03 March 2026
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Orlando has long been associated with theme parks, but this is a city that offers far more, revealing surprising layers to visitors who choose to explore, from central Florida’s landscapes to its cultural life. While Orlando was once better known for its convenience and comfort food, in recent years chef-driven restaurants have expanded across the city, from dining rooms in high-end hotels to tucked-away strip mall addresses where the aroma of spices greets guests at the door. Travelers and residents have a diverse array of restaurants to choose from in Orlando, with everything from Latin American cooking and Pan-Asian street food to Ethiopian and Japanese cuisines, plus so much more.
Explore more below.
Bacán
Upon arriving at Bacán, all eyes are drawn toward the colorful, 20-foot-high mural featuring the flora and fauna of Latin America. It’s the focal point of this atmospheric restaurant inside Lake Nona Wave Hotel, a tech-forward and art-centric property located within one of the city’s most modern planned communities. Gold mesh lighting fixtures cast a diffused light over the sophisticated scene but the energy is upbeat and lively as diners settle in to sample the restaurant’s contemporary menu of Central and South American cuisine.Chef Guillaume Robin’s creative menu includes dishes such as lobster tostadas with passionfruit and burrata, pork belly al pastor with pineapple, gooseberry and creamy salsa verde, and Florida snapper with Guyanese curry and a side of mofongo (fried green plantains mashed with crispy pork skin). Much of the action centers on the open kitchen, which anchors the space.
Coro
A date night go-to, Coro, opened by Chef Tim Lovero in 2024, is a jewel box of a restaurant tucked behind an unassuming storefront in the Audubon Park Garden District. After cutting his teeth in the kitchens of several beloved Orlando restaurants, Lovero decided to open his small-plates spot, where the menu changes regularly and sharing is encouraged. Diners can decide who gets the biggest piece of the potato naan served with whipped chicken skin butter and citrus jam, or tender lamb shoulder with butternut squash purée and sautéed greens. In keeping with Lovero’s aim to keep things surprising, expect other playful dishes like spring onion fries with crème fraiche, black garlic and roe, and a dessert of bananas and caviar.
Kadence
Chef-owners Mark and Jennifer Berdin, a husband-and-wife team, are behind Kadence, an intimate counter-style sushi and sake bar in Orlando’s leafy Audubon Park Garden District, where a tasting menu unfolds for just eight diners at a time. Part of the experience is watching the deliberate rhythm of the meal as each course is prepared in front of guests. Composed small dishes, such as warm duck soup with udon noodles or sukiyaki-style wagyu (a Japanese hot pot), lead into pristine sashimi, a precisely paced nigiri sequence and more. Beverage pairings are equally precise: the Berdins are certified advanced sake professionals.The minimalist interior, with clean lines and pale woods, evokes both Japanese and Scandinavian design, providing a calm backdrop for a meal that feels at once reverent and relaxed.
Mills Market
Inside Mills Market, a small but mighty food hall, downtown Orlando’s youthful vibe meets a range of Asian street food vendors, including several MICHELIN Bib Gourmand selections. The project grew out of Tien Hung Market, a long-running Vietnamese supermarket in the walkable Mills 50 District that opened in 1986, according to general manager Elvis Phan, the original owners’ grandson. In 2024, the grocery store was converted to a food hall.
Crowds arrive for a mix of options: Peking duck and bao (buns) at Kai Kai BBQ & Dumplings, pho French dip bánh mì at Bánh Mì Boy, handmade udon at Zaru, and Japanese curry hash browns and onigiri (pressed rice wrapped in nori) at UniGirl.
“The whole idea behind what the market is now came from wanting a place where people feel comfortable to walk in, sit down, peruse, grab a drink and maybe something to eat — to relax and meet new friends,” says Phan. “When it was a grocery store, my grandparents wanted a common place for Vietnamese Americans to come and hang out. They loved the social interactions.”
Otto's High Dive
A bar decorated with beautiful Spanish tiles and tropical plants curtaining down from the ceiling sets the scene at Otto’s High Dive, a Cuban-inspired neighborhood rum bar and restaurant in downtown’s Milk District that draws festive crowds for daiquiris by the pitcher and Cuba Libres on tap. The restaurant was founded on the spirit of abundancia (Spanish for abundance), with Old Cuba-meets-Florida vibes and a thread of welcoming hospitality throughout. If you’re looking for unfussy Latin food that’s always on point, there’s much to celebrate on Otto’s menu.Consider kicking things off with a platter of oysters — served raw or baked with chili-lime butter and chicharron (fried pork rinds) crunch — before segueing to comforting Cuban classics like ropa vieja (slow-cooked shredded beef) and chicken mojo (garlicky citrus sauce) served with lashings of rice and beans. Argentinian red shrimp with spicy Bloody Mary sauce reimagines classic shrimp cocktail, and jumbo lump crab salad takes a tropical turn with pineapple, lime and plantain chips. For dessert, cinnamon bread pudding and pastelitos (traditional Cuban puff pastries) filled with guava and cheese round out the sweet offerings.
Selam
As a testament to the city’s increasingly global dining landscape, Selam brings the cuisine from the Horn of Africa to Central Florida. For those curious about Ethiopian and Eritrean food, this modest restaurant makes a big impression, despite its strip mall setting a few miles off Interstate-4.
The room is redolent with the scent of richly layered spices as guests settle in to eat with their hands, using pieces of spongy injera to scoop up richly seasoned stews. Doro wat, one of East Africa’s best-known dishes, arrives with chicken simmered in seasoned butter and topped with hardboiled eggs and homemade Ethiopian cottage cheese. For a taste of it all, the combination platter — a spread of beef key wot (slow-cooked beef stew in Berbere sauce), beef alecha wot (a mild stew simmered with garlic, ginger and turmeric), stewed collard greens called gomen, and house-made cottage cheese — is a must-have. For those new to honey wine, be sure to order the traditional Ethiopian mead called tej.
Sorekara
You’re not likely to bump into many tourists around Baldwin Park, a former naval training center turned master-planned community just northwest of downtown Orlando. But it’s worth a detour to Sorekara, a Japanese restaurant that MICHELIN Guide Inspectors call out for being a surprising and delightful culinary journey that upends expectations.
Chef William Shen’s multicourse menu draws on Japan’s 72 kō — the microseasons of the traditional calendar — and unfolds with a sense of whimsy, including a course that references a convenience-store snack run. Guests are encouraged to set aside their phones and follow the rhythm of the meal as dishes arrive, from a tartlet of Hokkaido-sourced kegani (Japanese hairy crab) to madai (sea bream) sourced from Hokkaido and noted for its depth of umami.
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Hero image: Sashimi platter from Kadence. © Michael Mitra/Kadence
Thumb image: Menu offering from Sorekara. © Micah Cox /Sorekara
