5 top restaurants for winter culinary delights

Excellent, impressive, unforgettable flavours – we present culinary highlights found in cold climes.

On today’s menu: five restaurants in the enchanting winter destinations of New York, Aspen, Spitsbergen, Stockholm, and Gothenburg.

What began as a small restaurant in Paris in 1972 became an institution in Manhattan in 1986: Le Bernardin. Fish is the star here – everything else plays a supporting role. Impeccable technique, French grandeur, and radical respect for the product have made the restaurant a global benchmark for seafood. While the city is constantly reinventing itself, Le Bernardin remains a fixed star – with its award-winning design, private lounge, wine bar, private dining salon, and chef’s tasting menu.

le​-bernardin​.com

Anyone who stops by the Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro will quickly notice that Aspen’s Cloud Nine follows its own laws of nature. The day starts innocently enough with raclette, fondue, and a touch of Switzerland – and often ends with a champagne shower. While you defend your steak tartare against the high altitude air on the terrace, the DJ plays inside and transforms the cosy Alpine hut into an après-ski party.

aspensnowmass​.com

Dining on Svalbard — better known as Spitsbergen — is an adventure in itself, however, Gruvelageret takes it to a whole new level. In a lovingly restored former coal warehouse in the middle of Sverdrupbyen, directly below the Longyear Glacier, the restaurant serves up Arctic cuisine with a blend of down-to-earth style and finesse that can only be found north of the Arctic Circle. The cuisine focuses on authentic Nordic flavours: fresh, clear, powerful. A fine dining experience at the end of the world – in the best sense of the phrase.

gruvelageret​.no

On Djurgården, right on the waterfront, AIRA impressively demonstrates what modern Nordic haute cuisine can look like today. Tommy Myllymäki and Pi Le combine seasonal products with global techniques and French precision. For example: halibut with fermented melon, sesame and jalapeño. This is accompanied by excellent wine pairings or surprisingly creative non-alcoholic pairing options featuring ingredients sourced from the restaurant’s own garden – and, if you’re smart, a drink beforehand on the terrace by the water is not to be missed.

aira​.se

At the end of the Långenäs headland lies Restaurant Signum – a 2‑Michelin-star eatery that also boasts a Green Star. The 18-course menu is based exclusively on Scandinavian ingredients – fish and seafood in particular – complemented by herbs, flowers, and vegetables from the restaurant’s own micro farm and seaweed from its in-house sea farm project in Fjällbacka. Signum shows how far you can go with regional ingredients when you treat them a little like VIP guests.

restaurantsignum​.com

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