# What is the best food city in the world?

> Michelin counts say one thing, hawker stalls and night markets say another. Eighteen cities, one plate at a time.

*By YPB Team · Published August 20, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-food-city-in-the-world*

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## Current results (5 votes)

1. **Hong Kong** — 20% (1 votes · score 1000/1000)
   Dim sum trolleys, dai pai dong street kitchens and a Cantonese fine-dining scene with no equal.
2. **New York City** — 20% (1 votes · score 946/1000)
   Every immigrant cuisine in one grid, from Chinatown dumplings to Katz's pastrami.
3. **Singapore** — 20% (1 votes · score 886/1000)
   Hawker centres so good that UNESCO listed the culture around them.
4. **Naples** — 20% (1 votes · score 819/1000)
   The birthplace of pizza, and still the strictest about how to make it.
5. **Lima** — 0% (0 votes · score 800/1000)
   Ceviche, Nikkei cooking and the restaurants that put South America on the world lists.
6. **Tokyo** — 0% (0 votes · score 732/1000)
   More Michelin stars than any other city on earth, from three-star counters to standing noodle bars.
7. **Barcelona** — 0% (0 votes · score 732/1000)
   Tapas bars, La Boqueria and the culinary lab tradition that came out of elBulli.
8. **San Sebastian** — 20% (1 votes · score 655/1000)
   Pintxos bars packed shoulder to shoulder, and more three-star restaurants per resident than anywhere.
9. **Paris** — 0% (0 votes · score 655/1000)
   127 starred restaurants in the 2026 Michelin guide, nine of them at three stars, plus the bakery on every corner.
10. **Mexico City** — 0% (0 votes · score 655/1000)
   Tacos al pastor at 2am and a fine-dining scene rewriting what Mexican food means.
11. **London** — 0% (0 votes · score 655/1000)
   88 Michelin-starred restaurants and the widest spread of national cuisines of any European capital.
12. **Rome** — 0% (0 votes · score 568/1000)
   Four pasta dishes done properly, defended like scripture.
13. **Osaka** — 0% (0 votes · score 468/1000)
   Japan's kitchen, where the local phrase for overspending on food is a point of pride.
14. **Copenhagen** — 0% (0 votes · score 468/1000)
   The city that turned New Nordic cooking into a global movement.
15. **Istanbul** — 0% (0 votes · score 468/1000)
   Where Ottoman palace cooking, Anatolian grills and Aegean mezze meet on one plate.
16. **New Orleans** — 0% (0 votes · score 468/1000)
   Creole and Cajun cooking found nowhere else in America.
17. **Bangkok** — 0% (0 votes · score 218/1000)
   The city where street food became a Michelin category.
18. **Lyon** — 0% (0 votes · score 60/1000)
   France's other food capital, home of the bouchon and Paul Bocuse.

Tags: food, travel, cities, restaurants