Fusion Food Makes a Comeback: 9 Restaurants Putting It Back on the Map

Hav & Mar: Where Ethiopia Meets Sweden

New York, United States

Chelsea, New York’s famed arts district, is home to one of chef Marcus Samuelsson’s newest ventures: Hav & Mar, combining “hav,” or ocean in Swedish, and “mar,” meaning honey in Amharic, capturing Samuelsson’s Swedish and Ethiopian roots. Airy and elegant, with its striking central bar, light wood decor, open kitchen, and artworks of Black mermaids by multidisciplinary artist Derrick Adams, known for his work around Black American identity and culture. Hav & Mar showcases the talents of Samuelsson (Swedish) and Executive Chef Fariyal Abdullahi (Ethiopian).

The seafood-centric menu plays with Ethiopian and African flavors, peppered with Scandinavian touches. Take, for example, the Swediopian—a salmon slice marinated in Ethiopian berbere, sprinkled with dill on rolled cucumber; or, grilled octopus plated with creamy white beans, diced carrots, merguez sausage, crispy kale, and bright roasted red pepper. “I loved the grilled octopus dish: the quality, execution, and flavors were flawless,” recalls our Inspector. “It was served in a deep plate with ultra-creamy white beans at the center, combined with small, tender cubes of carrot and pieces of merguez sausage. On top, a generous tentacle grilled on the plancha—tender and perfectly golden. A few crispy fried kale leaves added crunch, while two strips of roasted red pepper brought a colorful, sweet-and-tangy touch.”

When it comes to service, diners can expect attentive staff, expertly crafted cocktails, and a wine list highlighting female and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) producers.

Where to stay nearby: Equinox Hotel Hudson Yards, Pendry Manhattan West, The Maritime Hotel.

Masala y Maíz: An Interplay of East African, Indian, and Mexican Flavors

Mexico City, Mexico

“Masala y Maíz is more than just a restaurant. It’s a culinary manifesto, a place where history is told bite after bite,” affirm the restaurant’s chefs Norma Listman and Saqib Keval. The name of their restaurant sums up their philosophy: maíz, being the symbol of Mexican cuisine, and masala, the Hindi and Urdu word for spice blend.

Listman, originally from Texcoco near Mexico City, moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to work in the arts, while Keval was born in Northern California to a Kutchie family of Indian origin and grew up between Ethiopia and Kenya before settling in the United States. And together, they explore the culinary migrations between India, East Africa, and Mexico.

Their cuisine is a dialogue between ingredients and techniques, the result of years spent researching family recipes. “A sincere, original, and refined cuisine,” according to our Inspector. On the menu, for example, you’ll find corn tacos filled with spiced vegetables, masala, and paneer (Indian cheese), or slow-cooked pork belly with mango chutney—a perfect marriage of Mexican techniques and Indian flavors.

“I also loved the two giant Veracruz prawns, grilled whole, sweet and incredibly tender, served with a squeeze of lime and clarified butter (Indian ghee) infused with vanilla and chile morita (a dried, smoked Mexican chili). They came with delicately pickled beets,” remembers our Inspector.

Where to stay nearby: Downtown Mexico, Colima 71 Art Community Hotel, Círculo Mexicano.

Angelina: Italian-Japanese Fusion You’ll Love

London, United Kingdom

London is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, where hundreds of cuisines converge to create a thriving culinary scene (read more in our story What Makes the UK & Ireland’s Restaurant Scene So Special?). This richness is reflected in the MICHELIN-Starred restaurants of chefs Endo Kazutoshi and Ahmet Dede, among others.

In Dalston—a vibrant, cosmopolitan neighborhood in the northeast of the capital, buzzing with Turkish, Kurdish, Caribbean, African, and Asian eateries—Angelina is a perfect fit, proving that when done thoughtfully, fusion can be a true celebration of global flavors.

Here, Italian and Japanese cuisines—two seemingly contrasting culinary cultures—are brought together with boldness and creativity. Chef Usman Haider and his team orchestrate this alchemy. The menu follows a structure inspired by the Japanese kaiseki tradition (a refined multi-course meal from Kyoto, focused on seasonal ingredients), while incorporating sections for antipasti and pasta.

Don’t miss the signature Wagyu ragù with peas and crab, a fusion of Japan’s famed beef with the time-honored Italian tradition of slow-simmered sauces, or the rosemary and nori focaccia, which kicks off the meal with flair. On the drinks side, the list moves seamlessly between sake and grappa—an homage to two countries where the art of drinking is as refined as the art of dining.

Where to stay nearby: Mama Shelter London – Shoreditch, Town Hall Hotel, Boundary Shoreditch.

MoSuke: A West African and Japanese Flavor Fusion With French Cuisine

Paris, France

Trained by Christophe Moret and Thierry Marx, chef Mory Sacko draws inspiration from his West African heritage, French upbringing, and passion for Japan to create his own unique culinary world. “It’s a cuisine that exists nowhere else, because through it, I’m telling my own story,” he explains. His work attire says it all: the young chef has customized the traditional white chef’s jacket with African wax fabric. Instead of a classic double-breasted cut, it wraps around his body like a Japanese kimono.

Born in France to a Malian father and a mother who grew up in Senegal, Mory Sacko was raised in Seine-et-Marne, on the outskirts of Paris. While West African dishes were staples at home, the young chef was fascinated by Japanese manga, dreaming about the bowls of ramen and onigiri he saw on TV.

This mix of cultures is reflected on the plate. Take, for example, a large Normandy langoustine, cooked in two stages (steamed, then flame-seared), glazed with chili, perfectly crisp, and paired with an Ethiopian atchu sauce (a blend of palm oil and quince spices) and a piquillo pepper coulis.

Our Inspectors recalls “a small filet of Aubrac beef, aged for ten days in shea butter, grilled over Binchotan charcoal, served with a mafé (peanut) sauce, surrounded by tamarind, enhanced with shichimi togarashi—a Japanese spice blend with citrus notes—and accompanied by a ginger-spiked carrot purée and a chili gel. Undoubtedly one of the chef’s signature dishes.”

Where to stay nearby: Drawing House, Hotel Cabane, Villa M. 

The ROOM by Kozeen Shiwan: Culinary Influences Across Iraq, Turkey, and Finland

Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki boasts a primarily Finnish culinary scene, likely because only one in 10 residents was born outside the country. This is not the case for Kozeen Shiwan, a chef born in Suleymaniah, Iraqi Kurdistan. After fleeing to Turkey with his family, he settled in Finland, where he became a true phenomenon.

Known for his extravagant style—sometimes seen with pink hair, other times bleached blonde, gold teeth like rapper grillz and pearls around his neck—this music, art, and fashion enthusiast is making waves in the Finnish capital. His MICHELIN-Starred restaurant, with its theatrical concept, centers around a 14-seat marble counter where guests watch each dish being prepared.

Inspired by his personal story, the menu features evocative names such as Made in Suleymaniah, a smoked green olive on cinnamon sticks, stuffed with creamy goat cheese curd, placed on a crunchy cracker. Or Safe in Turkiye, a Turkish pide (pizza) with Middle Eastern spices and apricots, served with cardamom mayonnaise. Or Coming to Finland: a white fish tartare combining cardamom, lime torched with a blowtorch, and a frothy yogurt sauce, somewhere between Lebanese labneh and Turkish ayran.

According to our Inspector, “It’s a bold cuisine of great finesse, elevating vegetables.” And above all, a festival of flavors, like this mahshi, a dish of stuffed vegetables popular throughout the Mediterranean. “No fewer than 17 ingredients in the sauce alone and over 35 for the dish!”

Where to stay nearby: Hotel Kämp, Hotel Haven, Hotel Fabian. 

Koan: Sophisticated Scandinavian-Korean Cuisine

Copenhagen, Denmark

A few hundred meters from the replica of the Little Mermaid, on Copenhagen’s quays where huge cruise ships unload their flow of tourists, a discreet entrance leads to an old stone warehouse, transformed into a bright, contemporary, and zen space. Open kitchen, light wood, Asian-inspired. Welcome to Koan, a stunning Two-MICHELIN-Star restaurant.

Copenhagen is known for its ultra-dynamic culinary scene, which gained international attention notably thanks to Noma (opened in 2003 and closed since late 2024 to transition to Noma 3.0, a culinary research laboratory), where Koan’s chef, Kristian Baumann, also worked.

In the city, needless to highlight that The MICHELIN Guide selection is boad, with several Three-Star, Two-Star, and many One-Star and Bib Gourmand restaurants offering a variety of cuisines, from Italian, Thai, Japanese and Mexican to French, vegetarian, and Danish.

But at Koan, the spirit is one of integration, rather than compartmentalization. The elegant restaurant combines South Korean aesthetics with the Nordic approach to ingredients in a very personal way, drawing on the chef’s heritage – adopted from Korea by Danish parents.

Among the many refined and hybrid dishes on the tasting menu (up to 17 tasted by our Inspectors), we find “this perfect sphere the size of a ping-pong ball, made of silky tofu with pine nuts, preserved red strawberries (sweet and fragrant), and grated Norwegian langoustine flesh, all rolled in Osciètre caviar for a salty touch, and garnished with a goji berry. Salty, sweet, silky… A delight as surprising as it is delicious.”

Where to stay nearby: 25hours Hotel Paper Island, d’Angleterre, Copenhagen, Hotel Sanders.

La Sartén: The Art of Spain, India, and Asian Fusion

Madrid (Tres Cantos), Spain

Renowned for a rather traditional and regional cuisine, Spain has gradually opened up to culinary fusion. From the 1980s to the 1990s, chefs like Ferran Adrià with his famed restaurant El Bulli, made modern and experimental techniques blended with international influences popular.

This dynamic continues today with a new generation of restaurants, such as the Nippon-Basque Asiakō in Madrid, or Hiu, near Tarragona (Catalonia), which fuses Thai, Indian, and Japanese flavors with local ingredients.

But it’s the young chef Elena García, at the helm of La Sartén in the northern suburbs of Madrid, that has caught our attention here. Just 25 minutes by car from the capital, this Bib Gourmand restaurant combines Spanish, Indian, Thai, Korean, and Japanese cuisine without holding back.

Our Inspector’s favorite? Among the small sharing plates, “the ramen made with steamed mussels, swimming in a mild green curry cream, with noodles, red onion, coriander, and crispy nori seaweed is a delicious fusion between Galicia and the flavors of India.”

Also worth noting is the gyozas, filled with slow-cooked pork rib, enhanced with a Japanese barbecue sauce and an eel and chocolate sauce reduction. Or these baozi, steamed buns filled with oxtail, mint leaves, coriander, pickled red onion, and Venezuelan guasacaca sauce. A real technique-driven experience.

Where to stay nearby: Eurostars Madrid Tower, NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding, NH Collection Madrid Abascal.

TOKi: Blending Nara and Tokyo Flavors with Spanish Flair

Tokyo, Japan

Japan has a long tradition of adapting foreign dishes and reinventing them by fully integrating them into its own culinary culture, while maintaining its high standards of quality and flavor balance. The term yoshoku (洋食) refers to Western-inspired dishes that have been adapted to Japanese tastes, such as omurice (omelette-rice), katsu curry (tonkatsu with Japanese curry), or hambagu (Japanese-style hamburger steak).

TOKi, a One-Star restaurant, skillfully blends three cuisines: Tokyo-style, traditional Nara (one of the oldest in the country), and contemporary Spanish. Chef Tetsuya Asano, who has worked at Divellec in Paris and Nihonbashi Saint Pau, offers a seasonal tasting menu with dishes like Primavera (“spring”), which combines raw bonito, potato salad, and snow pea sauce.

Also noteworthy is the Bacalao pilpil Yuzaki Nebuka, a dish of cod confit and cooked in oil at low temperature, accompanied by a light pilpil sauce. “The Yuzaki Nebuka, a traditional vegetable, is lightly cooked here to bring out its sweetness and delicacy, typical of shojin ryori (the vegetarian cuisine of Buddhist temples).”

The dessert, a tarta de Santiago—a Galician specialty—made with Nara chestnuts, combines almond paste, licorice mousse, caramel ice cream, and chestnuts in two textures, “whole and grated into powder.”

Where to stay nearby: HOTEL THE MITSUI KYOTO (3 Keys), Kyo no Ondokoro Kamanza Nijo #2, MOGANA.

Fuego : Innovative Hispano-Japanese Tapas
Bangkok, Thailand

Fuego is an ultra-modern restaurant serving top-ranking fusion food. The dining room has an open kitchen and a U-shaped bar for diners to sit at and watch the chefs as they craft the day’s dishes. “Although he is Spanish, chef Roger Solé enjoys blending his cultural roots with those of Japanese gastronomy – he previously worked in several Japanese restaurants,” explains our local Inspector.

The result? A range of creative dishes made with high-quality ingredients and prepared using both Spanish and Japanese culinary techniques. A must-try: the paella, cooked al dente, perfectly seasoned, with buri fish (Japanese amberjack) grilled to perfection. The flesh is firm, fresh, with a sweet and juicy flavor that pairs well with the rice.

For dessert, there’s a white miso cheesecake imported from Japan that’s soft in the center, with the salty taste and aroma of miso complementing the chef’s special cream cheese recipe. It is served with whipped cream subtly flavored with Baileys, lightly sweet and creamy. The pairings with Japanese whisky and sake are remarkable.

Where to stay nearby: MUU Bangkok Hotel – Small Luxury Hotels of the World, 137 Pillars Residences Bangkok, 137 Pillars Suites Bangkok.