Dhaka: The Prix Versailles has once again recognised excellence in architectural and cultural design, unveiling its 2025 list of the world’s most beautiful restaurants.

Announced on 16 June, the prestigious ranking highlights recently opened dining establishments that go beyond cuisine—serving as social hubs, cultural landmarks, and destinations in their own right.

Jérôme Gouadain, Secretary General of the Prix Versailles, describes the importance of architecture in restaurants as part of the “lived experience” and a “paradoxical, almost maternal, role” which brings guests into a “warm embrace, enveloping them with its shapes and forms” while at the same time “completely effacing itself to put the focus on the feast.”

Sixteen design approaches around the globe are highlighted in the list, all “marked by that humility, each one existing to feed its guests’ bodies and souls,” Gouadain said in a press release. In December, three of these projects will receive the further distinction of a World Title – Prix Versailles, Interior or Exterior. Leading the pack for now, Dubai matches Paris, with three restaurants on the longlist.

The 2025 laureates are a varied selection, representing a wide range of cultures and design philosophies.

-B