What are the top destinations in the world for travelers who plan their trips around their next great meal? The honest answer is that the best food travel has very little to do with the restaurants everyone already knows — and almost everything to do with access, locality, and the story behind what’s on the plate. Below, we share the experiences and destinations our travelers return from raving about, drawn from the corners of the globe where a meal becomes the memory of the entire trip.

At The Legacy Untold Travel, memorable food and drink are consistently a top priority for our travelers — whether it’s the perfect hidden food stall in Hanoi or Michelin-starred omakase in Tokyo. Our Experience Design team obsessively scours the planet for the most spectacular culinary experiences to weave into the journeys we create. One specific member, Watson Brown, left his post as Wine Director at New York’s Eleven Madison Park to join us in the search. Here are a few of the experiences that consistently rise to the top.

1. WHERE CAN YOU LEARN FROM A TRUE MASTER OF THEIR CRAFT?

Tokyo. Spending one-on-one time with a maestro generations in the making is one of the greatest windows into a culture a traveler can experience, and there is no one more fastidious than an itamae, or Japanese sushi master. We can arrange for an itamae to walk you through Tokyo’s fish market to select the morning’s catch, then teach you to prepare it himself. For something rarer still, we can grant access to a geisha house — typically reserved for members only — for a private dinner hosted by those who train a lifetime to become some of the world’s finest hosts and entertainers. The point isn’t the meal alone; it’s the time spent beside someone who has devoted their life to a single craft.

2. WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO EAT LIKE A LOCAL IN A NEW CITY?

Skip the tourist traps and the social media sensations and find a guide who actually lives there. A street food tour with a local is the fastest route to the most sensational specialties in the most unassuming locations. A few of our favorites:

• Ho Chi Minh City — hop on the back of a vintage Vespa to track down the city’s best undiscovered banh mi.
• Istanbul — forgo anything less than the hidden döner cart or the lokanta (a local diner) that only neighbors know.
• Tokyo — Spend an insider-guided night on the town through winding alleys and hidden speakeasies in the yet-undiscovered outer district of Sangenjaya.

The guide is what makes it work. They keep you (and your stomach) on the right side of the back streets while leading you to the food worth crossing a city for.

3. CAN YOU FIND WORLD-CLASS DINING ON SAFARI?

Yes — and it’s one of the most overlooked food destinations on earth. The best lodges go to extraordinary lengths to make the meals as memorable as the game viewing. One hidden gem sits in the middle of South Africa’s Kalahari: after a day in the bush, guests step through the door of an unassuming shed and descend a dimly lit spiral staircase into a subterranean speakeasy restaurant. There, renowned South African chef Luke Dale Roberts serves a theatrical tasting menu focused on sustainability and hyper-locality. How you find it is a story best left for the trip itself.

4. WHICH CITIES HAVE THE MOST COVETED RESERVATIONS – AND ARE THEY WORTH IT?

For a honeymoon, a milestone birthday, an anniversary, or no reason at all, a handful of exceptional meals can anchor an entire journey. The catch is that the best tables are booked months out, if you can get them at all. Our culinary connections run deep in the dining capitals of the world — Lima, Cape Town, and Tokyo among them — where we can secure the reservation you’ve been dreaming of and seat you at the table of some of our favorite chefs for the occasion you’re celebrating.

5. WHERE CAN YOU EAT SOMEWHERE GENUINELY REMOTE AND SPECTACULAR?

Going off the grid no longer means freeze-dried food. Some of the most extraordinary meals happen in places you have to work to reach…Denali National Park, Alaska — board an Otter for a flightsee of Mt. Denali, land on a glacier, and sit down to a pristine picnic of local Alaskan fare prepared by a private chef at the Sheldon Chalet. Or discover Ahuriri Valley, New Zealand — ride by horseback to The Lindis’ Black Diamond for champagne and seasonal canapés in the remote reaches of the Southern Alps or even, the Great Barrier Reef, Australia — sail to your own private beach at Lizard Island with a pack of your favorite snacks and a bottle of Australian wine, and play castaway for the day.

6. CAN YOU CATCH, HUNT OR FORAGE YOUR OWN MEAL?

For travelers who want their meal to be the reward for the adventure, you can compose a gourmet plate straight from the source. Free-dive for fresh abalone or lobster off the South Australian coast, or join a traditional bow-and-arrow hunt with the Hadzabe people in Tanzania — all expertly guided, of course. Whether you choose to eat with the Hadzabe or not, watching the oldest hunter-gather tribe on earth hunt a truly wild antelope as they have for thousands of years teaches you everything you need to know about what free range organic meat should mean. And if you are feeling adventurous, you might just discover that food tastes different when you’ve earned it.

7. WHERE IS FARM-TO-TABLE SIMPLY A WAY OF LIFE?

Culinary historians often date the modern farm-to-table movement to Alice Waters and the 1971 opening of Chez Panisse in Berkeley. But in much of the world, there has never been any other way. Try explaining the concept to a New Zealander and they’ll likely ask whether there’s another way to cook at all. In the Galapagos, the biodiversity is so abundant that chefs on a private island cruise work with an almost limitless local pantry — more than 300 varieties of potato alone.

Planning a trip around food

No matter your appetite, your next journey can be built entirely around the table — seen through the eyes of a local, composed of the most uniquely local ingredients, or seated at one of the world’s best restaurants. Often it’s all of the above.

The Legacy Untold Travel designs bespoke journeys across all seven continents for travelers who want to experience a sense of place through their taste buds. Our work draws on award-winning travel designers, deep relationships with hoteliers and chefs, and behind-the-velvet-rope access to exclusive events and the tables that are otherwise impossible to book.

To begin planning a culinary journey of your own, visit www.thelegacyuntold.com/travel/ or reach out to the team at [email protected].