options thrown in to the mix. Drinks flit from bold and spirited – see the Black Wall Street, a mix of rye whiskey, amaro and Aztec chocolate bitters – to subtle and dry – see the Winter Tiger with Roku gin, ginger ale, soda and lemon – via everything in between. A diverse crowd, good music and great time are a given.
1744 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
Fabiola Padilla, Bekeb
San Miguel de Allende
Bekeb is driving San Miguel de Allende's reputation as a premier cocktail destination
From a rooftop roost overlooking San Miguel de Allende, a UNESCO World Heritage Site northwest of Mexico City, cool-as-they-come Fabiola Padilla crafts quaffable culture at her hit bar Bekeb. A champion of Mexican flavour, artisanal and home-grown ingredients, consider her a leading light of the city’s new creative wave, bringing modern edge to a heritage scene. Prior to founding Bekeb – located within boutique hotel Casa Hoyos – the Mexican-born mixologist trained as a lawyer before switching lanes into the bar world. She went on to collaborate with the likes of Enrique Olvera’s lauded Cosme and Public Hotel’s Diego (both in New York), but when the opportunity arose to open her own bar in San Miguel de Allende, it was too good to turn down.
The name comes from the Tzotzil (one of Mexico's ancestral tongues) for ‘seed’, paying due reverence to the land on which it's founded. A relaxed space – all cacti, neon and hanging cocoon seating – lets her refined yet simple creations sing. Padilla considers the art of cocktail making akin to alchemy, something firmly rooted in knowledge and research. Her confident vision sees the use of endemic fruits, plants, roots and seeds, not to mention regional agave distillates, to create drinks evocative of the surrounds and help guests connect to the locale. Creative presentation adds to it – the signature cocktail, a medley of mezcal, elderflower liqueur, pineapple, lemon verbena and sotol (another agave distillate), is served in a vessel made from Oaxacan black clay; Mexican gin-based Lavender Sour comes in a bird-shaped cup with added AI experience – a country first – to reveal a botanical-style scene when viewed through your phone. If you can take your eyes off the standout sunsets igniting the mountains that frame the city, that is.
Mesones 14, Zona Centro, 37700 San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Shirel Berger, Opa
Tel Aviv
Shirel Berger's exemplary take on modern Israeli gastronomy earned Opa the One To Watch Award at MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2023
A rising star of the global food scene, Shirel Berger has helped affirm Israel’s place on the gastronomic map. Thrilling diners with fare based on a cornucopia straight from Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Market at her restaurant Opa, her carefully considered new-style cuisine plays out over 11 courses, heroing humble vegetables, seeds and fruit in all their technicolour glory. It’s an approach that says as much about developments in fine dining as it does our changing palates and mindsets.
Growing up in a family surrounded by food, Berger took to the stoves at aged 12 inspired by the art of North African cooking; she later trained at the Culinary Institute of America before working in some of New York’s best restaurants. Back on home turf in Tel Aviv, she set about channelling her fascination for the plant world into her cooking – and the results are dazzling.
Opa plays into a peel-to-pips ethos, with the entire fruit or vegetable used to both reduce waste and create complex, layered and unique flavour. Opened in collaboration with Berger’s twin sister Sharona – who runs front of house – in 2018, menus sway to the rhythm of the micro seasons, working with a web of small-scale producers to draw out the best of Israel’s revolving crops. It’s backed up by a small rooftop garden filled with organic produce and wild herbs. The result is innovative and exciting in equal measures. Dishes like celery cream tartlet, potato compote with dill and chives, sunchoke ice cream and toffee and ‘mindfck brownies’ (wheat ice cream with blueberry liquor, smoked dates and aged almond miso) beg the question: ‘Why haven’t I had this before?’ An understated, white-washed dining room lets her artistic plating and the vibrancy of the ingredients take centre stage. And rightly so: Opa was crowned One To Watch on MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants 2023, so, watch this space.
Ha-Khalutzim St 8, Tel Aviv-Yafo, 6652308, Israel
O Tama Carey, Lankan Filling Station
Sydney
There are few chefs in the world with a greater understanding and respect for Sri Lankan cooking than Carey
What chef O Tama Carey doesn’t know about hoppers isn’t worth knowing. The lacy pancake bowls – filled with curries, condiments and more – are what drove her to become a professional chef. And it’s at her laid-back Sydney diner, Lankan Filling Station – drawing fervent foodies since it opened in Darlinghurst in 2018 – that such litany of Sri Lankan flavour plays out. But her skillset and culinary ethos run deeper than this. Sri Lankan by heritage, transnational by training – including roles at Italian go-to Berta and Chinese hotspot Billy Kwong – she’s both a writer and chef proponent of Sri Lankan cuisine, navigating culinary and cultural identities and tapping into the country’s complex (sometimes contradictory) foodways and multi-layered origins.
Born of the lockdown, her book Lanka Food is a series of essays and must-try recipes in which she explores authenticity and diversity, taking a grand tour of the island’s flavour through its history and folklore. In the restaurant, meanwhile, dishes offer guests a whistlestop food adventure around the Teardrop Isle. Straight from source ingredients – the likes of heirloom rice, kithul palm flower syrup from start-up Kimbula Kithul, and the country’s iconic toddy-tapped arrack – are the bedrock of the menu.
So, what to order? Sharing and feasting is the deal here. The hopper – made with fermented coconut milk and rice flour and lined with its ubiquitous fried egg – is non-negotiable. Add in a curry or two from a list that runs the gamut from aromatic potato and turmeric with roasted garlic, to fiery prawn soured with tamarind and hella-hot chicken with tomato. Then top it off with a nuanced sambal – from cooling to kicky, there’s one for everyone. It’s all backed by the likes of crab balls, pan rolls, myriad veggie plates and a dessert offering that’ll have you lingering.
Ground Floor, 58 Riley St, Darlinghurst NSW 2010, Australia
Inés de los Santos, CoChinChina
Buenos Aires
Already one of Argentina's most lauded bartenders, de los Santos is just starting to gain international recognition for her cocktail creations
CoChinChina was one of the most hotly anticipated launches of 2021, and it’s little wonder. The stylish bar in Buenos Aires’ lively Palermo district is the inaugural solo project for one of the country’s most well-regarded mixologists: Inés de los Santos. Cocktail pro by trade, grafter by nature, she was drawn to the drinks world after a chance encounter with Julio Celso Rey – one of Argentina’s old-guard of bartenders. While she’s worked across several bars across the city (including Gran Bar Danzón – with Florería Atlántico’s Renato ‘Tato’ Giovannoni – and her joint projects Casa Cruz and Orilla), she’s gained notoriety as a published writer, consultant, TV host and as the founder of lauded mobile drinks catering company, Julep. In CoChinChina, she’s drawn on the appetite for travel less sated during the pandemic to craft liquid pleasures inspired by French Indochina, namely Vietnam.
Plucking from the crossroads of culture – here, two distinct identities united across the other side of the world – her ambitious cross-cultural attack speaks more broadly to the global flavours at the bedrock of the cocktail world, which sees distinct facets infused to create something altogether unique and of its own.
As a self-professed ‘drinks nerd’, technique, knowledge and detail are all key to de los Santos’s list, but most importantly, it’s about enjoyment. Stretched across two storeys, the space undulates from the tropical and exciting to relaxed and enveloping, travelling from Paris to Asia via Instagrammable modern Argentine high design. Nuanced pours like Se-Sa-Hattan – blended whiskies and vermouths with banana oleo and sesame oil – and Jazmin Shanghai – Japanese whisky, umeboshi and jasmine tea – served alongside a solid menu of French-Vietnamese dishes like báhn mì are emblematic. But the inventive cocktail-paired tasting menu served on the top floor – the first in the country – shows de los Santos is at the top of her game, with CoChinChina debuting at No.42 on The World’s 50 Best Bars 2022.
Armenia 1540, C1414 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Pichaya ‘Chef Pam’ Soontornyanakij, Potong
Bangkok
Chef Pam has catapulted herself onto the global stage at just 33 years old through her numerous culinary ventures and achievements
Meet one of Thailand’s leading culinary stars. Known simply as ‘Chef Pam’, high-flying Pichaya Soontomyanakji is taking the country’s food scene by storm. This year, she was the first-ever recipient of Michelin’s Thailand Opening of the Year award, along with a star for her Chinatown restaurant Potong. But Potong isn’t her first gastronomic outing – she has several restaurants under her belt – including beef omakase fine diner The Table and barbecue joint Smoked – plus a catering business. And, when she’s not in her own kitchen, she’s hosting her own TV cooking school or judging on the likes of Top Chef Thailand. Did we mention she’s only 33 years old?
While she trained at the likes of Jean-Georges in New York, her food pays homage to her Thai-Chinese-Australian roots and Potong, which resides within her family’s ancestral pharmacy building (est. 1910), is the first of its kind to serve new-wave Thai-Chinese food in Thailand. Centred on the five-element philosophy, the progressive 20-plus-course tasting menu sees each dish harmoniously embody salt, acid, spice, texture and Maillard reaction. Rooted in history while being contemporary in the same breath, it’s a storytelling cuisine that manifests in the likes of marinated palm seed with Shaoxing wine and coriander oil; blue crab with mud crab roe emulsion and black pepper jam, five-spice duck and Potong charcuterie.
Across the experience, ingredients like soy sauce spheres and burnt bamboo spin the familiar on its head, as does an elongated fermented drinks pairing. The richly designed five-storey building is bookended by Opium Bar, a space once centred on a Chinese daybed, and soon-to-open Potong Sino Bar in what was the original storefront dispensary, which is set to sate late-night cravings with funky Thai-Chinese fare and hip-hop music. Soontornyanakij is an exciting chef who has achieved so much, but with no doubt plenty more to come.
422 Vanich Rd. Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100, Thailand
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