6 of the best alfresco restaurants in the world: from Miami to Tokyo, here’s where food is truly best enjoyed outdoors
Did somebody say “alfresco?”
It is a truth universally acknowledged that food and drink taste better when eaten outside. Maybe it is the primeval joys of huddling around the fragrant flames of a barbecue, the delight of the first cooling sip of bubbly in the afternoon or the undeniable romance of dining in the moonlight.
Although some countries do it better and more naturally than others, if there is a better way to spend time in the summer than eating and drinking with friends in the fresh air then we are yet to find it.
These six eateries, collected from the far-flung corners of the Earth, balance ambience, scenery and culinary prowess to perfection, ensuring the strong chance of a smug Instagram post.
1. Castellana San Giovanni
Saluzzo, Italy
We start – how could we not? – in la bella Italia, the nation that coined “alfresco” as a far sexier way of saying “outdoors.”
The name Castellana will be familiar to Hong Kong gourmands thanks to the acclaimed Italian restaurant in Central but a very different setting awaits diners at its sister restaurant in Piedmont, northwestern Italy.
A fragrant, flower-decked cloister and imposing bell tower provide the backdrop in the 15th century monastery of San Giovanni, perched in the charming hilltop town of Saluzzo. It is the sort of place where, if you’ve watched Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 1986 film The Name of the Rose, you’d half expect to see Sean Connery’s character pacing the courtyard as he investigates an unsolved murder mystery.
Chef Enrico Nani’s menu treads the line between traditional Piedmontese cuisine and the contemporary, in plates such as risotto of Carnaroli rice cooked in broth, creamed with butter and Parmesan then finished with thyme essence and a light dusting of chocolate.
A cellar of knockout local drops from Barolo to Barbaresco completes the experience.
2. Asador Alfonso
Cavite, the Philippines
One of the most striking restaurants to open anywhere in 2024, Asador Alfonso lies 70km south of Manila, but feels a million miles from anywhere. This design marvel by architect Carlo Calma looks like a spaceship landed in the jungle, a celestial concept in concrete and glass, mirroring the pyramid topography of Taal volcano, just 16km away.
At 311 metres high, Taal may be the world’s smallest active volcano, but it is also the Philippines’ second-most active, which has led to spectacular backdrops, especially for wedding photos – as one happy couple discovered in 2020.
The spacious, manicured grounds and palm trees surrounding the terrace at Asador Alfonso make for an attractive, sun-dappled background, too, while the long pool creates an interplay of light and shadow.
It is the perfect setting to indulge in multi-award-winning chef Chele Gonzalez’s food. The maestro from Cantabria, in northern Spain, has created a traditional Spanish roasting house known as an asador, where everything is cooked over an open fire, thanks to a four-tonne beast of a wood-fired oven that was imported by boat from Spain.
Menus celebrate the finest Spanish ingredients as well as those from the Philippines and across Asia. The Carabinero prawns are voluminous, sweet and demand to have their shells sucked, while tuna with confit onion makes for more top-notch seafood. Most importantly, save room for the fork-tender lechazo roasted baby lamb.
3. Brooklands by Claude Bosi
The Peninsula London, Britain
There are plenty of spots that afford great views of London, but nothing like those offered by Brooklands by Claude Bosi, which take in the verdant landscape of Buckingham Palace’s gardens, the elegant expanse of Hyde Park and seemingly every major landmark on the horizon, from the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral to the London Eye, and even the soaring arch above Wembley Stadium.
The rooftop restaurant at The Peninsula London can be found in swanky Belgravia, where your fellow diners are a mix of locals, hotel guests and other well-heeled visitors.
Brooklands, which opened last October, is named for the famous racetrack in Surrey that was the birthplace of British motor racing as well as the country’s aviation industry; so your route up to the top floor will take you past a vintage Napier-Railton racing car, while a scale model of Concorde has been suspended from the ceiling of the main dining room.
If that weren’t enough of a draw, the elegant cuisine from Lyon-born chef Claude Bosi was awarded two Michelin stars in the restaurant’s first year thanks to dishes celebrating largely British ingredients.
If Exmoor caviar with Roscoff onion and duck jelly doesn’t inspire, then maybe guinea fowl with sea beet and Scottish razor clams will do the trick. Make sure to save room for decadent desserts. Reservations, understandably, are essential.
4. Club Lounge
Palace Hotel Tokyo, Japan
Another alfresco location with royal connections can be found in the Japanese capital’s Marunouchi district, at the Palace Hotel Tokyo. At the terrace of the hotel’s Club Lounge, guests are routinely wowed by views over the moats and gardens of the Imperial Palace, the home of Emperor Naruhito which sits on the former site of Edo Castle, the stronghold of the Tokugawa shogunate.
The sprawling palace grounds can be gazed upon at leisure from the 19th-floor perch of the Club Lounge, which also offers views of the city’s skyscrapers, and if one is very lucky, the snow-capped Mount Fuji.
Breakfast, a typically elegant Japanese take on afternoon tea and evening co*cktails can all be had within the Zen surroundings of the lounge. As the sun sets and the city’s skyline lights up, the terrace truly comes into its own, with Tokyo’s thrilling mix of modernity and history laid out below you.
5. Rosewood Matakauri
Queenstown, New Zealand
On the shores of Lake Wakatipu, the small town of Queenstown, on New Zealand’s South Island, sits in one of the planet’s most extraordinary landscapes, meaning that dining alfresco takes on a whole new dimension as the colours and scenery are in a constant state of flux.
It is home to the tranquil Rosewood Matakauri, which overlooks snow-capped peaks and a mountain range aptly named The Remarkables. In the spring and summer, the hotel’s expansive terrace is visited by bees and butterflies feasting on wildflowers and other flora, adding to the sense that this is a little pocket of Eden at the end of the Earth.
Dishes from head chef Jonathan Rogers champion stellar produce from the surrounding Otago region, and are paired with local wines or house co*cktails. On the menu are the likes of Big Glory Bay salmon with avocado, radish, citrus and chilli vinaigrette, while desserts, in true Kiwi style, routinely feature locally harvested honey.
6. La Mar by Gastón Acurio
Mandarin Oriental, Miami, the United States
Forty years after Crockett and Tubbs first headlined Miami Vice, the city still has its cachet of cool. The speedboat- and superyacht-filled waters of Biscayne Bay provide the perfect foreground to Miami’s skyscrapers, all of which can be taken in from the huge terrace at La Mar by Gastón Acurio in the Mandarin Oriental, Miami.
The hotel is located on Brickell Key, an island connected to Downtown Miami by a causeway, so as night begins to fall and a cosmopolitan crowd settles in for co*cktails and dinner, you can’t help but feel that you are in one of the city’s most sought-after spots.
This impression is reinforced by chef Acurio, one of Peru’s leading culinary lights who riffs on upscale Peruvian classics. There are the ceviche and smoky, freshly grilled anticuchos skewers aplenty, but don’t miss the Chinese-Peruvian fusion dishes known as chaufa – a play on chaofan (fried rice). Iterations such as chaufa aeropuerto come highly recommended, featuring lap cheong, char siu, noodles and more, in case anyone far from home is craving a little taste of Hong Kong amid the sultry Florida heat.
