[notreallyhere00]

If by best food scene, you were to take the top 20-25 cuisines of the world and look for good examples .. ?

Probably Melbourne, London and New York.

Have spent enough time in Los Angeles to know that it doesn’t reach the level of the above cities. It’s great at what it does - Mexican, Korean, Chinese, Salvadoran even, fusion - but the geography just doesn’t help it.

Barcelona is not a particularly great food City (sure, there are a few elite chefs but in general the food scene offers little of variety). Want good food in Spain, go to Basque Country.

Tokyo, San Sebastián, Lyon are cities which are insanely good at rocking their own cuisine which puts them in a different category of food cities. You might say ‘International’ v ‘Local’

International food cities -

Melbourne London New York

Sydney Los Angeles

(And probably Toronto Houston Vancouver but have never been)

The above cities are the great melting pots of the world

Something very special is happening in Melbourne’s food scene, especially in the last 10 years. Pick literally any Asian cuisine or food trend. you can name, even something super obscure, and you can find special examples.

[travel193]

Agree with Melbourne. The bar for good food is set so high in Melbourne and when you combine that with the incredibly diverse population, you have the best most impressive international food scene I have ever encountered. London and New York definitely give it a run for its money, but I'd argue the standard in Melbourne is still higher.

Heading to LA in a few months for the first time so keen to compare.

[tinyhouse]

I can confirm about the Chinese food in Melbourne. It's better than everywhere in the US. Which makes sense given the population there.