I began my recap of the 2023 version of this post by noting that we had been literally all over the map that year. Well, in 2024 we did not go to Europe at all (unless you count layovers in airports) but we/I spent even more time outside the United States. Our year began with an off-campus program: I took a bunch of students to Bombay for five weeks before we moved to Seoul for another five weeks. As you might imagine, we ate out a lot in both cities and ate a lot of fantastic food in both cities. On the way back to Minnesota from Seoul we stopped in Delhi for two weeks and ate out quite a bit there too. Then in May I was in New York/New Jersey by myself for a few days before the whole family did a trip to Southern and Northern California together in the second half of June. A long break from travel followed after that till I went off by myself again, this time for two weeks and to Delhi. In between we ate out at our usual weekly clip in the Twin Cities metro. And so there’s a lot of geography to draw on for this year’s top 10 list as well. As I did last year, I’ve tried to manage things a bit by separating more expensive/formal restaurants from more casual places into distinct top 10 lists. This year, however, I’m not doing an overall top 5 list that draws from both; instead each list is ranked rather than presented in chronological order.
Again, I am obviously not including on either list excellent meals eaten at the homes of friends and family. And I’m also not including an outstanding East Indian feast at a home in Uttan that was part of an outing I took my students on in Bombay. By the way, I am somewhat problematically breaking the “Formal”/”Casual” lists apart principally in terms of cost. If the effective per head cost of a meal there is in the $20 or less region then that restaurant shows on the “Casual” list.
Top 10 Formal Restaurant Meals
Let’s begin with the formal/more expensive places. There are a few places that I would have expected to crack the list that do not; the meals we ate there weren’t bad by any means but they didn’t quite do it for us across the board. Such were our lunch at Indian Accent, Delhi in March and dinner at State Bird Provisions in June; and also our dinner at Spoon & Stable in October. Other meals fell just a little short of the top 10: our first lunch at The Bombay Canteen, for example; a very good lunch at Soul Dining in Seoul; and also our lunch at Matamaal in Delhi in March. Meanwhile, it was hard to choose between our two summer meals at Restaurant Alma in Minneapolis but I decided to keep the lists to just one meal per place mentioned.
Okay, so which meals did make the list? Here is my ranking.
- Mingles (Seoul)
- Kwonsooksoo (Seoul)
- Foxface Natural II (New York)
- Copra (San Francisco)
- Restaurant Alma, Summer 2024 (Minneapolis)
- The Koli Tasting Menu at Slink & Bardot (Bombay)
- Oro II (Minneapolis)
- Vinai (Minneapolis)
- Tenant XII (Minneapolis)
- Henry’s Cuisine (Los Angeles)
My top two meals were both from the very high end in Seoul. Our lunches at Mingles and Kwonsooksoo were quite different from each other with Kwonsooksoo more anchored in traditional Korean cooking than Mingles. Both were outstanding, however. We’ll be back in Seoul for another five weeks in 2026, this time in May. I’ll be tempted to see what both restaurants do with spring ingredients but the odds are good we’ll try other high-end Korean restaurants instead. My second meal at Foxface Natural may have been even better than my first. I’m looking forward to my third, which I hope to eat this Spring. Of our dinner at Copra in June I said that it might be the best Indian restaurant meal I’ve eaten in 31 years in the US. I was surprised to see that they did not receive any recognition from Michelin this year. In Bombay the Koli Tasting Menu at Slink & Bardot was a wonderful surprise (my rating of them is based on that meal, not their regular menu). In 2026 I look forward to trying a few more places at the high end in Bombay.
In the Twin Cities we enjoyed all our meals at Alma a lot, as always. Our first meal at Tenant this year didn’t get us excited but the second was a solid return to form. It was the opposite story at Oro. Our second meal there in the fall disappointed a little but the first, in July, was excellent. We also loved our meal at Vinai in November. Looking forward to going back there in the new year and also to hopefully making it soon to Gai Noi, Diane’s Place and the other newer places at the high end here that we haven’t yet tried. And a shout-out as well to the excellent Cantonese-Vietnamese cuisine at Henry’s Cuisine in the San Gabriel Valley—we loved our meal there even though we didn’t get any of the big ticket items.
Here’s a slideshow of some dishes from these 10 meals. Scroll down for the Top 10 Casual list.
Top 10 Casual Restaurant/Market Meals
This was an even harder list to compile (it was a top 5 list last year) as we ate so much fabulous food in casual settings in both Bombay and Seoul. But I’ll give it a shot. Here is how I would rank them:
- Mizo Diner (Delhi)
- Chengdu Taste (Los Angeles)
- Chaitanya (Bombay)
- Highway Gomantak (Bombay)
- Tim Ho Wan (Seoul)
- Wonjo Agujjim II (Seoul)
- Grand Szechuan, October 2024 (Bloomington, MN)
- Hot Grainz (St. Paul)
- Eating at Mangwon Market (Seoul)
- Dzükou II (Delhi)
I may be overrating our meal at Mizo Diner in March because it was my first time eating Mizo food but we really loved that meal. Ditto for the thalis I ate at Chaitanya and Highway Gomantak in Bombay in January (and it was hard to leave the one from Shri Datta Boarding off the list). Our time in Seoul was likewise dotted with excellent casual meals, many at restaurants that specialize in just one dish. Of the lot, I’ve picked the seafood meal at Wonjo Agujjim, the experience of eating while wandering through Mangwon Market and then one excellent dim sum meal at the Samseong outpost of Tim Ho Wan. Back in the Twin Cities I could have picked any of our meals at Grand Szechuan over the year (including the last one, which I have not reported on yet) but the one in October might edge the rest out. And one of the year’s most pleasant surprises was the Northern Thai food at the tiny Hot Grainz in St. Paul. We’ll be going back there a lot in 2025 as well. Rounding out the list at opposite ends are two excellent restaurants that we/I had not eaten at in many years: I am pleased to report that both Chengdu Taste and Dzükou are as good as they ever were.
And here is a slideshow of dishes from these 10 meals. Scroll down for some prospective thoughts on 2025 in eating out.
Places I’m Looking Forward to Eating At In 2024
I’ve already mentioned Diane’s Place and Gai Noi in the Twin Cities. I’m also hoping to get to El Sazon’s formal location as well as to Dario and Bucheron. At the non-high end, I’m looking forward to trying the new Chinese bakery in St. Paul, more African food around the metro, and also that Uzbek place out in Plymouth. And I hope to eat a lot more tacos and more at the Mexican places on Lake St. as well. Readers from the area, please continue to hit me up with more recommendations for places I’ve missed in the area.
A very large place I am hoping to eat at this year is Tokyo. We are plotting a short trip there this summer. If it pans out, I’m sure there’ll be a lot of Japanese places on next year’s version of this post. The Tokyo trip, if it happens, will be an add-on to a short stop at Seoul for program-setup work. We’re unlikely to eat anything but casual food on that trip though. Finally, I’ll be going back to Delhi a few more times this year to check on my parents. I look forward to continuing to explore Delhi’s North Eastern food scene; and I might do a couple of high-end meals as well (especially if the family accompanies me on my likely visit in the summer). I’m also looking forward to what has become an annual short visit to New York in the spring. Alas, I’m unlikely to get back to Southern California till the end of the year.
However, the year’s travels finally pan out, I look forward to a lot of good food in 2025. And I wish you and yours the same.
Tomorrow, I’ll have my last restaurant report of the year: of Christmas lunch at—where else?—Grand Szechuan.