The most memorable dining destinations on the planet today

Dining has always been about more than just food. Outstanding service, ambience or company can make a delicious meal all the more memorable – and around the world, innovative chefs and daring restaurateurs are finding new ways to create once-in-a-lifetime culinary experiences. Whether you’re feasting while floating above city lights, nestled in an ancient cave, or submerged beneath the ocean waves, you’ll find that these unique restaurants take experiential dining to new, extraordinary levels. Come hungry – and ready for adventure.

1. FlyDining

Locations around the world

Picture this: you’re tucking into a delicious dinner on a warm, clear evening, a gentle breeze blowing through your hair and thousands of lights twinkling beneath you – while you’re suspended 50 metres in the air. A meal with FlyDining gives an entirely new meaning to the term “al fresco”. 

Guests are strapped into secure harnesses at a floating table and lifted into the sky, where they can enjoy a multi-course meal with panoramic views of their surroundings. Set to launch in Hong Kong later this year, this thrilling dining experience is already available in over 60 locations worldwide, including Dallas Fort-Worth, Dubai and Paris.

2. Supperclub.tube 

London, UK 

If you’re searching for a uniquely London experience, look no further. Riding the immersive dining experience trend, three nights a week, Supperclub.Tube takes over two decommissioned 1967 London Underground train carriages and transforms them into an intimate pop-up restaurant. 

The experience is a masterclass in juxtaposition: the familiar rattle of your daily commute is replaced by the gentle clink of glasses; the harsh fluorescent lighting swapped for a warm, ambient glow. The tube carriage itself resides in a museum in Walthamstow, Northeast London, so diners can go and see it empty on Sundays, when the museum is open to the public.

3. Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant 

Mombasa, Kenya 

Hidden inside a cave thought to be more than 120,000 years old on southern Kenya’s Diani Beach, Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant serves up a dining experience straight out of a folktale. Diners feast on fresh seafood and other local ingredients under a dome of coral rock, part of a vast cave complex reputed to penetrate miles inland. 

While a natural opening in the centre of the dome allows guests to sit beneath bright blue or star-strewn skies, the addition of a retractable roof ensures that you can still enjoy a memorable meal here during a downpour.

4. Ithaa Undersea Restaurant

Rangali Island, Maldives

Ever dream of being transported to an underwater sanctuary, sipping wine as tropical fish, turtles and rays swim by? The Ithaa Undersea Restaurant in the Maldives makes that dream a reality. Boasting 180-degree views of vibrant coral gardens, this award-winning establishment at the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island is the world’s first fully underwater restaurant. 

As you dine, a graceful ballet of sharks, Napoleonic wrasse and countless technicolour reef fish forms the evening's entertainment. In this mesmerising environment, the refined fusion-style cuisine becomes almost secondary to the main event: complete immersion in an alien, beautiful world.

5. Fangweng Restaurant

Yichang, Chinese Mainland

Carved directly into a natural cliff face above the Yangtze River's roaring Xiling Gorge, Fangweng Restaurant offers what might be China's most exhilarating dinner with a view. Guests reach the restaurant via a narrow cliffside walkway that juts precariously over a 200-metre-high drop. 

Once seated, you can delight in local Hubei specialities such as hot dry noodles and freshwater fish – caught straight from the river that gushes far below. To add to the excitement, you’ll be able to see adrenaline-seekers bungee jumping on the other side of the river, an unexpected spectacle that complements the restaurant’s daring location.

Happy Valley, Yemingzhu Road, Xiling District, Yichang, Hubei

6. Labasin Waterfalls Restaurant

Tiaong, Philippines

There’s casual dining, and then there’s the Labasin Waterfalls Restaurant where formality gives way to pure, unadulterated fun. This secluded outdoor eatery in the south of Quezon is situated right at the foot of a man-made waterfall, inviting patrons to soak their feet in the cool, cascading water as they tuck into authentic, hearty Filipino cuisine. Though part of the Villa Escudero Villa Escudero Plantations and Resort , the restaurant welcomes non-hotel guests as well. After eating, complete the experience by dunking your head in the waterfall. Trust us, it’s impossible to resist the temptation.

7. Sounds of Silence

Petermann, Australia

For a truly wild dining experience, head into the wilds of Australia’s Red Centre, where the Ayers Rock Resort wows with an immersive bush-tucker feast called Sounds of Silence . Perched on a dune overlooking the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, guests savour dishes featuring native bush ingredients like kangaroo, wattleseed and muntrie berries under the crystal-clear stars of the outback. As daylight fades, the “sound of silence” is broken by the resonant hum of a didgeridoo. After dinner, a resident astronomer unveils the wonders of the night sky – a humbling encounter with one of the planet's oldest living cultures.