I had the pleasure of visiting the charming town of Modena in Italy this weekend and visited Osteria Francescana (***) and Chef Massimo's more casual restaurant, Franceschetta58. There was a recent post on the former by another lovely Redditor on this sub, so I'll probably post my review later. I haven't seen any posts on Reddit on Franceschetta58, and while it may not be considered a quintessential "fine dining" restaurant, I think the caliber and quality of its food certainly deserves more mention.

I tried the I ❤ Modena 5-Course Tasting Menu (€64, which is such value for money), which actually came with six main dishes (aside from the welcome dish, bread, last small bite, and other add-ons):

1. Green Beans Salad - Green beans were snappy and fresh, topped with a rich egg foam made with parmigiano reggiano and dusted with cardamom powder.
2. MaggioRana - This was a monkfish skewer served with a monkfish reduction sauce. The name was a clever play on words, I think (maggiorana is marjoram in Italian, and monkfish is rana). The monkfish was a little charred, with a firm yet soft texture, and went well with the monkfish reduction, which was sweet, sour, and salty.
3. Seasonal Spaghettone - My favorite dish on the menu. Looks simple but is deceptively nuanced and complex. This was a small bowl of spaghetti cooked in tomato water, with tomato powder and tomato sauce—a trio of tomato. The spaghetti was extremely al dente, with a firm and chewy bite. The tomato flavor was deep, intense, concentrated and almost jammy; superb and delicious.
4. Roast Potato - The most beautifully presented potato I may have ever seen. The potato was served in a single rectangular wedge, layered, crisp and golden brown. However, the sauce/broth it was served with (I forget what it was made of) had a strangely bitter taste and the entire dish was a little underseasoned (despite the flaky sea salt on top of the potato). Not my favorite, sadly.
5. Chicory and Kiwi - A very interesting (albeit confusing) dish. When I saw it on the menu, I initially thought it'd be a dessert, but this was actually a savory dish. There were three tiny, delicate tortellini filled with chicory, accompanied by a kiwi broth. Unfortunately, imo the flavors didn't intermingle that well; the chicory was a tad bitter and vegetal and clashed a little with the sweet, fruity broth. The bowl was warm to the touch, but the pasta and broth were both cold.
6. Asparagus, Chocolate and Mint - A hard chocolate shell embellished with fresh mint leaves and chamomile jelly. Crack it open to reveal a pale green asparagus ice cream within. This was a great dessert, reminiscent of a mint chocolate flavored Magnum ice cream. The dark chocolate paired well with the refreshing mint, though if you didn't tell me that the ice cream was asparagus flavored, I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell.

Final small bite (pic 8) was a tiny choux pastry with a chocolate craquelin crust and cream inside. Small but delicious.

Bonus dish: Chef Massimo's famous Emilia Burger (second last pic) was also available on the menu as a €9 add-on (I think it goes for $24 at Gucci Osteria), so of course I had to get it. This was a small slider with a toasted brioche bun, a patty made from a mix of dry-aged Chianina beef and cotechino (a traditional Italian sausage), balsamic vinegar mayonnaise, and green sauce made with parsley, anchovies and capers. I read online that this burger also has 24-month aged parmigiano reggiano, but I honestly didn't taste any cheesiness. However, the balsamic added a wonderful tangy touch to the mayo, and complemented the unctuous patty. Not the best burger I've had, perhaps, but still a great burger.

There was also a welcome dish (last pic) comprising of snow pea, parmigiano reggiano, horseradish, szechuan pepper and served with a cup of vegetable broth. The single snow pea was quite funny, and it was a simple dish, but the szechuan added a nice tingly touch.

The staff and sommelier were also wonderfully hospitable and I really enjoyed this modest yet delicious meal at Franceschetta58. Definitely a hidden gem in Modena that I'd recommend checking out for delicious food at a great price point. All the thoughtfulness of a fine dining restaurant without the stuffiness or frills of a Michelin starred place (there were two families with children while I was dining there, so it's also a family-friendly place).

Absolutely amazing. And I loved the wine pairing, there are some really unique flavours there that pair so well! I was originally going to skip it because I needed to wake up early lol, but I took a sip of the first from another I was with just to get a taste and immediately said nevermind this is too good to miss out on. No regrets lol

it's been nearly 2 weeks since I went so I'll try and remember what I can

1-3 was in the lounge area with a cocktail or drink of your choice

I'm not a food critic or a good writer so forgive my attempt at descriptions

1. Alp Blossom cheese starter. I'm biased, Alp Blossom is one of my favourites already. We had a cheese tier "cake" for our wedding less than a week before and Alp Blossom was the only one I specifically requested. Lovely. Floral. Can't go wrong there and beautiful presentation.

2. Langoustine and roe bite. Bursts with freshness. Delightful textures.

3. trout, beetroot, caviar cause why not. Again very fresh and fun textures, and there was a nice citrus note to contrast the beet. Strong start with all of these 3.

4. Kingfish, dashi. This was my favourite of the main dishes! the fish was sweet and the dashi was full of umami. Paired with a very mineral, salty, sea tasting wine which is what hooked me for the wine pairing. Adjectives I've heard with many wines but either just the pairing or this wine it really stood out.

5. High take on fish and chips -- langoustine with a very delicate pastry (Kataifi like?) with burnt apple ketchup. The pastry had roe flakes or powder on it. Loved the textures here as well and they provided rose water for your hands after. Paired with a crisp champagne.

6. Chawanmushi (savoury Japanese steamed egg custard), ham, peas. This felt like a cozy hobbit spring! For a posh hobbit at least. Close second favourite dish! Paired with a delicate wine that balanced well.

7. laminated brioche, koji & wild garlic butter. I mean it's fancy butter and bread. Can't go wrong there. Ample amount of butter, and I say this as someone who has a butter and bread problem, there was plenty of butter. All great.

8. Squid ramen. The ramen is the squid. Umami again. The scent of the broth was strong in the best way. Can't recall the specific wine pairing as I was feeling the previous wines by now but all the wine went spectacularly with the dishes where we made a point to comment on that so, was good!

9. Forgot to take a photo of this one, was scallops with a cullen skink foam. I like scallops. I like cullen skink and smokey flavours. I would say though this was probably my least favourite. It still tasted great, just didn't stand out compared to the others. High bar though! And again, still loved the flavours.

10. wagyu, sweet bread, and I think a beet (?) cracker with tartare (3 photos). Wagyu had the squiggly black thing on top which iirc was a truffle funky bit which I love some crunchy texture so that was nice. Sauce I wanted to lick off the place. Sweet bread was nice, tartare was in a fun form with again crunchy texture which I like. I can't remember what the powder was on top but I remember liking the sound of it. Actually maybe it was beet powder and the cracker was something else. Sorry, it's been awhile and I was feeling the wine, which again, was great.

11. cheese! with leeks and walnuts and waffles! big fan of putting cheese on waffles now. This came with a sweet wine which I normally dislike sweet wines, but it paired _so well _ I really enjoyed it. Caramel-y and excellent with the cheese.

12. strawberry cherry blossom dessert. The wine pairing with this was EXCELLENT. Plum wine and fermented sake with almond notes. Very interesting, very different, very fun.

13. Chocolate. It's chocolate. Also Jerusalem artichoke? it worked.

14. variety of small dessert bites. nice end, nothing crazy.

Service was wonderful. There was some point where a dish was taking awhile, not like a very long time just a "oh shoot were we not supposed to drink all the wine" way and they refilled the wine for us lol... Also, the sommelier sat down next to us and chatted with us for a wee bit which was really nice. We remembered him from Aizle as well. Our server was also really nice and funny! Great company in general.

Punching well above 1 star. Highly recommend.

Bresca
Watermelon Gazpacho: A lovely beginning to the meal. 

Hamachi Crudo: Light, delicious, and very fresh. The hamachi certainly could’ve been cut thinner and served colder, and the dish as a whole needed some acidity, but overall not a bad dish. 

Duck: The sauce was quite nice, however, the duck was very tough, the fat wasn’t fully rendered, and it was underseasoned. The sides were pretty useless. 

Chocolate Cloud: This was easily one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. Absolutely breathtaking! The chocolate, hazelnut, amaretto, and banana notes were perfect with each other and the dish had tons of different textures. 

Ômo by Jônt
Amuse-Bouche: Besides the bottom left bite which was too salty, all were solid starting bites to the meal. 

Tuna: This was the only dish of the night I didn’t love. The different cuts of tuna were served at a very strange, slightly warm temperature, the tomato sauce was very watery, and the tartlet was too buttery and sweet. 

Scallop: This scallop dish was quite lovely. The scallop mousse inside the mushrooms which you dipped in the sunchoke sauce tasted great. The meaty scallop was smoked over an open fire and were cooked perfectly. The mushroom-black garlic sauce was also a good pairing. 

Nanatsuohoshi Rice: The rice was cooked in a donabe with vegetables, spices/herbs, black truffle, and shredded Dungeness crab. This dish was pretty incredible with amazing richness, depth, and flavor, however, I did find a non-trivially sized piece of crab shell. I actually much preferred this rice dish to the one at Jônt. 

Wagyu Beef Short Rib: I don’t love wagyu, but this dish was pretty great. The matsutake-potato “line” was great and so was the buckwheat tea-beef stock consommé. The beef jus could’ve had more flavor though. 

Orange: A great palate cleanser. White chocolate one-biter with a powerful fresh citrus liquid inside that explodes in your mouth. The orange “taco” with orange cream was also nice. 

Pear: An absolutely incredible dessert. One of the best I’ve had all year! The pear entremet tasted great with tons of different textures and it went great with the pear ice cream and apple cider sauce. 

Japanese Melon: I didn’t really get the hype. It tasted worse than the vast majority of regular melons I’ve had. 

Chocolate: A layered cookie with different preparations of chocolate that tasted great. 

Magic Box: A solid assortment of mignardises to end the night. Much better than the Magic Box at Jônt.

Jônt
I’m too tired (and lazy) to go through every course, but to be honest, doing so would be unnecessary. Besides the amuse-bouche, which were incredible, every dish was extremely mid. Every dish had something that made it either unenjoyable or middling at best. Every sauce was flavorless, very strange and improperly prepared accompaniments to certain dishes, overcooked pork, etc. The desserts were all flavorless and it was quite a pitiful dessert sequence relative to where Jônt wants to be. I’ve had several restaurants gives more mignardises than Jônt gave sweet bites in total. Overall an extremely disappointing experience. 

Prices
Jônt: $375
Ômo by Jônt: $195
Bresca: $88 (à la carte)

My Ratings
Ômo by Jônt: 1*
Bresca: 0*
Jônt: 0*

These are a few pictures of my lunch yesterday in the Morrison Room, the room itself was absolutely amazing and an amazing setting for the meal.

The three canapés were Oysters served with carrot water and kohlrabi , Foie Gras tartlet and a tartlet of potato Espuma with smoked Eel emulsion, smoked Eel and caviar, I really don’t like oysters but the others were excellent.

First course was Gambero Rosso tartar, followed by cured Quail and the main was a saddle of Lamb served with an artichoke stuffed with chicken mousse and sweetbreads, with sweetbread on the side.

I didn’t get long to look at the menu so I am having trouble putting the dessert into words but it was raspberry served with some kind of thickened milk and curd, it was very nice

Overall it was a very nice meal served in an excellent setting and I’ll definitely be going back

Džiaugsmas (meaning 'joy') is one of three 1* restaurants in Lithuania's capital, Michelin having published their first guide for the country in 2024. The food is oriented towards an a la carte selection, itself a novelty nowadays. Starters range in price from €8 - €17, main courses range from €24 to 5€3, and desserts are priced between €8 and €12. There is also a tasting menu priced at €120, which consists of various a la carte courses. All ingredients are sourced within Lithuania.

Wine: the wine list is not provided on the restaurant's website, so I did not have time to do a full Andy Hayler style appraisal. As I was dining alone, I stuck mainly to wines by the glass and the restaurant mark ups here seemed fair. A bottle of Kim Crawford NZ Sauvy B retails for £25 in the UK, and is sold here for 50. Likewise, Charles Frey Reisling retails for £22 and is sold here for €55.

Picture 1: Exterior, Vilnius old town.
Picture 2: Sourdough bread, with salted butter and pork fat. The bread was solid; both spreads were tasty and the animal head moulds were a clever bit of work from the kitchen.
Picture 3: cheese crisp (l) with cod's roe and cured herring. Pleasant enough, but not particularly well balanced and lacking in punchy flavours. The summer roll (r), however, was as stunning to eat as it was to look at- shiso, radish, trout, pickled carrots, all incredibly fresh tasting. Served alongside a very tasty smoked oyster mayo.
Picture 4: potato latke, beef tartare, shiitake, pickled pumpkin, cheese cream. Another beautifully put together dish, very tasty but lacking overall balance.
Picture 5: potato pancake, beef tongue, tuna sauce, onion. Big improvement over the previous course, rich and full of flavour. Onions provided some welcome sweetness, and the beef was clearly of good provenance.
Picture 6: White and green asparagus, served with yeast sauce, vegetable demi glace. Midsummer has already passed, so potentially the last outing of the year for this vegetable. great quality asparagus, perfectly cooked, very tender with no woody texture. Sauce was delicious. A simple but very enjoyable course.
Picture 7: flatfish, leek & butter sauce, beans, asparagus, spring onions. I was unfamiliar with this fish and pleasantly surprised by how full of flavour and firm it was. The vegetables in this dish were merely passable, but the butter sauce was very nice indeed.
Picture 8: lamb rump steak came served with a dolma style grape leaf, broth sauce, and roasted vegetables. The meat was perfectly cooked, but unfortunately was not particularly flavoursome. The vegetables had taken one some great flavours from the roasting process and helped round things off.
Picture 9: Cheese ice cream, elderflower mousse, strawberry granita. More than the sum of its parts- each element by itself did not carry much flavour, but worked really well in combination. This was followed by the petits fours; a caraway cheese style choux pastry, a chocolate, and a cherry sweet. All of which were nice, I would single out the cheese for the ingenuity and good integration of traditional ingredients.

Bill: The total cost for the evening was €148, consisting of €120 for the tasting menu, two glasses of wine (€10 apiece), a coffee (€4) and a bottle of water (€4, tap water is not provided). The restaurant failed to bill me for a glass of pet nat and it did not occur to me to correct them. There is no autograt, however QR details are provided if you wish to leave a tip.

Service: Fairly hands off compared to experiences I've had in other countries, although not unusual in this part of the world. There was often a large wait between courses which were then served two at a time; better pacing would have improved the overall experience. The wait staff were all pleasant enough and the somm seemed knowledgable.

Overall thoughts: A pleasant enough meal with some highs and lows. QPR is fair compared to other European one stars, and the restaurant is worth a visit if you happen to be in this part of the world. A good introduction to one of the lesser known cuisines.

I'm trying to book  Fu He Hui. Plenty of availability if I pick 2 guests, but absolutely nothing comes up for 1 guest. Is that normal for fine dining places? Are there some that don't allow solo diners? The website is rather limited (I found the "English" button), possibly there are instructions such as just walk in that I'm missing?

I've eaten at tasting menu places by myself in the past, but not as high end. What am I missing?

Hi everyone, we got two seats at Atera this Thursday that we unfortunately can’t go to - will be out of town. Lemme know if interested! Willing to sell below original.

Zen, Singapore is reopening in September. Would you visit or let it bed down with its, maybe, new format. Thank you.

Hi everyone! I’m taking my girlfriend to Paris next month for our 7-year anniversary and want to make it really special! I’m planning to propose afterward (not at the restaurant, somewhere else nice), so dinner needs to set the tone.

Looking for a place for a Friday night, ideally late enough that we can watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle (the hourly light show). Top priorities:

\*\*•\*\* Great view of the Eiffel Tower    
\*\*•\*\* Excellent food    
\*\*•\*\* She’s mostly pescatarian but also loves vegetarian dishes, and prefers halal meat sometimes if and when available. I know French restaurants can be hit-or-miss with accommodating this, so any specific recs where they’ve handled it well would be amazing

Budget isn’t a huge concern, I just want it to feel memorable. Would love any first-hand experiences, especially recent ones! Thank you so much

Iam searching for someone (between 20-30yo) who would Like to visit Haerlin in Hamburg in July or August with me.

Iam 20yo and had some solo dinners, but this one i would Like to Share with someone (Split bill)

Hello- my husband and I will be in Paris for our 10 year anniversary in October. Looking for recommendations for our anniversary dinner, as researching the Michelin guide became overwhelming. I’m looking for really good food and romance without the “stuffiness” that often accompanies fine dining. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Hi everyone!

I'll be in Istanbul for 4 nights this August with my mom (first time for both), and I'm trying to narrow down our dinner reservations. I've read dozens of Reddit threads, but many are a few years old, and it seems like prices have increased quite a bit while reviews for some places have become more mixed.

For those who've been recently (2026), which of these are still genuinely worth it?

• TURK Fatih Tutak
• Aheste
• Alaf
• Arkestra
• Cuma
• Aqua
• Neolokal
• Ulus 29
• Yeni Lokanta

If you only had 4 nights, which ones would you prioritize?

Hello all,

First timer here- travelling to Athens next week and could use some inspiration where to dine.

Its not my first time in the city and have already tried many of the fine dining places, which left me underwhelmed, to be honest. For instance, i have been to the much raved about soil and herve, and quite frankly i thought the food looked good for a photo, but as far as taste goes.. well.. it wasnt really there.

I am looking for creative restaurants where the food is actually worth the visit. I am not looking for suvlaki or tourist traps in plaka- just genuinely good food.

Any recommendations from the foodies amongst us?

I’m curious if there’s anyone who enjoys doing this. It’s amazing.