Dine in style: 6 spectacular hotel restaurants

Hotel Café Royal, London

It’s a tough ask of any room to compete with a cake stand furnished with the creations of one of the world’s best pastry chefs, but Albert Adrià’s Cakes & Bubbles, a bijou, marble-clad temple to patisserie, is as delightfully tongue-in-cheek as his famous Baron Bigod cheesecake or his ‘Cork’ sponge cakes. The combination makes his dessert-only restaurant impossible not to photograph. Under the same roof, Ducasse/Darroze alumnus Alex Dilling has won two Michelin stars with precise, French-leaning creations such as his signature ‘Hunter Chicken’, served in an unmistakably high-end mezzanine space clad in plush, soothing neutrals, overlooking Regent Street. Booking is essential; there are only 34 seats.

The Ned NoMad, New York, USA

Don’t forget to look up—the spectacular visuals begin before you enter The Ned NoMad, with its towering beaux arts facade. Inside, art deco interiors don’t miss a beat, lighting finds cheekbones you didn’t know you had, and menus are stuffed with things you want to eat and photograph. At the hotel’s Cecconi’s restaurant, the tables’ thick white cloths, with hand-chipped mosaic and terrazzo beneath, are made for a flat-lay photo op: Spicy spaghetti with Maine lobster and the branzino are both photogenic candidates. Roll up to the Little Ned cocktail bar for a late-night pit stop at the 1920s-inspired counter for a lobster roll, a dill pickle martini and a killer view of the Empire State Building.

Hotel Chinzanso, Tokyo

Tokyo’s frenetic pace slows to walking at the Hotel Chinzanso, set within a traditional Japanese garden. Take your pick from its seasonal carousel of backdrops: snowy camellias in the winter, cherry blossoms in spring, fireflies in the summer, and a blaze of maples, oak and zelkova in autumn. Most visitors head up to the Tokyo Sea of Clouds restaurant to catch the famous view of the garden’s three-story pagoda emerging from its cloak of mist, but don’t miss the tea-house-style Ryotei Kinsui. Here, the forest and serene pond make a Hiroshige painting of every window to rival the carefully choreographed sequence of kaiseki—almost too exquisite to eat.

Santa Teresa Hotel RJ – MGallery, Rio de Janeiro

Perched above the bustle of Rio’s beach scene in Santa Teresa, an arty hillside neighbourhood, RJ – MGallery gathers design influences from its 19th-century colonial history and the crafts of local artisans. There’s a lot to love about its restaurant, Térèze, from the simple exposed brick and reclaimed wood furnishings to a glass-fronted wine cellar and some fine cooking dishes built on French foundations, presented with Brazilian flair. But it’s the view that’s the real showstopper, spanning the luxuriant mango and apricot trees across the city to Guanabara Bay beyond. Your photo opportunities range from a sunset caipirinha on the bar terrace (Brazilian rums are a specialty) or any of the menu’s creative desserts as Rio’s cityscape lights up at night.

Paradero Todos Santos, Mexico

Paradero Todos Santos is a photographer’s paradise, especially at sunset when the desert light plays off the hotel’s brutalist lines—and the reclaimed wood, concrete, clay and sand of Tenoch’s open-air dining space. You can pitch up and eat at low tables with your toes in the sand under the stars, but the best seats are at the communal bar around the open kitchen. There you can watch chef Eduardo Ríos and his team apply the wood fire of their Oaxacan clay oven to fresh produce from the surrounding gardens and fields, and the Pacific not far beyond. Across the counter come plates of chocolata clams (named for their rich brown colour) with ruby-red guajillo oil, soft-shell crab piled on heirloom corn tortillas, a chocolate taco with black garlic panna cotta, and showstopping torrijas (French toast).

Hotel Sanders, Copenhagen

Former ballet dancer Alexander Kølpin has hit a design sweet spot at this perfectly located boutique hotel, softening a sophisticated mid-century Danish aesthetic with wicker and rattan, plush upholstery, bistro-style furniture and greenery. No matter where you choose to eat, or cast your camera around, you can’t fail to find details to delight—everything has been meticulously sourced, from the water carafes to the martini glasses. This is food you want to eat—on furniture you want to take home. We recommend half a dozen garnished Gillardeau oysters and a glass of Ruinart served on a mosaic-topped table.