OLTRE: Where to Eat Next

Tasmania for Scottish cuisine? Or London for Thai? Plus Switzerland, Mexico, Chile and Beyond: These are our 10 favorite new restaurants this year.

Odin Rocha at Pirules Garden Kitchen. Photo by Brad A. Johnson

Dish at Pirules Garden Kitchen by Brad A. Johnson

Odin Rocha's tenure at Mezcal in Los Cabos propelled his name into heated conversations about Mexico's next It chef. And that buzz will surely grow louder now that he's returned to Rosewood San Miguel de Allende, the resort (and town) that originally put him on the map, to launch Pirules Garden Kitchen. The laid-back indoor/outdoor, freestanding restaurant sits atop a grassy knoll behind the hotel, surrounded by towering jacarandas, olive trees and outdoor fireplaces - with a direct line of sight to the town's iconic Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel. Rocha cooks over mesquite charcoal, and most of his provisions come from farmers within a 60-mile radius. Some of it he picks himself, just steps from the kitchen. Local chickens get slathered in red chile adobo and baked until breathtakingly supple, served in clay pots alongside handmade tortillas straight off the griddle - an elegant riff on barbacoa. He takes an even more refined approach with fideo seco, a popular Mexican comfort food, which he infuses with beef short rib and tops with a cured egg yolk and fresh local cheese. And when pristine red snapper arrives from the coast, usually Guerrero or Nayarit, Rocha grills the fish and pairs it with coconut rice and a fistful of quelites (herbs and weeds). rosewoodhotels.com

Interior dining at Neptune's Grotto.

Tortelloni at Neptune’s Grotto

Neptune's Grotto or Dante's inferno? Officially, it's the former, but this clubby new restaurant near the harbor - from one of Sydney's edgiest dining groups - has a little of Column A (as the Roman god of the waves peers at diners from the center of the room) and a little of Column B (animal-print walls that glow a fiery orange). On the plates, however, the vision is clear: decadent, slick Northern Italian dishes such as cotoletta alla Milanese, agnolotti del plin and panna cotta with aged balsamic. neptunesgrotto.com

Alba Farnos Vinals at Auberge de l’Abbaye Montheron. Photo by Anne Claire Heraud.

Dish at Auberge de l’Abbaye Montheron. Photo by Anne Claire Heraud.

Auberge de l'Abbaye Montheron recently opened in a former Cistercian monastery in the foothills of Jorat Nature Park, a 10-minute taxi ride from Lausanne (on the French-speaking side of Switzerland). The new destination restaurant is run by chef Alba Farnos Vinals and her partner, Paul Marsden, who takes charge of the wine cellar. While the chef is Catalan, she cut her teeth in Paris. Her dishes change according to the whims of Mother Nature and the growing seasons of Switzerland's Central Plateau. Everything is hyperlocal: Black Angus beef from a farm down the road, fish from the nearby lake, and - the piece de resistance - cheese produced within the bounds of the surrounding forest. The wine list, dominated by natural wines, takes diners on a countrywide tour, unveiling chasselas from Vaud, petite arvine from Valais and pinot noir from Graubunden. montheron.ch

Chef Sarah Cicolini at SantoPalato. Photo by Guerrieri Fotografia.

Two ways with duck at SantoPalato. Photo by Guerrieri Fotografia.

One of the most compelling arbiters of contemporary Roman cuisine, chef Sarah Cicolini has moved her cult trattoria, SantoPalato, to a larger, airier space in Via Gallia. The decor remains charmingly retro - tiled floors, marble tables, French bistro chairs - but the food is as bold as ever. Expect a fearless celebration of Rome's quinto quarto (offal) tradition, with dishes like smoked beef heart and tomato-braised tripe alongside pitch-perfect pastas and daring drink pairings. (Yes, that's sake with your carbonara.) A must-stop for anyone serious about eating in the capital. santopalatoroma.it

Interiors at P72

Patina Osaka's signature restaurant, P72, pays homage to Japan's 72 micro seasons, or shichijuni-ko. Surrounded by organic gardens, the indoor/outdoor, zero-waste restaurant is the passion project of Australian chef and culinary director Antony Scholtmeyer, formerly of Capella Bangkok, Patina's big sister. At the core of his open kitchen, Scholtmeyer maintains a fermentation lab - an ever-changing menagerie of glass jars filled with sakura leaves (for wrapping oysters), preserved grapes, mushrooms and more - where the chef also leads weekly workshops for fermentation-curious guests. Outside in the sun-dappled garden, staff carefully pluck hyperlocal bounties, which they transform into bright, beautiful and inventive plant-forward dishes, often involving seafood. The lemon koji risotto with garden peas, chive flowers, sea bream and poached fennel is sublime. patinahotels.com/osaka

The bar at Epicurus. Photo by Francesco Grasso.

Oysters at Epicurus. Photo by Francesco Grasso.

Epicurus, a new fine-dining Nordic restaurant from Lars Seier Christensen (Geranium and Alchemis) and Mads Bottger (Dragsholm Castle Gourmet) delivers a first for Copenhagen: an adjoining jazz-lounge theater with soaring ceilings and oak-paneled walls where guests settle into velvety tub chairs around small marble tables, eyes turned toward the stage as musicians perform. Waiters quietly top up Champagne and deliver some of the city's finest cocktails - among them a blend of strawberry gin, elderflower and fig. And on the plate: Chef Oliver Bergholt offers five- and eight-course tasting menus as well as a la carte bites like oysters and truffle cream or Iberico-ham-filled gougeres. epicurus.dk

Bob Piechniczek and Jillian McInnes at Oirthir. Photo by Adam Gibson.

Fish dish at Oirthir. Photo by Adam Gibson.

First things first: It's pronounced OR-heid. The spelling, Oirthir, is Gaelic for "seacoast," and the name fits this setting like an Australian Speedo. It's a minimalist, 20-seat cabin perched on a downy slope overlooking Tasmania's Marion Bay on the sparsely populated, rural eastern side of the island. At the seven-course lunchtime tasting - and for a simpler three-course supper - spouses/French-trained chefs Jillian McInnes and Bob Piechniczek explore the edible ecological kinship between Tassie and their native Scotland: oysters with wild samphire (what we call sea beans), a smoked and abalone-enhanced Cullen skink (fish chowder), soda bread rippled with seaweed... The handsome wooden knives for the accompanying butter were carved by Piechniczek's father. oirthir.com

Chef John Chantarasak. Photo by Charlie McKay.

Candied beet and Comice pear at AngloThai. Photo by Charlie McKay.

British-born chef John Chantarasak celebrates his Thai roots with AngloThai, a dichotomous dining experience that is both precious (pristinely designed tasting menu) and laid-back. Just blocks off Hyde Park, the Marylebone locale makes for an ideal extended lunch or date-night dinner. Expect lots of shellfish and plenty of spice on pretty, well-paced plates. The curry dishes are standouts. anglothai.co.uk

Bob Piechniczek and Jillian McInnes at Oirthir. Photo by Adam Gibson.

Fish dish at Oirthir. Photo by Adam Gibson.

Two young Atacamenos, Sergio Armella and Carolina Colque, opened a restaurant in rural Ayllu Poconche that has all of Chile abuzz. Using a mix of ancestral and modern techniques, Ephedra reimagines the one-of-a-kind flavors of the driest desert on Earth through short tastings paired with still-undiscovered chardonnays and pinot noirs from Northern Chile. Expect trout from the Juana River cured in native halophyte cachiyuyo that grows in the salt marshes and dried chanar fruit roasted in hot sand to make a panna-cotta-like dessert. ephedra.cl

Ephedra owners Carolina Colque and Sergio Armella.

Grilled river trout at Ephedra.

Two young Atacamenos, Sergio Armella and Carolina Colque, opened a restaurant in rural Ayllu Poconche that has all of Chile abuzz. Using a mix of ancestral and modern techniques, Ephedra reimagines the one-of-a-kind flavors of the driest desert on Earth through short tastings paired with still-undiscovered chardonnays and pinot noirs from Northern Chile. Expect trout from the Juana River cured in native halophyte cachiyuyo that grows in the salt marshes and dried chanar fruit roasted in hot sand to make a panna-cotta-like dessert. ephedra.cl

Cofounder Htet Myet Oo at Namsu.

Dish at Namsu.

What happens when the flavors of Northern Myanmar's Shan region meet the conviviality of a Japanese izakaya? Bangkok's new Namsu holds the clue. Opened in the recently renovated Baan Trok Tua Ngork building by the team behind Yangon mainstay Rangoon Tea House, this dimly lit dining room serves elevated Shan staples such as pork-brain pate, tea-leaf salad and sticky-rice-stuffed chicken alongside Bangkok's largest collection of artisanal sakes. Leave room for dessert, as the Basque cheesecake with fish-sauce caramel is a knockout. @namsu.bkk