7 restaurants you need to eat at before you die

What: Gaggan, BangkokWhy: Back when the thought of Indian food only conjured up images of butter chicken gravies, Chef Gaggan Anand served plates of dhokla snow and curry cookies. His experiments with traditional flavours was unheard of, but it did place his restaurant on the charts – 7th place in the World’s Best Restaurants and the number one best restaurant to eat at, in Asia.Ask your waiter: to give you plastic. The edible plastic spiced nuts are literally that – wasabi and lentils in a “plastic” bag that melts in your mouth.What: The Fat Duck, Bray (UK)Why: Because it was one of the fastest in the world to earn all three Michelin stars. And also, it’s owned by Heston Blumenthal. The celebrity chef often makes appearances on the televised Masterchef Australia, but his approach to “multisensory cooking” is his claim to fame. Eating at The Fat Duck will leave you at the mercy of Heston, who uses molecular gastronomy as a starting point for his dining experience, then building on it with sounds and textures, transporting you to anywhere he would like you to be.Ask the waiter: for the ‘Sound of the Sea’, a seafood dish that resembles the shore, served with along with an iPod in a conch shell for you to listen to the ocean as you eat it. What: Chez Panisse, CaliforniaWhy: Appalled by the ‘canned food epidemic’ in every American household, Alice Waters began a movement through her restaurant: serving fresh, organic and real food, largely sourced from the farms in and around her neighbourhood. Her honest approach to food and dedication to make it a lifestyle also made her the first woman to be named the Best Chef in America by the James Beard Foundation. Ask the waiter: To serve you the fixed price menu – surprises by the chef, which get more complex as the week goes by. Tip – Visit them on Saturday.What: Noma, CopenhagenWhy: By redefining Nordic food, Rene Redzepi and Claus Meyer inadvertently kicked off the foraging phenomenon. They created a doctrine for restaurants around the world, emphasising sustainably sourced local produce, and wild food pairings like insects and juice. Ask your waiter: to serve you the best fried egg you’ll ever eat. The restaurant’s signature dish is a DIY cooked wild duck egg with hay oil, a.k.a. ‘The Hen and the Egg’.Noma shut down last year for renovation, but we’ll be standing in line early for a table at their new avatar – opening mid February 2018. What: Sukiyabashi Jiro, TokyoWhy: So you can say you’ve tasted the Original Sushi. The 92-year-old Chef and sushi master Jiro Ono opened the restaurant in 1965, and his emphasis on fresh ingredients and traditional techniques gained the restaurant three Michelin stars and high publicity with features on noted food critic Anthony Bourdain’s show and its own documentary, ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’. Ask the waiter: to let you watch the chefs craft fresh sushi in under a minute.What: At the Dorchester, LondonWhy: If you’re looking for a fine-dine and wine experience, look no further than Alain Ducasse’s three Michelin starred restaurant. The French chef brings luxury to the table – from expensive ingredients to palatial décor– for all of his 25 restaurants. Ask the waiter: The “Baba like in Monte-Carlo” is a glossy sponge cake, filled with silky Chantilly cream, served with bottles of rum to pour on top… shall we go on? What: Osteria Francescana, ItalyWhy: Massimo Bottura’s Modena fine-dine, the first Italian restaurant to top the list of the The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, is known for whimsical reinterpretations of food with art and music. The restaurant has a lot of Bottura’s own artwork on display, accompanying the innovative plates of food, making for a colourful experience. Ask the waiter: For the dish that took Bottura two decades to perfect – The Five Ages of Parmesan – featuring marvelous textures you didn’t know were possible, with parmesan.