Benjamin Cross has spent almost two decades building restaurants by hand across Indonesia, Spain and Japan. The co-founder and culinary director of Brett Hospitality Group, he started his career at Rae's on Wategos in Byron Bay, worked under Neil Perry at Rockpool when it was on the World's 50 Best list, opened a restaurant in Mallorca with Julian Lennon at 21, then moved to Bali in 2008 and never left.
Today he runs Masonry Canggu, Masonry Uluwatu, Bar Vera, Chop House and Backroom in Bali, handles the entire food production for Aqua Blu Expeditions (a superyacht that sails from Bali to Komodo to Raja Ampat), and just opened Masonry Japan, a ski-in, ski-out restaurant inside Niseko Kyo in Hokkaido. At every venue, the philosophy is the same: made from scratch, by hand, with care. The charcuterie, the cheese, the plates, the bricks, the furniture. All of it.
It's that maker's eye that makes his restaurant picks across Asia worth paying attention to. Benji isn't chasing hype or Michelin stars; he's looking for people who cook the way he builds, with obsession, intention and zero shortcuts. When I sat down with him at Bar Vera one evening and asked for his top restaurants around the region, the list he gave me was small, specific and deeply personal. Four places, four cities, each one run by someone he respects. Here they are, in his own words.
Fujimaru, Tokyo
"A good friend of mine, Kenta, opened there maybe a year ago. He used to work at Agnes in Brisbane and he's now doing epic food. They've got an amazing wine selection there. You can walk in the storeroom and pick your own wine and I highly recommend it. I always get the chef's selection because the menu changes weekly based on seasonal ingredients. Every time I've been there, it's always different. He hates it, but always just ask him to make the menu for you."
Fujimaru is a wine-forward dining concept in Tokyo built around one of Japan's pioneering natural wine producers. The original Fujimaru Winery started in Osaka, and the Tokyo locations carry the same ethos: wild-yeast fermentation, minimal sulphites, and an extensive list covering house-brewed wines alongside hundreds of bottles from around the world. The setup Benji describes, walking into the storeroom to choose your own bottle, is a signature of the Fujimaru experience. It's the kind of place where the wine programme and the kitchen operate as equals, and where a weekly-rotating, ingredient-driven menu rewards repeat visits. Benji's advice: skip the menu, trust the chef, and let him cook for you.
Samrub Samrub Thai, Bangkok
"Chef Prin, he used to work with David Thompson at Nahm and has his own place there. He does regional dishes, I think it's every month or other month the menu changes. They take a different region and cook the food from there. It's a set menu, so you just got to go in there, sit there. And he makes his own local liquor, so make sure you ask him to try some of the local liquor that he produces in the back of the kitchen."
Samrub Samrub Thai is one of the most important Thai restaurants operating today. Chef Prin Polsuk, a Chiang Mai native, started his career at the Mandarin Oriental's Sala Rim Naam before being recruited by David Thompson to work at Nahm, the legendary restaurant that became the first Thai kitchen in the world to receive a Michelin star. After Thompson left Nahm in 2018, Prin struck out on his own. Together with his wife Thanyaporn "Mint" Jarukittikun, he launched Samrub Samrub Thai with a mission to preserve and reinterpret regional Thai cooking. The tasting menu rotates every two months, each cycle spotlighting a different province or tradition: one season might be Isan, the next Southern Thai. It earned its own Michelin star in 2023 and landed at number 29 on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2024. And the local liquor Benji mentions? That's lao khao, Thai rice spirit, which Prin infuses with seasonal ingredients like Northern plums and keeps in big plastic vats on display. Ask for it. It doesn't appear on the menu.
Studio, Kuala Lumpur
"Christian and Jenifer. Probably one of the best fine dining meals I've had in the past year, and the wine service. It's a set menu so you don't have to do any thinking. You just rock up there but the space is phenomenal. They do this little gravy, mashed potato gravy and chicken skin with bread rolls as a dipping. It's phenomenal. Definitely get that if it's still on the menu."
Studio is a 2022 opening in Bangsar by chef-owner Christian Recomio and co-owner Jenifer Kuah, two veterans with over 40 years of combined experience in the industry. Recomio is Scottish-born, trained in Oslo, Copenhagen and Barcelona, and ran Moonfish Cafe in Aberdeen for more than two decades before relocating to Kuala Lumpur. Kuah, who previously co-founded Sitka and a string of cafes across KL and Selangor including Alta Cafe and Butter + Beans, runs the floor and the natural wine programme with a precision that Benji clearly admires. The restaurant offers six-, eight- and ten-course tasting menus that blend Malaysian ingredients with European technique, focused on seafood, shellfish and vegetables. It's intimate, dimly lit, and only officially open on Fridays and Saturdays (private bookings the rest of the week). The kind of place where you don't need to think, just sit down and trust the room.
Taitongese Cuisine, Hong Kong
"A little place I don't even know the name of, but it's in Hong Kong. It's an hour's drive outside of Hong Kong but they do these roast chickens that they roast in a traditional clay oven. They dry age the chickens for a few days and then roast it over charcoal. And then the guy cooks a little bit far away from the restaurant and he has this little electric scooter that he puts the chickens on and brings them to your table. So it's super cool. If anyone wants to know about that one, just send me a DM."
The place Benji couldn't name is Taitongese Cuisine, tucked away in Yuen Long's Tai Tong village in Hong Kong's New Territories. It's not technically an hour outside the city, but it feels like a different world: rural, unhurried, connected to the Tai Tong Lychee Valley. The restaurant is known for its lychee charcoal-grilled chicken, whole birds roasted in traditional kilns on site. No tasting menus, no wine lists, no reservations system that anyone talks about. Just chicken, fire and a guy on an electric scooter delivering it to your table. It's the kind of place you'd never find unless someone told you about it, which is exactly the point. The address: G/F, 198 Tai Tong Tsuen, Tai Tong Shan Road, Shap Pat Heung, Yuen Long. Now you don't need to DM him.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Benjamin Cross and what restaurants does he run?
Benjamin Cross is the co-founder and culinary director of Brett Hospitality Group. He runs Masonry Canggu, Masonry Uluwatu, Bar Vera, Chop House and Backroom in Bali, manages food production for Aqua Blu Expeditions, and recently opened Masonry Japan in Niseko, Hokkaido.
What is Samrub Samrub Thai in Bangkok known for?
Samrub Samrub Thai is a Michelin-starred restaurant by chef Prin Polsuk that serves a tasting menu rotating every two months, each cycle spotlighting a different Thai province or tradition. It ranked 29th on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2024.
Where is Taitongese Cuisine in Hong Kong and how do you find it?
Taitongese Cuisine is located in Tai Tong village, Yuen Long, in Hong Kong's New Territories. It's known for whole chickens roasted over lychee charcoal in traditional kilns — the kind of place you'd only know about through word of mouth.
Is Studio in Kuala Lumpur open every day?
Studio is only officially open on Fridays and Saturdays, with private bookings available the rest of the week. It's an intimate space in Bangsar offering six-, eight- and ten-course tasting menus.
What makes Fujimaru Tokyo different from other restaurants?
Fujimaru is a wine-forward dining concept rooted in natural winemaking, where guests can walk into the storeroom and choose their own bottle. The kitchen menu rotates weekly based on seasonal ingredients, so the experience changes with every visit.
