Chef Eli Collins turns out precise, seasonal plates that pair smartly with a glass of natural wine or beverage of your choice. Its house charcuterie program and the a.burger — one of the city’s best — are the kinds of food that keep you coming back for more.

At Amá, Mexico City-born chef Frankie Ramirez reimagines Mexican cuisine through a Philly lens: swordfish tacos on hand-pressed tortillas, wood-fired octopus with black fried rice, and tuna tostada with smashed avocado. His food transports you to a sun-kissed table in Mexico City.

What started as a pop-up series has evolved into one of the city’s most expressive Filipino kitchens, turning out everything from pastries to savory Filipino classics like pork belly sisig and crisp lumpia to unique coffee drinks made from Philippines-sourced beans.

Chef Tyler Akin, as Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan writes, “captures the beauty and warmth of the Mediterranean,” at this stylish Fishtown restaurant nestled in the new Anna & Bel hotel. The cuisine of Sardinia and Corsica inspires a menu dotted with dishes like herbed pork belly with roasted new potato and Sardinian pasta with calamari in a saffron-orange sauce.

The innovative chef Kurt Evans infuses Chinese-American takeout with Black soul, a tribute to the restaurants he ate at while growing up in Philadelphia. Think collard-stuffed egg rolls, oxtail rangoon, red-hued jollof fried rice, and gumbo lo mein with sausage and seafood, including a whole crab stuffed inside. It’s playful and packed with flavor — especially if you finish with the peach cobbler wontons.

At Bolo, chef Yun Fuentes channels the flavors of Puerto Rico with plenty of Philly flair, like whole red snapper butterflied and glazed in aji dulce aioli with summer zucchini or whatever’s in season this week at the farmer’s market. You’ll want to pair these dishes with a festive Caribbean cocktail made from top-shelf spirits, like a classic daiquiri, colada, or mojito. As for what to eat? Be like Craig LaBan and order the lobster-stuffed mofongo.

The city’s first Vietnamese coffee roastery also turns out some of the best bánh mì in town. Càphê Roasters’ menu blends tradition and reinvention, as in a scrambled egg sando on Merzbacher’s sweet potato bread, or salty, savory, sweet, and sour tamarind-spiced fries. And it is expanding into a former roller skating rink across the street from its original space.

Bright, bold, and full of flavor, Doro Bet serves Ethiopian fried chicken, a genre they’ve pioneered here in Philly, to devoted customers near Clark Park. Crunchy wings and chicken sandwiches are spiced with berbere and lemon turmeric. Sides of collard greens and mac and cheese round out a meal at this spot on The 76. And the tiramisu, built around ladyfingers soaked in excellent Ethiopian coffee, is a particularly lovely way to finish.

If you want Mexican food that is equal parts comforting and exhilarating, turn to El Chingón. Chef Carlos Aparicio draws from his Puebla roots with dishes like overstuffed cemitas (get the clasica with Milanese, per Craig LaBan) and ever-changing selection of ice creams and other seasonal wonders. Don’t forget to BYOT — bring your own tequila.

Founded specifically as a pasta kitchen, Fiorella is chef Marc Vetri’s temple of gorgeous Italian noodles. Ravioli, rigatoni, gnocchi, fusilli, or whatever Vetri’s cooking — no matter what shape or saucing, Vetri’s attention to detail and flavor make it a far cry from the standard red sauce fare. The cocktails are also legendary, like the savory pasta water martini, or the Rhubarb’s Drag Race, with Revivalist gin, rhubarb, and a Pop-Tart.

Still basking in the glow of being named America’s “Outstanding Restaurant” by the James Beard Foundation in 2023, Friday Saturday Sunday owners Hanna and Chad Williams haven’t let up: The seasonally changing plates meld classic French technique with Caribbean, Southern, and soul food influences for stunning dishes like tortellini stuffed with Benton’s country ham over collards splashed with smoky potlikker, or jerk-spiced quail with fresh coco bread.

Chef Thanh Nguyen celebrates Vietnam’s bold flavors and street food traditions with dishes like Viet-Cajun prawn and mango salad, vermicelli noodles with fried tofu, pork and rice patties, and catfish hot pots. The presentation is striking, the flavors nostalgic and fiery.

Miled Finianos officially launched Habibi Supper Club in December 2023, featuring five- to six-course intimate dinners that he describes as “rustic Lebanese village food with a modern American flair.” The pop-up supper club, designed in collaboration with the brand consulting agency Happy Happy Creative, offers Philadelphians a place at tayta’s (grandma’s) table.

Founded by James Beard semifinalists chef Omar Tate and chef Cybille St.Aude-Tate, this Afro-centric haven is a celebration of Black foodways serving dishes like Haitian spaghetti with crawfish and boudin, and roasted half-chicken with grilled collard greens. With Tate and St.Aude-Tate cooking, every bite tells a story.

Expect Malaysian flavors with punch and purpose from Kampar, the latest restaurant from chef Ange Branca. Her menu stars a double burger wrapped in a crepe-like omelet on a potato bun, deviled chicken hearts, Hakka-style noodles in a rich gravy, and nasi lemak starring coconut cream-soaked rice that balances spice and sweetness.

Chef Phila Lorn, who won the prestigious 2025 James Beard Foundation award for “Emerging Chef,” is already a culinary icon in Philly, thanks to his Cambodian noodle bar Mawn. Getting a reservation might be difficult, but it’s worth it for dishes like crispy soft-shell shrimp glazed in fish sauce caramel, whole fish in hot ginger-scallion oil, refreshing salads, and “all-star seafood rice” jeweled with uni, crab, scallops, and roe. Drooling yet?

From My Loup’s gorgeously curated raw bar (hello, pickled shrimp with aioli and Saltines!) to Her Place’s ever-changing menu of whatever’s seasonal and fresh and fun (swoon for the summer seafood salad toast with fava beans and green garlic), chefs Amanda Shulman and Alex Kemp are cooking the food everyone in Philly wants to eat right now.

Pietramala is cooking some of the best vegan cuisine on the East Coast, and the menu is constantly shifting. Start your meal with Lancaster Farm Fresh golden beets, paired with sour chard and crispy sunchokes. Follow with Hill Creek Farm Jersey Knight asparagus, grilled over coals. Then dive into pan-roasted Mycopolitan comb tooth mushrooms with heirloom white polenta and a jus made from four-month-aged pinto bean miso.

Chef Diana Widjojo, formerly of Hardena, has reprised her favorite Indonesian dishes at Rice & Sambal. Look for all-killer-no-filler options like ubi and potato coconut soup with king mushroom pate, and chicken dumplings with torched spicy mayo. Widjojo also specializes in family-style Liwetan feasts featuring bamboo baskets full of favorite Indonesian flavors served atop banana leaves.

Chef Liz Grothe is executing Italian regional cuisine by way of her native Oklahoma at Scampi. Expect well-sourced, soul-warming dishes like rock shrimp orecchiette, potato and octopus, and Grothe’s always-changing, always-intentional interpretations.

Chef Timothy Dearing plays with locally sourced, often fermented ingredients at Ulé (say it “OOO-lay”). He’s as deft at cooking pork ribeye with toasted yeast and radish as he is churning up sourdough pots de creme with bitter lemon and caramel.