In the time it takes to get a table at some of these restaurants, you could give up your career, train as a chef – and open a restaurant with a huge waiting list.
Getting an audience with the Pope would be easier than securing a seat at these spots – some of the most maddeningly tricky to dine at in the world.
There’s a pub in Bristol that’s booked until 2025, a restaurant in New York that’s booked until 2030 – and another, in Japan, that even if you do get into, might well throw you out if you’re wearing perfume.
Have we whetted your appetite for more?
Then scroll down…
The Bank Tavern, Bristol, UK
The Bank Tavern in Bristol looks unassuming – but it’s one of the hottest pub-meal tickets in the country, with bookings for its highly rated Sunday lunch full until 2025
There are only seven tables, with the pub’s website claiming that its 2024 slots for them ‘sold out quicker than Glastonbury tickets’. Historically, the pub’s current backlog is actually quite small – it once had a waiting list of four years
The Bank Tavern in Bristol looks unassuming – but it’s one of the hottest pub-meal tickets in the country, with bookings for its highly rated Sunday lunch full until 2025.
There are only seven tables, with the pub’s website claiming that its 2024 slots for them ‘sold out quicker than Glastonbury tickets’.
Historically, the pub’s current backlog is actually quite small – it once had a waiting list of four years.
A roast dinner featuring 30-day aged rare beef costs £18.95. Visit www.banktavern.com.
Damon Baehrel, Earlton, New York
Damon Baehrel, a restaurant in a hamlet of the Hudson Valley Region, New York, is booked until 2030
Damon (the chef, grower, owner and sole ’employee’) creates elaborate 20-plus-course meals. They last five or more hours and incorporate ‘unique’ ingredients from his 12-acre farm
Damon Baehrel has no business phone, all correspondence is by email only, and it does not participate in any form of social media
Damon Baehrel, a restaurant in a hamlet of the Hudson Valley Region, New York, has taken an extended break from accepting new requests for its regular annual schedule for over 10 years (since March 2014) due to a very large backlog from over 100 countries, a spokesperson told MailOnline Travel.
In fact, the regular annual schedule is reserved all the way through to 2030.
The restaurant has no business phone, all correspondence is by email only, and it does not participate in any form of social media. No phones, cameras, photos or other recording equipment are permitted in the restaurant.
Damon (the chef, grower, owner and sole ’employee’) creates elaborate 20-plus-course meals lasting five or more hours, using ‘unique’ ingredients from his 12-acre farm.
The current price of dining at the restaurant is $495/£391 per person.
Visit www.damonbaehrel.com.
Sukiyabashi Jiro, Tokyo, Japan
Sushi eatery Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo ticks all the boxes for a difficult-to-get-into restaurant. It gained global fame after the release of Jiro Dreams of Sushi in 2011, which focused on the sushi master and owner of Sukiyabashi – Jiro Ono, now aged 98. Pictured: Drew Barrymore at the restaurant
Sukiyabashi Jiro has two Michelin stars and has welcomed Barack Obama (left). If you do manage to eat there you’ll enjoy a 20-plate omakase (i.e decided by the chef) tasting menu of fresh seafood
Sushi eatery Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo ticks all the boxes for a difficult-to-get-into restaurant.
Limited seating? Tick. There are just 10 counter stools.
Michelin stars? Tick. It has two (and used to have three).
Famous clientele? Tick. Past guests include Drew Barrymore and Barack Obama.
Documentary star? That too. It gained global fame after the release of Jiro Dreams of Sushi in 2011, which focused on the sushi master and owner of Sukiyabashi – Jiro Ono, now aged 98.
If you do manage to eat there you’ll enjoy a 20-plate omakase (i.e decided by the chef) tasting menu of fresh seafood.
However, some rules could see you miss out on a hard-won reservation.
Guests are not allowed to take photos inside as they should ‘concentrate on dining’. You also shouldn’t be late, should refrain from wearing strong perfume and the chef may ‘refuse service to customers wearing collarless shirts or shorts, or sandals’.
Reservations are currently accepted by phone only and if you live outside of Japan these must be made by your hotel concierge. The cost of the omakase tasting menu is 55,000 yen (£270/$342) plus tax.
Visit www.sushi-jiro.jp.
Chae, Melbourne, Australia
Chae in Australia has given up on waiting lists all together – instead wannabe diners put their names in a lottery
Lunch or dinner at Chae, featuring chef Jung Eun Chae (left) and her authentic Korean flavours, costs $130 (£68.49/$86.80) per person. Up to around 5,500 people a month put their names down for a table
This popular 72-seat restaurant in Australia has given up on waiting lists all together – instead wannabe diners put their name in a lottery.
Yoora Yoon, manager at Melbourne’s Chae, told MailOnline Travel: ‘We no longer provide a waiting list. In January 2024, we implemented a lottery system for our bookings.
‘Our booking calendar opens every month for three weeks. The number of entries we receive fluctuates, with the highest number being 5,544 entries in March 2024. On average, we receive between 3,000 to 4,000 entries each month for our limited number of seats.’
The new system came into place because a first-come-first-serve booking system lead to all of the seats being snapped up within seconds – someone even set up a bot to snatch the chance away from others.
Lunch or dinner at Chae, featuring chef Jung Eun Chae and her authentic Korean flavours, costs $130 (£68.49/$86.80) per person.
Visit: www.chae.com.au.
Firedoor, Sydney
Firedoor opens its reservations every three months – with October bookings opening on June 3. Expect to dine on delicious meals cooked only on wood fire – from bread to fish, lamb and lentils
Firedoor, known for its fire-cooked seasonal food and rustic decor, opens its reservations every three months – with October bookings opening on June 3. And you need to be quick to snap one up.
The 44-seat restaurant offers two sittings per night and posts last-minute slots on social media, but a spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘These are swiftly picked up.’
Expect to dine on delicious meals cooked only on wood fire – from bread to fish, lamb and lentils. Firedoor says on its website: ‘Our kitchen uses no gas or electricity. We have two wood-fired ovens, three grills and a wood-burning hearth.
‘We kill shellfish to order and work with live fish from our fish tanks.’
A five-course tasting menu costs from $195 AUD(£102/$129.54).
Visit: firedoor.com.au.
Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark
Legendary Noma in Copenhagen is sold out for 2024. And if you haven’t snared a booking – you’ll never eat there. Because it’s re-inventing itself
Noma in Copenhagen – it’s been named the best restaurant in the world multiple times and has three Michelin stars.
But unless you’ve managed to snare a table for 2024, you’ll never eat there.
That’s because it’s booked till 2025, when it will shut down and reopen as ‘a giant lab – a pioneering test kitchen’.
Sorry!
Visit: noma.dk.
