10 unmissable chef's tables around the world

The chef’s table has grown up. Once a behind-the-scenes peek for favoured diners squeezed into a hot corner of a busy kitchen, it’s now front-row seats. Dishes are presented to diners by the chefs, who go on to explain where ingredients have come from and what has been done to transform them. And forget menus — the chefs are free to be guided by their creativity. One of the biggest inspirations for this boom is the Japanese art of omakase. This style of dining leaves the choice of dishes largely to the chef — the direct translation is ‘I leave it up to you’ — and was born out of Japan’s financial boom in the 1990s, when newly minted diners were embarrassed about their lack of menu knowledge and deferred to the chef. From these origins, the chef’s table has become about the pursuit of perfection, eating the best ingredients served in peak condition, expertly prepared right in front of diners.

1. Core by Clare Smyth, London

She ruled the roost at Gordon Ramsay’s three Michelin-starred restaurant before striking out on her own in Notting Hill in 2017, winning back all three stars for her County Antrim-inspired cuisine. The chef’s table seats up to 10 with only a huge glass window to separate diners from the kitchen action for the ultimate ringside view. From £215. 

2. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham

Sat Bains’s eponymous two-Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms offers highly inventive plates that are well worth the trip to Nottingham. Sat bewitches from the start with innovative dishes such as Cornish crab with brown butter ice cream, and smoked eel with truffle, apple and turnip. These are best eaten on the ‘kitchen bench’, his more egalitarian take on the chef’s table, with highchairs and a wooden bench offering uninterrupted views of the bustling pastry kitchen. From £165. 

3. Nobelhart & Schmutzig, Berlin

Larger than your average counter-style chef’s table, this 28-seat experience is grouped around the busy kitchen, where head chef Micha Schäfer and co-star Billy Wagner lead the German capital’s vanguard of seemingly minimal intervention cooking that celebrates hyper-local produce (same goes for the wine list), as a number of chefs serve up their own dishes and explain their thinking. From €175 (£150). 

4. Chef's Table at Brooklyn Fare, New York

This hallowed, three-Michelin-starred restaurant — the entrance of which is through the doors of a supermarket in Hell’s Kitchen — is reopening in October, after a short hiatus. Cruise the aisles and you’ll eventually find your host, who’ll lead you to one of 20 seats grouped around the sleek counter. Once there, you’ll be served a sublime multi-course tasting menu full of luxe ingredients. From €430 (£345). 

5. Alinea, Chicago

It might be in its 18th year, but this legendary spot is still causing a sensation with its multi-sensory menu that that, in the words of founder and head chef Grant Acatz, ‘combines fine dining with experimental moments’. Head to the six-seater ringside kitchen table for the ultimate experience, where dishes such as Trampoline Papillote (think modified potato starch membrane stretched over bouillabaisse) make up the edible tableaux. From $495 (£390). 

6. Sushi Yoshitake, Tokyo

This temple of sushi is run by the almost mythical Masahiro Yoshitake, who elevates raw fish like no other at his seven-seater restaurant in the Ginza district. Masahiro enhances flavours by various methods, including steeping white-fleshed fish in a kombu-based liquid, and preparing rice the (very) old way with red vinegar, and dazzling diners with his minimalist approach, preferring to buy the fish direct from the boat. From Y56,780 (£310). 

7. VEA, Hong Kong

Choose from one of the 25 counter seats that run along the length of the open kitchen or book the eight-seater private dining room with its views over the kitchen and Hong Kong’s famous skyline at this Michelin-starred restaurant that continues to excite. That’s thanks to chef Vicky Cheng who combines modern French techniques with his Hong Kong heritage. From HK$1,880 (£190). 

8. Restaurant Le Meurice Alain Ducasse, Paris

A private entrance delivers you to the chef’s table at the heart of Ducasse’s two Michelin-starred kitchen. An eight-seater gold leaf oval table is set against a black lacquer wall displaying different vintages of Dom Pérignon. As well as the classy pairings, there’s a bespoke menu in four ‘steps’, ending with superstar pastry chef Cédric Grolet’s dreamy creations. From $490 (£415). 

9. Joji, New York

While it might seem like an impossible task to secure a seat at Manhattan’s hottest new omakase restaurant, you’ll be glad that you did - the sea urchin caviar hand roll alone will seduce. George Ruan is one of three chefs to have decamped from three Michelin-starred Masa in NYC, one of the world’s top sushi restaurants, to open this secret spot hidden underneath a staircase at the bottom of One Vanderbilt, a gleaming 93-storey skyscraper next to Grand Central Station. From $375 (around £300). 

10. Kitchen Table, London

Founded by chef James Knappett and his sommelier wife, Sandia Chang, Kitchen Table has 20 seats grouped in a horseshoe around a small open kitchen. Diners have the chance to interact with the five chefs as they hand over a series of around 20 intricate courses of modern European cuisine. With two Michelin stars to its name, Kitchen Table has evolved into one of the capital’s most exciting dining destinations. From £200. 

All prices are per person, excluding drinks, and before tax and service.