PLAY SPOT THE CELEBRITY IN LOS ANGELES Cancel the Movie Stars' Home Tour and head for Providence, opened at the end of last year by Michael Cimarusti. You may only get a booking however if you, too, are a celebrity. The emphasis is on Cimarusti's highly polished take on seafood, leaning on French and Japanese influences. His salmon belly with salmon skin and rillettes are bringing in rave reviews.

The LA Times's reviewer Irene Virbila called it "the most significant opening in LA in a long time".

Price per head 'California Coastline' menu and market menu, �?�70 food only.

Book ahead Five weeks.

Address 5955 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles (00 1 323 460 4170; providencela. com).

Can't get in? Try Dakota, a hot post-modern LA steakhouse with bar scene to match (00 1 323 769 8888).

A STAR TURN IN PARIS In 2001, one restaurant critic reviewed a pretty, 40-seat restaurant in the 16th arrondissement of Paris under the headline: 'A star is born'. A year later, L'Astrance received its first Michelin star. Two years later, its second. Chef, Pascal Barbot was named 2005 chef of the year by Gault et Millaut. Now it's more difficult to get a reservation than at most Parisian three-stars. Among his most acclaimed dishes are avocado filamelle filled with crabmeat and flavoured with almond oil, and slow-cooked monkfish with girolles and tomme d'Auvergne.

Price per head �?�150, food only.

Book ahead Two months.

Address 4 Rue Beethoven, Paris (00 33 1 40 50 84 40).

Can't get in? Try Le Cinq at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, for chef Philippe Legendre's mix of classic and contemporary French cooking (00 33 1 4952 7000).

GLAMOUR IN HONG KONG There is nothing like a glamorous hotel to set the pulse racing in Hong Kong, especially when it has a gorgeous restaurant. Caprice, in the Four Seasons, shares the DNA of the three-starred Le Cinq restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel Georges V in Paris. The decor is a sleek fusion of eastern and western, while the cooking is resolutely French; the view of Victoria Harbour is Hong Kong on a plate. Chef Vincent Thierry deftly re-invents the classics with dishes such as ballotine of foie gras with gingerbread jelly and roasted suckling pig with stewed broad beans and coriander.

Price per head 'A Taste of Caprice' menu, �?�115 food only.

Book ahead One month.

Address Four Seasons, Hong Kong, 8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong (00 852 3196 8888; fourseasons. com/hong kong).

Can't get in? Try the Four Seasons' equally new, equally glamorous, and almost as hot Chinese restaurant, Lung King Heen (00 852 3196 8888).

KEEP IT COOL IN BONDI Sydney's hottest restaurant, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, shares its name and premises with what must be the coldest club in the country. The Bondi Icebergs are a bunch of hardy souls who swim in the club's outdoor seawater pool every day, even winter. While the club occupies the lower levels, the top floor, with its glorious box-seat views across Bondi Beach, has been given over to this chic, cushioned, candle-lit space. The blond and the sun-tanned go for chef Robert Marchetti's simple, sophisticated Mediterranean treatment of Australia's finest seafood. Everyone finishes with a mind-blowing sgroppino of lemon sorbet and Prosecco, instituted by the ultra-cool co-owner Maurizio Terzini. The coral trout risotto, the cocktails, the vibe and the power of a Bondi sunset all keep the heat levels so high you'll get a tan over dinner.

Price per head About �?�45, food only.

Book ahead Four weeks.

Address 1 Notts Avenue, Bondi Beach, Sydney (00 612 9365 9000; idrb. com).

Can't get in? Try Justin North's highly rated Becasse, which just moved to new digs in the city (00 612 9283 3440).

BOOK (VERY) EARLY IN SPAIN Every year it gets harder to book a table at El Bulli, a seaside restaurant in Spain . . . a problem made more difficult by it only opening from April to October. Last year, about 500,000 hopefuls tried for a mere 8,000 seats. Why the fuss?

Chef Ferran Adria is the most important force in food in the 21st century. After a classical culinary upbringing, he now breaks all the rules, harnessing new technology and old showmanship. A 'typical' meal consists of 30 courses of little surprises, and a few shocks. There could be a deconstructed pina colada, seaweed croquante, freeze-dried foie gras, parmesan 'marshmallows', or cauliflower couscous.

Price per head �?�155, food only.

Book ahead 2006 almost booked out already.

Address Cala Montjoi, Vercel de las Nieves, Roses, Spain (00 34 9 7215 0457; elbulli. com).

Can't get in? Try Ferran Adria's two Michelin-starred La Alqueria restaurant at Hacienda Benazuza, Sanlucar la Mayor, near Seville (00 34 955 703 344).

ALL THAT JAZZ IN LONDON Gordon Ramsay has a knack for opening wildly successful restaurants. Maze, a jazzy New York-style split-level space in London, has been a hit from day one. Chef Jason Atherton sends out a glittering array of tiny tapas-sized plates that combine fabulous produce with vivid Miro-like imaginings. Dishes include marinated beetroot with sheep's milk ricotta and honey and soy roasted quail with Landes foie gras, peach and Persian saffron chutney.

Price per head Eight course 'Chef 's Selection' menu �?�60, food only.

Book ahead Six weeks.

Address Marriott Grosvenor Square, 10-13 Grosvenor Square, London W1 (0044 207107 0000; gordonramsay. com).

Can't get in? Try the other big opening in London . . . Nigel Platts-Martin and Phillip Howard's The Ledbury in Notting Hill (0044 207792 9090).

SMALL WONDERS IN AMSTERDAM Amsterdam has had so many high-profile openings in the past year that the me-first brigade are left frantically trying to keep up. If they're not drinking at The College, or sipping Asian broths at Brasserie Harkema, they're trying to get into Envy. Why? Because of owner Bert Van Der Leyden, the man behind the bed-bedecked, music-oriented Supperclub, and designers, Concrete Architectural Associates, the darlings of Wallpapermagazine. But mainly it's because chef Remco van der Weerd serves up a stunning array of small plates, each one a miracle of compatible flavours such as pata negra-wrapped scallops on truffled mash. Set in a leafy canal street, it is one long lean space with the moody looks of a wine bar. The 54 bookable seats are much fought over, but 44 high stools at the long, communal, central table are available for drop-ins.

Price per head Five-course 'Chef 's Choice' menu, �?�50 .

Book ahead Three weeks for a table, but try for a walk-in.

Address Prinsengracht 381, Amsterdam (00 31 20 344 6407).

Can't get in? Try the Mansion in Hobbemastraat with its cool bar scene, new style sashimi and steamers of dim sum (00 31 20 616 6664).