WORLD'S BEST DESIGNED RESTAURANTS

A feast for the eyes: Inside some of the world's best-designed restaurants where the decor is just as important as the food

• Collection of stunning designs are some of world's most beautiful eateries
• Igloo under Mt Fuji and a speakeasy under a shopping mall make the list
• Curators say restaurants care more about their decor than ever

When the best restaurants in the world battle it out for rave reviews, it's normally what's on the plate that counts.

But a new list of the world's most stylish food establishments is judging fine dining not on the food, but on the furnishings.

Architecture and interior website 'DesignCurial' has compiled a list of some of the most stunning environments in which to sit down to dinner, and the result is a real feast for the eyes.

Sci-fi theme: The interior of TOY in New York is reminiscent of Ridley Scott's classic film Blade Runner

Dramatic: Phantom L'opÈra, Paris, is the ultra modern restaurant inside Palais Garnier opera house

See more Photos / Details after the cut..

Japanese flower: The interior of the Horse's Mouth feature tiled walls and cut-out windows displaying some 3000 origami flowers amid leather seating and dark wooden tables.

Keeping it simple: A Cantina, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain has a minimalist design constructed from tree-like structures of blonde wood

Underground chic: The dining room of the Horse's Mouth, above, may look like a secret lair, but it's actually in the basement of a shopping centre.

Function and form: Hoto Fudo's beautiful design, which leaves the restaurant open to the outside world, means the interior can be naturally air conditioned by the breeze.

The online compilation shows how much impetus leading chefs are placing on the ambiance of their restaurants, with some buildings in the list standing alone as architectural triumphs. 

The collection has brought together the simple and classic designs of Switzerland with the ultramodern invention of Japan.

Spain and Thailand also have representatives in the run down of inspirational eating places.

A compilation of such decadence and style would not, of course, be complete with out an entry from New York.

The ultra chic restaurant TOY in the Big Apple is given credit for its sci-fi styled theme. The interior of the restaurant is lit with projectors which can rotate between images and hues.

It is often said that the appreciation of far eastern cuisine begins with the eyes, and that is certainly the case with the Horse's Mouth in Singapore.

The exotic looking eatery is actually located beneath a huge shopping mall, but there is no sign of bland marble in the dramatically lit restaurant which is based on a speakeasy. 

One room has over 3,000 origami flowers as backdrop to sultry leather seating and dark wooden tables.

In the lead for outstanding exterior design is Hoto Fudo, which stands under the shadow of Mount Fuji, Japan.

Designer Takeshi Hosaka left their white igloo open to the elements, to give the diners the feeling of being both outside and inside at the same time. 

In Paris, designer Odile Decq has created an undulating structure for 'Phantom L'opera' cleverly designed so it doesn't touch the walls of the Belle Epoque historic building.

Instead the red floors, seating, furniture and fittings create a theatrical space weaving around at Mezzanine level within a glass wall isolating the restaurant from the building itself.

The list is completed by restaurants A Cantina in Santiago de Compostela, and Switzerland's Union, in Basel.

The Swiss restaurant is a warming environment of copper surfaces and deep green wood which is influenced by the tradition of painting doors green in the local towns.

A Cantina, with its minimalist structure is designed to bring the feeling of the outdoors in. Its simple wood structures are said to give diners the feeling of being at a Spanish summer food festival.