Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin - Bangkok, Thailand

Located in Siam Kempinski Hotel, Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin is a sister restaurant to Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen by Henrik Yde-Andersen, the second restaurant in the world to earn a Michelin star cooking Thai food (after Nahm). Sra Bua introduces us to authentic Thai food with modern flair, which turned out to be quite a remarkable dining experience.

 

Ryozanpaku 京・百万遍 梁山泊 - Kyoto, Japan

Our host is the 2-star Michelin Chef: Kenichi Hashimoto, a very humorous and humble man. We were greeted by Mrs Hashimoto dressed in kimono at the wooden craved entrance, entering a Japanese garden, a small pathway under a canopy of beautiful pastel pink cherry tree in full bloom, leading us to the doorstep of the restaurant. There's a big hand-crafted communal table in the centre, wooden racks on the wall and we were seated at the counter bar, facing the open kitchen.

Yotaro Honten 与太呂 本店 - Osaka, Japan

On our hunt for Michelin restaurants in Japan, we've decided on Yotaro Honten solely based on our curiosity. I was wondering how good can tempura be to make it a 2-star restaurant?

Yotaro Honten - A 2-star Michelin restaurant, specialized in Kansai style tempura, serving since 1921. A restaurant full of integrity, serving their local style tempura fried to precision, with impressive service. 

Ryuhei-Soba - Kyoto, Japan

Ryuhei-Soba

A 1-star Michelin restaurant located in a tranquil town slightly away from Kyoto city. It took us quite a while to get here; the map we printed online plus the one we got from the train station didn't help much but thanks to the pocket wi-fi I rented and Google Maps, after almost 15 minutes of walk from the train station, we finally arrived at Ryuhei-soba's doorstep. It's a petite restaurant sat between local houses. I was a little grumpy already, having to walk at a relatively fast speed as it's passed our reservation time due to our earlier journey in Nara (I got a little too obsessed with the deers in Nara haha), my grumpiness disappeared the moment we were welcomed by the hostess. The genuine Japanese greetings and welcome never failed to put a smile on my face.