The best dishes I had in 2025

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This is the 10th edition of my "best dishes of the year", and once again I go through my meals to pick out the dishes that were the most memorable, brought me the most pleasure, or evoked the strongest emotions. Needless to say I have had many, many delicious dishes this past year - many happy moments which brought smiles to my face. These were just the ones that made me exclaim "FUCKING GOOD!", "YEAH, BABY!", "PUTAIN!"... you get the drift.

I didn't travel as much this year, and I also dined out less. Maybe that's why the list got shorter this year. But truth be told, some of these dishes were incredibly emotional for me, and were perhaps the best I've ever had.

Luncheon meat and egg sandwiches with peanut butter and condensed milk (炒蛋午餐肉奶醬多士), from Yue Hing (裕興) in Hong Kong - this is my favorite sandwich in the world, and I thought I would never have the chance to taste it again when Dan passed away in 2021. Some 68 months after I last tasted one, Elaine reopened the stall and I made 2 visits within the first week. I was so emotional I almost cried.

Crispy skin chicken with red bean curd marinate (南乳麵醬炸子雞), from The Chairman (大班樓) in Hong Kong - not the first time I've had this chicken, but this was definitely the best version. Everything about this was top-notch, especially the flavorful, crispy skin.

L'ormeaux façon carbonara et pata negra, from Caprice in Hong Kong - my perennial favorite dish from the Hairy Chevalier, which I love so much that on this occasion I even attempted to use flowery language to describe it.

Pigeon with spiced jus, beetroot veil and hibiscus gel, from Plaisance in Hong Kong - I had this bird when Mauro was in town, and it was a fucking good pigeon. Everything was on point, from the doneness of the breast, the spices on the skin... Hands down the best dish from this place after 3 visits.

Pan-fried lamb bun stuffed with leek and green onion (甘肅羊肉生煎包), from Forum Restaurant (富臨飯店) in Hong Kong - this stuffing was soooo juicy and tasty that Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf suddenly popped into my head. Any dish that evokes a musical interlude deserves to be included in this list.

Bottoni | Pecorino, artichoke, lardo, from Estro in Hong Kong - Juve Fan's pasta is always the best part of a meal here, and these little buttons had incredibly intense flavors thanks to the cheese and the fat. Just oozing with awesomeness.

Duck | radicchio, balsamic vinegar, from Estro in Hong Kong - I was absolutely not expecting such a perfectly juicy duck to come out of an Italian's kitchen, but there it was. The tastiest duck I have tasted in quite a long time - up to this night. Made with "local" bird, too.

Milk-fed Aveyron lamb with sauce ravigote and pickles, from Ta Vie's 10th anniversary collaboration with Mingles and Florilège in Hong Kong - beautiful thick-cut lamb, served with a sauce made with sansho flowers (花山椒) and gold, then accompanied by amazing pickles from Mingles.

Roasted suckling pig roulade • glutinous rice (糯米釀乳豬), from Fortune Room at the Hong Kong Jockey Club in Hong Kong - suckling pig stuffed with glutinous rice is one of my favorite things to eat when it's done right, and here they absolutely got it right. Crispy crackling and tasty rice.

Stuffed roasted duck (白花釀), from Fumée (拂鳴) in Shenzhen - how lucky was I to have tasted not one but TWO amazing ducks this year? This version, methinks, surpassed the one I had in Hong Kong by virtue of the layer of tiger prawn mousse stuffed between the skin and the meat of the bird. Amazing texture and flavors. Madness.

Almond pudding with peach compote, fresh lychee and "Monkey Picked" Oolong tea jelly, scent of rose bud (2015), from Ta Vie in Hong Kong - I will forever remember it as the most amazing dessert I've tasted here, and I get giddy whenever I happen to visit when this is on the menu. On this visit I got two portions.

Soufflé à la pistache et sorbet framboise, from Caprice in Hong Kong - I didn't expect to like this pistachio soufflé so much, but the combination of the pistachio with raspberries was pretty magical.

Salt-baked chicken / morels / beef / rice, from Neighborhood in Hong Kong - how does one make the Kitchen Nazi's signature chicken even better? Stuff it with ganbajun (乾巴菌) instead of that tuber melanosporum one finds everywhere these days, and add on some shavings of halal air-dried beef. Oh, and be sure to stuff giant morels from Yunnan with foie gras.

Fosforera / langoustine / squash, from the MONO x MAZ collaboration in Hong Kong - I've tasted plenty of wonderful langoustines in my time, and some of them at MONO, but this was really special thanks to the fosforera.

Sea urchin "Louise", Kristal caviar from La Maison Kaviari, jellified ox tail and crème crue, from Jan Hartwig at the collaboration with Caprice in Hong Kong - a worthy adversary to Richard Ekkebus' Hokkaido sea urchin dish. Would love to taste the two side by side one day.

Tiramisú di casa, from Carna in Hong Kong - believe it or not, this was the best tiramisu I've ever had in my life.

Steamed abalone with soy sauce (능이전복탕), from Onjium Restaurant (온지음) in Seoul - dishes as delicate and beautiful like this are exactly the reason why I wanted to come back here. Interesting that the dish was partly inspired by Vicky Cheng's abalone duo.

Tomato (토마토), from Eatanic Garden in Seoul - the naengchae (냉채) course here is always impressive, and this time around it was even more stunning in its presentation.

Crabe royale d'Alaska, girolles et sauce vin jaune, truffe blanche, from Caprice in Hong Kong - I've gone through a few different versions of Hairy Chevalier's Alaskan king crab dishes, but this one was something else. Many of us in this part of the world grew up pairing crab with Chinese yellow wine, so having a sauce made with vin jaune go with king crab seemed like a no-brainer. Of course, things can take a magical turn when the King of Sauce is at work... and both the girolles and the white truffles brought along their own perfumes and added to the happiness.

Calamari ⁃ green pea ⁃ espelette pepper from YMS by onefifteen in Taipei - this wasn't my first time having squid "noodles", but this combination of squid ink, onion broth, quail egg yolk, teardrop peas, and squid ribbons just hit different. With a lot more intensity.

Seasonal vegetable ⁃ Iberico ham ⁃ fig, from YMS by onefifteen in Taipei - I've had plenty of these "vegetable salads", copies of the iconic gargouillou. But this particular version came with basically melted pork fat and reduced bone broth, which made all the difference. It was no longer a vegetarian dish. It was so much more.

Cherry duck ⁃ carrot ⁃ maqaw, from YMS by onefifteen in Taipei - this past year has been full of amazing duck dishes, and this one took the cake. Like the two beautiful ducks listed earlier, this was also 'local' and not imported. However, the emotion this elicited from me was more than just happiness. There was also anger. Anger at the chef for giving me such a tiny sliver of something so delicious. I wanted to walk up to the open kitchen and yell at Jonatan.

Brittany blue lobster with hare and blue cheese sauce, from Caprice in Hong Kong - there have been many magical moments in the last 11 years of tasting dishes from Hairy Chevalier, but none like this. The fact that two different types of blue cheese were used to make a cheese sauce - which was then interlaced with a second sauce made with hare - and the beauty that resulted was used to paint the tail of a blue lobster... As I said at the time, pure sorcery! The sauce was so good we all wanted to drink every last drop of it.

Liévre à la royale, from Caprice in Hong Kong - this is a dish that is so powerful when done properly, and every chef at Caprice has delivered a good version. What a beauty this was! And we made sure to put the beautiful sauce to good use, with add-on orders of frites and spaghetti...

Baked Vacherin Mont d'Or with truffles, from Caprice in Hong Kong - this is so much more than just "baked cheese". The Mont d'Or has to be the perfect ripeness, and stuffed with diced black truffle along with onions. Of course, the pile of white truffle shavings helped a little, too...

So that's 25 amazing dishes enjoyed in 4 different cities. There were, of course, many more delicious dishes and meals, and I'm grateful to all the chefs to worked so hard to feed us. Here's hoping 2026 will be as delicious as this year has been!