{"id":191175,"date":"2026-04-09T18:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191175\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T18:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:32:07","slug":"kabawa-has-been-named-best-restaurant-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191175\/","title":{"rendered":"Kabawa Has Been Named Best Restaurant in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you needed another reason to fight for a reservation downtown, here it is: Kabawa<\/a> has just been crowned the best restaurant in the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n

The East Village spot took the top honor in Food & Wine\u2019s 2026 Global Tastemakers Awards, beating out heavy hitters across the country and cementing itself as one of the most exciting dining rooms in America right now. Not bad for a restaurant that only opened last year.<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED:\u00a0Top 10 spots for Caribbean food in NYC\u2019s Little Guyana<\/a><\/p>\n

Kabawa comes from the Momofuku group, but it\u2019s very much its own thing. The restaurant took over the former Momofuku Ko<\/a> space (once a high-concept tasting menu spot) and flipped the script entirely. Now, Chef Paul Carmichael brings Caribbean cooking to the forefront with a bold three-course menu.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That energy is part of what sets Kabawa apart. In our review, the room hummed as the staff chatted and moved as if they actually wanted to be there. Carmichael himself has described the experience less like traditional fine dining and more like hosting\u2014he even prefers \u201cmaster of ceremonies\u201d to \u201cchef.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the plate, that same spirit shows up in dishes that draw on the Caribbean diaspora. Red pepper shrimp is slicked with heat, alongside breadfruit tostones, jerk duck sausage and slow-roasted goat shoulder in a fiery Creole sauce. Even though the format is prix fixe, the experience feels anything but rigid; it\u2019s more like a rolling, shareable feast built for the table.<\/p>\n

Drinks follow suit, with coconut-forward cocktails, sorrel-spiked daiquiris and rum in heavy rotation. And if you\u2019re not ready to call it a night, Bar Kabawa next door keeps things going with patties, more drinks and a rumbling party playlist.<\/p>\n

What pushed Kabawa to the top, according to the awards, wasn\u2019t just technical skill\u2014it was the sense of place. The list, compiled with input from hundreds of chefs and travel experts, highlighted restaurants that tell personal stories through food.<\/p>\n

Kabawa does exactly that, just with more bass, more heat and a lot less pretense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you needed another reason to fight for a reservation downtown, here it is: Kabawa has just been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107511,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2590,9,2591,56,63,65,64,821],"class_list":{"0":"post-191175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-categories-restaurants","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-news-eating","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-restaurants"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}