Eating out in a 50 Best restaurant doesn’t need to be expensive. A bit of savvy planning, a degree of flexibility and some solid research are all the tricks you need to eat at some of the world’s finest restaurants affordably and, lucky for you, we’ve done the hard work so you don’t have to.
As gastronomic travel begins to pick up, we’ve found some of the best-value experiences from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list and the extended 51-100 list that are a perfect addition to a culinary bucket list. From marvellous multi-course menus in Mexico, to tantalising tasting menus in Tokyo, make a booking at one of these dining destinations, where you might need to loosen your belt, but not your purse strings
A Casa do Porco, São Paulo, Brazil
This restaurant, located in a corner of downtown São Paulo, is a true homage to the humble hog. Chef Jefferson Rueda provides a masterclass in the art of nose-to-tail cookery by using every part of the animal across his mammoth menu. The Banquete Gastronômico is an eight-course and 21-bite selection featuring pork tartare with marrow and mushroom, vegetable-cured and raw ham broth, and pancetta crackling with guava and red onion pickles. The Porco San Zé of crispy pork belly, beans, cabbage and banana is the perfect main course. The restaurant comes in at No.17 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list 2021 and delivering on the promise to make their restaurants accessible, Rueda’s tasting menu is reasonably priced at around $28.
Value reservation: Banquete Gastronômico – 8 courses and 21 bites for $28 (165 Brazilian real)
Lyle’s, London, UK
One half of the two restaurants from the UK featured in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list 2021, Lyle’s offers a unique taste of British heritage. In a high-ceilinged converted tea warehouse dating back to before the 1940s, Chef James Lowe presents his diners with delicacies sourced from across the British Isles. The continually evolving menu may feature anything from Carlingford rock oysters served with crystal lemon cucumber or red deer with beetroot and pickled elderberries. Keep an eye out for the restaurant’s social media updates, which give a snapshot of the upcoming set lunch menu. While the dishes are never the same each week, the price remains fixed at a wallet-friendly £30.
Value reservation: Set lunch menu – 3 courses for $40 (£30)
Indian Accent, New Delhi, India
This Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants stalwart is attracting global recognition with its appearance at No.82 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2021. Chef Manish Mehrotra allows his dramatic and colourful dishes to take centre stage, such as rainbow quinoa bhel with avocado and nuts, and raw and ripe mango Daulat ki Chaat with mango candy brittle served in a fan of rupees. While the presentation takes diners’ breath away, the prices will not. The express tasting menu, featuring favourites such as pulled pork steak with sweet onion curry and a wide variety of breads such as kulchas, parathas and rotis, offers four courses for $42.
Value reservation: Express tasting menu – 4 courses for $42 (3,250 rupees)
Room4Dessert, Ubud, Bali
From his corner of the world in Indonesia, Will Goldfarb, The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2021, sponsored by Cacao Barry, hosts a magical gastronomic experience on the small island of Bali. Lyrically named dishes such as ‘Nothing rhymes with orange’ and ‘New Wave’ include local produce such as the Sudamala flower, lontar syrup, coffee wood and jackfruit seeds. Perhaps an anomaly given what could be considered a pricey $90 menu, the Room4Dessert offering makes this list thanks to the sheer size of what guests receive. Diners can expect a marathon of 30 dishes lasting three hours – comprising 21 food elements and nine cocktail pairings – encapsulating the flavours and textures of life in this beautiful archipelago.
Value reservation: 30-course tasting menu for $90 (1.29 million Indonesian rupiah)
Quintonil, Mexico City, Mexico
A veritable tour de force of Mexico’s restaurant scene, Quintonil is named after a fresh, green herb that is used across multiple dishes emanating from the kitchen at this venue, which ranked No.27 in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list 2021. Jorge Vallejo puts sustainability at the forefront of his inventions by sourcing the ingredients for many of his dishes no further than 30 metres away in the restaurant’s nearby garden. The plates are bursting with drama and flavour, with favourites including the roasted beetroot, scallops and Italian artichoke, and the kampachi, salsa macha and lacto-fermented wild mushrooms. With a range of options across three courses, Quintonil’s à la carte menu is the perfect way to sample Mexican cuisine without breaking the bank.
Value reservation: À la carte – 3 courses for under $54 (1080 Mexican peso)
Fyn, Cape Town, South Africa
This cavernous industrial space offers both a beautiful dining setting – with its cloud of wooden discs cascading from the ceiling – and one of the best-value gastronomic experiences in South Africa. Peter Tempelhoff’s restaurant, a new entry to the list at No.92, encapsulates the chef’s love of African cuisine laced with Japanese techniques. Dishes include sashimi with Kochi yuzu, onigiri and pickles, and Iberico pork belly with wasabi and mirin toffee apple. Fyn offers a range of experiences throughout the year including this year’s Spring Menu, which is not to be missed: a medley of eight courses featuring the likes of Kalahari beef with globe artichoke and a dessert of Madagascan chocolate, Ethiopian coffee and fermented pear.
Value reservation: Spring Menu – 8 courses for $51 (775 Rand)
Florilège, Tokyo, Japan
In a city brimming with towering skyscrapers and restaurants sporting similarly lofty price-tags, Tokyo’s Florilège offers a breath of fresh air for diners looking for great-value haute cuisine. As the restaurant’s name might suggest (Florilège is French for ‘medley’), chef Shuzo Kishida entwines the culinary heritages of France and Japan, serving up traditional European dishes using uniquely Asian ingredients. Beef carpaccio is the star on the menu: produced with meat from Miyazaki cows, the beef is plated atop a vibrant vegetable consommé. The desserts are also show-stoppingly beautiful, such as the chocolate omelette served with coffee glaze and Chantilly cream. The six- or seven-course lunch allows diners to tantalise their taste buds with Kishida’s creations for under $65.
Value reservation: Lunch tasting menu – 6 or 7 courses for $65 (7500 Yen)
El Chato, Bogotá, Colombia
This year marks El Chato’s first appearance on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants extended list, where it won a berth at No.80. In the low-lit dining room located in the bohemian Chapinero Alto neighbourhood of Colombia’s capital, Alvaro Clavijo puts a spotlight on the bounty of Colombian cuisine. His traditional dishes have a unique spin: think fried morcilla with blood sausage, sweet chilli and smoked mayonnaise, or ‘cheese on a skillet’ – filo pastry filled with goat cheese and drizzled with mango, chilli and honey. The à la carte menu, including starters, salads, mains and desserts (don’t miss the ‘meringue and lulo’ with guanabana – a prickly fruit native to Latin America) is on offer for an accessible price.
Value reservation: À la carte – 3 courses for less than $31 (102 Colombian peso)
Nerua, Bilbao, Spain
With Josean Alija’s meticulous dishes set against the background of the iconic Guggenheim Museum, Nerua sits on the threshold between science and art. While the menu changes three times a year, the à la carte consistently offers sleek and artistic interpretations of Spanish cuisine. A top choice is the squid with caramelised onion and herbs, or bonito tuna belly with cream of spring onion and garlic. The icing on the cake (so to speak) is the priceless view of Bilbao’s spectacular museum atrium, accompanied by a dessert of strawberries, roses and coconut.
Value reservation: À la carte – 3 courses for less than $64 (€60)
The list of The World's 50 Best Restaurants 2021, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, was announced on 5th October 2021 in Antwerp, Flanders. To stay up to date with the latest news, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
