3 Best Restaurants in Durham, The Northeast

Ignore the dad-joke pun—this is a really good, modern, vegetarian- and celiac-friendly café. Mismatched, shabby-chic furniture fills the cozy dining room, where you can enjoy delicious, fresh scones, cakes, gluten-free desserts, and tasty panini and wraps. It's easily missed, so look out for the salmon-colored door at the corner of Saddler Street and Owengate.

Excellent seafood and indulgent desserts are the specialties at this popular bistro, but there are steaks and a few veggie options on the menu as well. Order the fishcakes with buttered spinach or the jumbo shrimp grilled Tandoori style (with a hint of Indian spice), and save room for the Knickerbocker Glory, an old-fashioned concoction of ice cream, sponge cake, fruit, and chocolate, served in a tall glass. The restaurant is a 20-minute walk north of the city center.

This colorful and inviting restaurant, where diners are "shaded" indoors by a faux cherry blossom tree, mainly serves Thai food, but the menu is also scattered with Japanese, Chinese, and Indonesian dishes. A rather dizzying trip around Asia can take you from Thai green curry to sizzling Mongolian lamb to Japanese teriyaki beef, as well as some less familiar dishes like cod fillet wrapped in banana leaves and served with chili and lime. This place is a local favorite, so make reservations if you're coming on a weekend.