So, here is a truncated round-up of F&B ideas, with each showcasing a key defining element, on how best to make the most of your next stay in the five Asia-Pacific cities that made the Best Cities for 2026 list.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Depending on who you ask, the world’s best city is also home to the world’s best coffee. With an extensive and diverse speciality coffee scene that took root sometime in the 1950s, you cannot walk around its central business district without coming across at least one top-rated coffee shop or a micro-roaster. To combine a java jolt with a bit of sightseeing, head to Melbourne’s famous art-filled laneways, just off Little Bourke Street. Here, you will find no shortage of caffeinated options. If you do not know where to start, seek out Rankins or Flinders Lanes, home to Manchester Press and Dukes Coffee Roasters. If you are in town on an in-and-out work trip, fret not. Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport has an outpost of South Melbourne’s popular ST. ALi, allowing you to cart home bags of beans or even its signature My Mexican Cousin breakfast burrito, to save yourself from eating airplane food.
See also: Lufthansa two-day pilot strike set to cancel hundreds of flights
SHANGHAI, CHINA
All skyscrapers and sophistication, Shanghai maintains its elegant past very well indeed. And there is no better way to experience that than with a slap-up feast of xiao long bao or soup dumplings, affectionately shortened to XLB by the cool kids. Jia Jia Xiao Long Bao on Huanghe Lu is a veritable institution. Go during the right season — between September and December — and you can slurp and swallow the crab roe-filled versions too.
After you have eaten your fill, walk down to People’s Park and join the snaking queues that form daily outside the Park Hotel Deli. Local Shanghainese — and the rest of the world, it would seem — cannot get enough of its signature butterfly pastries called hudiesu.
BANGKOK, THAILAND
Where does one start in the City of Angels, which seemingly has it all? From world-class cuisine to sybaritic spas and rich culture, travellers are spoilt for choice. Its nightlife remains the stuff of legend — and rightly so. For a more elegant approach to a fun night out, avoid girly bars like the plague and instead head to one of its award-winning watering holes. There are several to choose from, of course, but for localised takes on delicious tipples, Bar Us is a good bet. Tucked away in a small alley in Sukhumvit 26, Bar Us offers a fortified version of Thai tea, a jackfruit and sticky rice cocktail and a divine Tom Yam highball. End the night on a high — double entendre fully intended — with a final drink at the nearby Octave rooftop bar.
See also: Life of leisure
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA
With apologies to Colonel Sanders, KFC in South Korea can only mean Korean Fried Chicken. Better than the usual fast food junk, the Han take on deep-fried chook is equated with double-fried crispy skin that is sinfully light and usually accompanied by a swig of beer. This glorious eating modernist tradition also has its own moniker — chimaek, a portmanteau of fried chicken (chikin) and beer (maekju). For a haute take, go to the swish neighbourhood of Gangnam where celebrated chefs Mingoo Kang and Shin Chang-ho (of Mingles and Joo Ok fame respectively) perfected their version of KFC at Hyodo. It is said that the soy sauce glaze alone, featuring spices, grain syrup, as well as shishito and cheongyang peppers, can take up to a day to make.
TOKYO, JAPAN
The Japanese capital has always had a vibe. But the best place to soak up the city’s soaring energy combined with take-your-breath-away views (you can spot Mount Fuji on clear evenings from the 8m-high windows) and a dash of Hollywood glamour is at the inimitable New York Grill & Bar, perched atop Asia’s first Park Hyatt-branded hotel. Recently reopened in December 2025 after a hotel-wide renovation that took 18 months, its Lost in Translation mystique endures on the 52nd level of the Shinjuku Park Tower, aided along by live jazz music and the spatial genius designed by Pritzker Prize winner Kenzo Tange.
