Turning the tables

For fans of queuing - and great food - here are 10 restaurants with seriously long waitlists. Book now, for your next life

How the tables have turned! Indian food was deemed too hot for the American palate even a decade ago. Now, this 36-seater space in Brooklyn is the hottest reservation in the city. Seating opens a month in advance and books out in minutes. Diners have waited six months to order daab chingri (prawn in tender coconut) and kosha mangsho (a dry curry of lamb or mutton). Roni Mazumdar’s menu echoes old Kolkata. But at $23 for fish roe, Kolkata mothers are politely horrified.

Roca brothers, Joan, Josep and Jordi opened this restaurant in the working class neighbourhood of Girona in the 1980s. Their creative spin on Catalan cuisine has put it on the global food map. Seats get booked a year in advance and there’s a waitlist. Diners get a $200+ set menu depending on the kind of experience they choose.

Housed in a former prison in Zwolle, it opens for reservations only a week in advance, so seating is all about luck. Chefs Jonnie and Thérèse Boer oversee a bustling team of 50. Boer has been serving a regional, seasonal menu since the 80s, long before it was cool. Expect to pay $200 for dishes that use fermentation and hot stone cooking. If you get in, that is.

Chef Mauro Colagreco does not offer a fixed menu. Diners eat what’s in season and was freshly sourced.Go with an open mind. You may experience crabmeat with almond foam and meat cooked so rare that it’s still red. Bookings are closed no matter when you try. Waitlists easily go on for a year.

The restaurant in the beautiful Aran island region is elegant, remote and at only 16 seats, tiny. The huge windows offer spectacular views. The kitchen, helmed by Ruairí de Blacam, a native of the island, sends out modern cuisine using locally sourced meat, fish and vegetables. Don’t get too excited. They’re booked all through 2023 and reservations haven’t opened for 2024.