News and Insights
Savoring 2025: How Global Culinary Trends are Redefining Travel Experiences
December 11, 2025
High-Low Decadence
While budget and accessibility can profoundly affect the dining and drinking habits of vacationers in the moment, travelers are now putting their assets and ambitions where their appetites are. A recent trend report from Airbnb revealed that summer travelers will be “swapping culinary capitals for more local, affordable foodie destinations.” Among noted settings: Chiclana de la Frontera, Spain, for seafood; Shillong, India, for traditional Khasi cuisine; Arakawa City, Japan, for ramen, gyoza, and family-run kissaten coffee shops; and Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for Minas Gerais cuisine including hearty bean dishes and cheese bread.
High-low dining has gained traction with chefs combining traditionally pricy products such as caviar, lobster, and white truffles with playfully decadent complementary ingredients like baked potatoes and chicken nuggets. Last year, Condé Nast Traveller praised the Chicken & Champagne Pie at Bob Bob Ricard in London as “a thing of high-low beauty,” while Forbes reported the creative employment of fish eggs, such as Caviar y Tequila with guacamole, Mexican chili and Tequila Blanco from Casa Dragones at Anatol at Las Alcobas, a Marriott Luxury Collection hotel in Mexico City. Back across the Pond, No. 27 Bar & Lounge at The Shelbourne in Dublin is offering a Tommy Doherty pork, leek, and black pudding sausage roll paired with a glass of Laurent Perrier La Cuvee NV for €30 – a combination that’s quickly becoming a guest favorite.
A Timeless Tradition: Tea Rituals
A refined tradition to celebrate life’s moments around the world, Afternoon Tea was first poured on the opening day of The Langham, London in 1865 and is still going strong as Langham Hospitality Group’s flagship property marks its 160th anniversary this year with the midday pick-me-up as a hallmark of every address. The Langham, Chicago, situated in the last commercial building designed by Mies van der Rohe, kicked off summer with the season-long Botanic Escape Afternoon Tea fashioned in collaboration with the Chicago Botanic Garden. The Escape pairs teas, bubblies, cocktails, and zero-proofs with botanical-themed goodies such as English Garden and Strawberry Fields sandwiches, and Kiku Flower and Blueberry Rose desserts. Take that, Chicago-style pizza and beer.
Elsewhere in global culinary trends, afternoon tea is benefiting from a resurgence in the popularity of its main ingredient. Food & Wine noted the dining room of Hotel Maria in Helsinki being “filled with crew-sock-wearing Gen Zers” sipping locally infused teas while dining on Finnish wheat scones, sugar-salted whitefish, and smoked reindeer. Within the Lobby Lounge of Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong, a collaboration with Mercato Gourmet celebrated Dolce Far Niente – “The Sweetness of Nothing” – with floral teas from La Via del Tè and Italian-inspired nibbles from Exec Chef Kit Yau. For an occasion that’s a bit more intrepid, tea-loving travelers to the Munnar region of India can experience an immersive jeep safari of Kolukkumalai Tea Estate, including trekking of the world’s highest tea field (7,900 feet) and tasting in a century-old factory.
According to Skift Research, 52 percent of affluent travelers say “authentic cultural immersion” is their key motivator when choosing travel – placing it ahead of traditional luxury amenities.
At The Nines Hotel in Portland, Oregon, the rooftop restaurant Departure offers experiential pop-ups to give guests immersive feasts for the senses. In March, when cold and rain delayed peak cherry blossom season, the restaurant was arrayed with pink floral arrangements. The transformation paid off prettily by boosting traffic and revenues, as had a winter chalet theme earlier in the year, and, let’s presume, a rose theme inspired by the city’s annual Rose Festival in June. “More than offering a seasonal menu, Departure becomes a seasonal space, which gets people in the door by being authentic to the destination and the calendar,” observes Cesaley Hill of Maverick Creative in New York.
In Seychelles, Conrad Maldives Rangali Island invites travelers to dine with the fishes at Ithaa Undersea Restaurant amid a living reef five meters down in the Indian Ocean. At all-inclusive Hotel Xcaret México in Cancun, 100% vegan is on the menu of Bio located in a Mayan cave near the beach. And for pizza lovers, The Pizza Bar on 38th at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo boasts three Michelin stars, first place honors for the third consecutive year in the 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific 2025, and just eight seats at the counter for sampling Chef Daniele Cason’s creative toppings on dough kneaded from organic Italian wheat. Arrive ready to enjoy delights such as sette formaggi with truffle honey, and combinations of house duck salsiccia, ankimo liver, and pickled carrot, plus pairings of wine and mocktails such as Bellini Verde mixed with green tea, peach, apple, white grape, and Mediterranean tonic water.
The New Vintage: Spotlight Asia
Pan Pacific London is bringing the bold and elegant flavors of Southeast Asia to the heart of London with a new summer menu in its signature restaurant Straits Kitchen. Head Chef Adam Batement, who brings 25 years of experience and passion to the dynamic new menu, has combined the vibrant flavors of Southeast Asia with fresh seasonal produce and Western techniques, with standout dishes such as Cornish Crab Pappardelle with coconut laksa emulsion, and Orkney Scallops finished with soy, chilli, and red curry.
FINN Travel in Hong Kong sees burgeoning interest in Chinese cuisine inspiring gastronomic tourism, with Florence Leung noting, “It’s a very big category with a lot of diversity, so people can travel to different destinations to discover regional produce along with other cultural attractions.” The Chinese bar scene is also growing as the hospitality industry anticipates Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 at Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace in Macau in mid-July, as well as The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal overlooking Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong in October.
Chinese wine, too, is gaining rapid international acclaim, drawing industry pros and producers to the annual Wynn Signature Chinese Wine Awards at Wynn Macau, and oenophiles to Yunnan Province, where local viticulture sees the region hailed as “Asia’s answer to Bordeaux.” Celebrating the heritage of regional winemaking – that dates from 1898, when French missionaries began cultivating European grape varieties and introduced winemaking techniques from home – newly renovated Songtsam Lodge Cizhong in Yunnan’s spectacular Three Parallel Rivers region is pouring tastings of the first offering of a dry white from a local winery, as well as others from producers such as Ao Yun Winery, Shangri-La winery, and Xioa Ling Winery.
Gānbēi!