Trip.Gourmet, the leading food and travel guide under Trip.com Group, has unveiled its 2026 Global Restaurant Selection List at its flagship event, the Trip.Gourmet Global Restaurant Rankings and Dining Awards Ceremony, held at The Londoner Macao.
This year’s theme, “New Coordinates for Taste”, celebrates the world’s top restaurants across 68 countries, spotlighting over 18,000 dining destinations. The list, compiled from a blend of user reviews and expert insights, showcases the finest establishments in each category.
The announcement comes amid the growing trend of culinary tourism. According to Trip.com Group data, food-related searches have seen a 30% year-on-year increase globally.
This year’s theme, “New Coordinates for Taste”, celebrates the world’s top restaurants across 68 countries, spotlighting over 18,000 dining destinations. The list, compiled from a blend of user reviews and expert insights, showcases the finest establishments in each category.
The announcement comes amid the growing trend of culinary tourism. According to Trip.com Group data, food-related searches have seen a 30% year-on-year increase globally.
Sunny Sun, Vice President of Trip.com Group and CEO of Trip.Gourmet, shared, “Today’s travellers are no longer just eating their way through destinations, they’re using cuisine as a compass. The list reflects this shift by offering not only rankings but also cultural connection, storytelling, and curated discovery.”
A New Blueprint for Culinary Discovery
A major strategic upgrade of the platform was announced, reflecting the changing dynamics of global food tourism and travellers’ evolving dining preferences.
The ranking list has been streamlined from its original four thematic categories (Fine Dining, Local Restaurants, Light Bites, and Views & Experiences) into three targeted themes:
- Fine Dining: Featuring the prestigious Black Diamond, Diamond, and Platinum tiers.
- Must-Visit Restaurants: Integrating the best of local gems, unique experiences, and casual bites.
- Hometown Cuisines: A brand-new category designed to help overseas travellers and expatriates find familiar flavours that evoke a sense of home.
Currently available in Mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia), the Hometown Cuisines list features regional categories such as Japanese Cuisine, Korean Cuisine, and Southeast Asian Cuisine.
Personalised by user location, the list helps travellers find regional dishes in global cities. For example, Korean users in Shanghai can now discover top-rated Korean restaurants in the city.
This is based on insights that nearly half of outbound tourists have stated they will actively seek out restaurants offering their hometown’s speciality dishes.
Restaurant List Highlights and Key Trends
The latest rankings highlight the best dining experiences across major culinary cities worldwide, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Macao, Singapore, Copenhagen, Paris, Dubai, Bangkok and Tokyo.
Renowned high-end restaurants, such as Plénitude (France), SÉZANNE (Japan), La Pergola (Italy), Odette (Singapore), and Caprice (Hong Kong), dominate the Fine Dining – Black Diamond category. Many of these top-tier establishments are also affiliated with prestigious luxury hotels, including Four Seasons, The Ritz-Carlton, Shangri-La, and Mandarin Oriental, ensuring a premium all-in-one dining experience.
Other key culinary trends include:
- Sustainability: Many top restaurants are adopting environmentally conscious practices such as zero-waste cooking and farm-to-table sourcing. Examples include Narisawa (Japan) and Vanderlyle (United Kingdom), renowned for their focus on local, seasonal ingredients.
- Fusion Cuisine: Sola in Paris blends Japanese techniques with French influences, while Potong in Bangkok fuses Thai-Chinese flavours, showcasing the rise of fusion dining.
- Vegetarian & Plant-Based Dining: With plant-based dining gaining momentum, high-end restaurants like Lamdre (Beijing) and Cookies Cream (Berlin) are making haute cuisine more accessible to vegetarian and vegan diners.
- Contemporary & Molecular Gastronomy: In Europe, Alchemist (Copenhagen) and Noma (Denmark) are leading the charge, while Junsik (Seoul), Ling Long (Shanghai) and Labyrinth (Singapore) are making waves in Asia.
- Japanese Flair: Japan’s sushi mastery shines at Sushi Harasho (Osaka), while Matsukawa (Tokyo) epitomises refined kaiseki dining.
- A Celebration of Chinese Cuisine: A significant portion of high-end Chinese restaurants make the list, showcasing regional specialities, including新荣记 (Xīnróngjì) and龙景轩 (Lóngjǐng Xuān).
- Immersive dining: Unique dining experiences like Le Petit Chef (Kuala Lumpur), underwater Ocean Restaurant (Singapore) and Elisa Floating Restaurant in Vietnam, prove that atmosphere plays a key role in dining.
New Features and Experiences for Fork-First Travel
Trip.Gourmet continues to elevate culinary tourism with its suite of offerings. Users can make direct reservations at over 50,000 restaurants worldwide, thanks to seamless integration with leading global booking platforms. Food rankings are also accessible via AI-powered assistant TripGenie and planning hub Trip.Planner on the Trip.com platform, making it easier than ever to weave in dining experiences in your travel itinerary.
Beyond reservations, Trip.Gourmet is launching new “travel + food” products that pair dining experiences with hotels or guided tours, enriching the journey for fork-first travellers.
Other highlights include celebrity-led food tours in a campaign known as Trip.Gourmet: The Chef’s Table, offering culinary journeys hosted by influential chefs and personalities, and the “Taste of China“ immersive restaurant experience, a new Shanghai-based, 90-minute dining show that brings together signature dishes from China’s seven major culinary regions through panoramic visuals and live performances.
These new experiences underscore Trip.com Group’s commitment to creative destination storytelling, positioning food as a powerful lens through which to explore culture, memory, and place.
