A world atlas of remarkable rooms
Places worth
travelling for
A curated guide to the world's most iconic brasseries, cafés and restaurants.
Curated by Ernst Aben
Explore the icons1901
of many stories
01 / Discover
Not the newest.
The unforgettable.
Some places are more than a meal. They are grand rooms, local rituals and living pieces of history. I select restaurants and cafés with a story you can still walk into.
02 / The map
Every icon
in its place.
The map follows the search and country filters. Select a marker to open the location, its address and official website.
on the map
03 / The collection
Find your next icon.
127 places shown
04 / Countries
The world,
room by room.
05 / My point of view
“Iconic is not a style.
It is a place that stays with me.”
Ernst Aben
I am the founder and curator of Most Iconic Restaurants and co-owner of Het Archief, a wine bar in Antwerp. For years I have sought out restaurants and cafés that offer more than good food: rooms with memory, architecture, ritual and a distinct sense of place.
Het Archief, set inside a protected cast-iron archive from 1851, is my own daily reference point. It taught me that a place becomes iconic when its building, hospitality and story are inseparable.
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