Food For The Year

Good food is going global and the best chefs are carving out international empires. Andy Lynes tastes the future

The global restaurant scene has never been more dynamic than now. In 2007, established chefs will continue to expand their empires into intriguing new locations.

The irresistible rise of Gordon Ramsay continues apace with Cielo, Boca Raton Resort and Club, 501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida (00 1 561 447 3640; bocaresort.com), a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant to be overseen by Angela Hartnett, head chef of The Connaught hotel in London.

This month, London-based chef Gary Hollihead takes his gutsy French food to the UAE with the opening of Embassy, Emirates Palace Hotel, Abu Dhabi Corniche, Abu Dhabi (00 971 2 690 9000; emirates palace.com), where stunning sea views will be complemented by beef fillet tartare, potato salad, shallots and grain mustard.

Four times Swedish Chef of the Year, winner of the Bocuse d'Or and a former holder of a Michelin star, Mathias Dahlgren will make a splash this spring when he opens his as yet unnamed restaurant in the Grand Hotel, S Blasieholmshamnen 8, Stockholm (00 46 8 679 35 00; grandhotel .se).

You won't want to leave the Jules Verne Restaurant, Eiffel Tower, Champ de Mars, Paris (00 33 1 45 55 61 44; tour-eiffel.fr) to hungry tourists and starry-eyed honeymooners when one of the world's most famous chefs, Alain Ducasse, takes over the kitchens of one of the world's most famous landmarks later this year.

The much anticipated Mocoto, 145 Knightsbridge, London (020-7225 2300; mocoto.co.uk) finally opens its doors this month. An interior designed by São Paulo-based architect Isay Weinfeld that uses mostly imported materials is as Brazilian as the feijoada completa (pork and black bean stew).

Irish-American chef John Mooney goes back to his roots in February when he mans the open kitchen and oyster bar at the The Saddle Room in the historic and newly-refurbished Shelbourne hotel, 27 St Stephen's Green, Dublin (00 353 1 663 4500; marriott. co.uk). Expect steaks, chops and seafood platters in luxurious surroundings.

Zak Pelaccio wowed Manhattan with his take on Malaysian cuisine at the Fatty Crab. Now he's bringing dishes such as grilled Dublin Bay prawns with turmeric garlic butter and sambal blachan to the UK when he opens Suka, Sanderson Hotel, 50 Berners Street, London (020-7300 1444; sanderson london.com) in March.

Sam Mason's way-out desserts were always the best thing about New York's experimental restaurant WD50. Now he's going solo at Tailor, 525 Broome Street, New York, where a seven-course chocolate tasting menu will include a chocolate consommé.