First, we eat: 5 bucket-list food destinations

As a travel writer and editor for more than 15 years, I often get asked how I pick the destinations to write about. Here’s a confession: My story ideas are often inspired by my culinary ambitions.

Looking to take a page from my food diary? I pulled together five cities where you may just want to book your restaurant reservations before you book your flight.

I regularly take the train to the Boston suburbs to visit my parents. While I tend to spend most of my time there curled up on their comfy couch and indulging in home-cooked meals, I usually try to make a few trips into the city to see how the dining scene has evolved.

Favorites include the brunch at Bar Mezzana in the South End and Saltie Girl on Dartmouth Street—the lobster roll is notable even among all the competition in New England.

Next on my list are Fox & the Knife for fresh pasta and Mariel in the financial district for upscale Cuban fare, including authentic guava pastelito. Scoring reservations for these places can be tougher than nailing down dates for a group trip. But eligible Capital One customers can book exclusive reservations at both restaurants—and many more—through Capital One Dining.

One of the world’s most dynamic—and underrated—dining cities is the glittering coastal Indian city of Mumbai. I can’t wait to return to two of my top restaurants in the world: 

• The Bombay Canteen, where the menu has bold, clever riffs on unexpected dishes from across India

• O Pedro, which specializes in Portuguese-inflected flavors from the Indian state of Goa

The restaurant group that owns them also operates two other gems: a jewel-box of a patisserie called Bombay Sweet Shop and a sandwich joint, Veronica’s.

I’ve also got my eye on:

• Subko Coffee Roasters: I enjoy its achaar toast chased by the Kashmiri sea salt and walnut chocolate chip cookie.

• Masque: Its tasting menu featuring hyperlocal ingredients presented in artful ways is one of the most memorable I’ve tried, and I’m eager to return to try their Masque Lab experience. 

• Mahesh Lunch Home in Juhu: One of the highlights of dining in Mumbai is trying different crab preparations. Numerous local spots have cult followings, but I’m partial to Mahesh’s butter pepper garlic crab.

I always crave the same first meal when I make my way to San Francisco: the beef chapli burger with masala fries from Zareen’s in Palo Alto.

Once I’ve sorted that craving out, I’ll drop by Flour + Water for its pasta tasting menu. Saffron spaghetti alla chitarra with Dungeness crab and yuzu, anyone?

I head to Restaurant Abacá for contemporary Filipino dishes. And the Arab bakery Reem’s California offers mana’eesh flatbreads that make my head spin.

To close it out, grab a customer-only reservation through Capital One Dining at chef Dominique Crenn’s elegant Atelier Crenn.

I used to live in South Africa’s breathtaking Mother City, and I’ve always maintained that it has one of the most creative and surprisingly affordable fine-dining scenes on earth. I’ve experienced revelatory meals at FYN, where Japanese-African dishes dazzle the palate and sweeping views of Table Mountain capture the gaze.

Try chef Vusi Ndlovu’s tasting menu at Edge. You can expect dishes like oysters with kani sauce and burnt onion vinegar and chicken yassa with black garlic and mustard lemon jus.

And you can’t go wrong with any of the three locations of Chef’s Warehouse. Chef Liam Tomlin always surprises with an ever-evolving tapas menu, and no two meals are ever the same.

But there’s more to Cape Town than its fine-dining circuit. Head straight from the airport to Mariam’s Kitchen in the heart of the central business district. Visions of the delicious steak salomie, wrapped in flaky roti, still appear in my dreams.

I’m fortunate enough to call one of the world’s great food cities home, and I don’t take a single meal for granted. Capital One customers can use Capital One Dining to book reservations at these four noteworthy restaurants:

• COTE: The Michelin-starred Korean restaurant is my go-to for special occasions: Make sure to book several weeks in advance. If you luck out with a prime table, try not to eat much that day, in anticipation of the decadent steak omakase. COTE has been the backdrop to some of my most meaningful personal moments—so much so that my husband and I have the restaurant’s logo engraved in our wedding rings. 

• 53: Another favorite in Midtown, a sleek pan-Asian eatery from chef Anuar Akmal, who has earned a Michelin star for his Dubai restaurant 11 Woodfire. While every dish is a winner, order the velvety-soft beef tenderloin. 

• Zaytinya: The Washington, D.C., location gave me one of the most memorable dining experiences I’ve had in the capital. When I heard chef José Andres had opened a Manhattan outpost, I immediately booked a table for brunch. Sunshine poured into the dining room as we worked our way through the delicious Levantine, Turkish and Greek small plates—I loved the cauliflower tiganites, soujouk pide and shish taouk.

• Nubulez: Another restaurant from chef Andres that’s on my list. You can find it on the 50th floor at The Ritz-Carlton New York. And you can book your table with Capital One Dining.

Old favorite and new restaurants across the city are also on my list, including:

• Qanoon: This Palestinian restaurant in Chelsea is a popular brunch spot where the baked ijah frittata is always a hit. 

• Hav & Mar: Experience star chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Ethiopian-Swedish menu at his Chelsea spot.

• Librae Bakery: Experience Bahraini-Scandi influences in the East Village.

Ready for your culinary adventure? Capital One Dining unlocks unforgettable culinary experiences and exclusive access to sought-after reservations at hundreds of top-rated restaurants.

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