For two decades Spain has been the most influential force in fine dining — elBulli, the Roca brothers, the Basque avant-garde. That influence now travels, and Spanish and Spanish-trained chefs hold stars in cities all over the world.
Two kinds of ambition
High-end Spanish cooking abroad tends to split in two: modern tasting menus in the elBulli lineage — technique, playfulness, the tasting-menu format Spain helped invent — and the produce-first Basque tradition, where the luxury is an aged steak or a perfect turbot cooked over coals and left alone.
What to expect
- A serious Spanish wine and sherry programme, not an afterthought.
- Ibérico and seafood treated as the centrepiece, not garnish.
- A tasting-menu format that Spain did as much as anywhere to popularise.
Recognised Spanish kitchens in the directory
- Casa Mono in New York holds a Michelin star for chef Andy Nusser's take on tapas.
- Capa, the Spanish-influenced rooftop steakhouse at the Four Seasons Orlando, received its first Michelin star in 2023.
- Treinta y Tres in Gdańsk, 140 metres up, was awarded a Bib Gourmand in 2024.
- Binomio in Singapore's Raffles Hotel is led by Félix Noguera, who trained in Michelin-starred kitchens in Spain.
Find the top tables
Our directory flags standout venues city by city — including London’s high-end rooms — so you can find the ambitious end of Spanish dining wherever you are.
