_003.JPG)
![KIAORA / [STRANG]](https://images.adsttc.com/media/images/693b/3d36/0943/f05c/06f6/e6b5/medium_jpg/kiaora-strang_31.jpg?1765490011#)
The top 10 restaurants of 2025
Next in our 2025 review, we look back at the best restaurants of the year, from an "urban greenhouse" in Mexico City to a colour-saturated eatery in Shanghai designed by film director Wong Kar Wai.
When it came to restaurant design in 2025, it was all about the right materials. Designers turned to volcanic ceramic, mycelium, bricks and aluminium to create tactile, engaging interiors.
Colour also played a big part – rather than the pared-back and clean Scandinavian style that has been popular in the past, this year saw designers use carefully chosen hues to create eye-catching eating spaces.
Among the standouts were a London restaurant with a bright apple-green kitchen and an all-red eatery in Kyoto.
Read on for Dezeen's top 10 restaurants of 2025:
Located in Mexico City's Cuauhtémoc neighbourhood, the Plumbago restaurant is a duo of gabled volumes, one of which is clad in corrugated polycarbonate sheeting.
"We wanted to create an urban greenhouse – a peaceful space filled with light and vegetation nestled in the concrete jungle of Mexico City," OPA co-founders Rosalía Yuste and Diego Mañón told Dezeen.
Find out more about Plumbago ›
Colour-drenched Town was one of the most intriguing additions to London's restaurant scene this year. Located in the busy Covent Garden area, the space has a playful interior that features volcanic ceramic pillars, chrome accents and space-age-style forms.
Interior designer Samuel Hosker of North End Design looked for inspiration in sources ranging from an "Apple logo from 1977 to a Verner Panton interior and a picture of a Soviet train," he told Dezeen.
San Francisco restaurant and vinyl bar Side A features a custom-made aluminium DJ stand, with a selection of vinyl records and the day's menu displayed behind it.
"Our intent was for design, music and the culinary arts to come together in a hub for the creatives of the neighbourhood," Studio Ahead co-founder Elena Dendiberia said.
Mi Shang, China, by Wong Kar Wai
Director Wong Kar Wai aimed to evoke the visual identity of his films when designing this restaurant for fashion brand Prada in Shanghai.
Its colour-saturated dining room, located inside the 1918 Western-style Rongzhai villa, was created to recreate the nocturnal flair of Wong's film In the Mood for Love and combine it with Prada's own aesthetic.
Find out more about Mi Shang ›
Millo, a Bucharest restaurant completed by local design duo AE02, was designed to have a "theatrical atmosphere", with high-gloss materials and warm adaptive lighting.
AE02 also used geometric shapes and interesting textures to give the restaurant the desired vibe, as seen in a textured glass cut-out that provides glimpses of the kitchen.
Lacquered walnut walls with reflective microcement flooring, terrazzo and marble surfaces add to the tactile feel of the space.
A former bank in east London was turned into a new outpost of Italian restaurant chain Lina Stores, with many of the original features in the Grade II-listed building preserved.
Local studio A-nrd also added new design elements that are aligned with the restaurant brand's identity. Plaster walls were left exposed to "add authenticity and charm", while a pale pistachio-green colour gives the space a fresh look.
Find out more about Lina Stores ›
Mexican and Japanese design was fused to create the interior of Challe, a restaurant in Kyoto that focuses on food from the two countries and features an all-red interior.
"In renovating an old Japanese wooden house, we did not want to create an orthodox Mexican image," explained UNC Studio founder Keiji Kadota. "Instead, we imagined a fusion of modern Mexican and Japanese style."
Grybova Hata, Ukraine, by YOD Group
Design studio YOD Group installed a series of mycelium curtains in this restaurant near Bukovel, Ukraine, whose name translates as "home of mushrooms."
The restaurant also features furnishings made from mycelium, as well as rounded mushroom-like forms and colours.
"This architecture organically grew within the existing restaurant space – just as a mushroom grows from its mycelium," said Volodymyr Nepyyvoda, managing partner at the studio.
Find out more about Grybova Hata ›
One of three hospitality venues at the base of a residential tower in Edmonton, Alberta, Mimi hosts DJ sets and live jazz.
The space, designed by local studio Ste Marie, is enveloped in rich tones of oxblood red and chocolate. Above the tables, a central row of light boxes wrapped around the sides with patterned fabric illuminates the lounge.
Los Angeles-based Jordana Maisie Design Studio drew on Mexican architecture for inspiration when designing the Ánimo restaurant in New York City.
Its interior features an undulating dropped ceiling above a row of semi-circular booths that create a wavy line by the windows. Terrazzo surfaces, sapele wood tables and deep red tiles were used add a feel of craftsmanship to the interior.
The post The top 10 restaurants of 2025 appeared first on Dezeen.
