For those in search of the authentic flavours of the Utah region served as gourmet cuisine rather than ‘down-home cooking’, Forage is the perfect destination. This restaurant seeks out and uses the best and most unusual local ingredients from the surrounding area to create a series of dishes as imaginative as they are mouthwatering. Food is kept seasonal and fresh often prepared using local traditional methods yet served with an exciting, contemporary twist.

Just outside Salt Lake, this award-winning fine-dining establishment housed in an evocative log-built mansion up in Millcreek Canyon, is a restaurant where the view actually rivals the food. Alfresco dining in these spectacular surroundings is the popular summer option, while customers cosy up at tables by roaring log fires during the winter. The menu includes stone-grilled chicken, coriander-rubbed ahi (tuna fish) and pepper-seared filet mignon, as well as some excellent vegetarian options. Wine and cocktails are also available.

One of the most expensive restaurants in town, the Metropolitan is all about delectable and inspired New American cuisine. This is food that’s crafted from fresh, regional ingredients and reflects the seasonal bounty and farmstead culture of the region. The cuisine at Metropolitan has earned a string of national awards, and, since its inception in 1995, it has also gained enviable recognition as Utah’s culinary jewel.

Located in downtown, this is one of the city's best regarded Italian restaurants; in fact, it’s probably simply the best. This is a true Tuscan tratottoria in the heart of the US, where award-winning chef Valter Nassi serves authentic Tuscan cuisine to regulars and tourists alike. The food is simple but always fresh and tasty, the prices more than reasonable for the quality you get, and the service excellent.

When you’re running a seafood restaurant this far inland you’d better be sure it’s good, and Market Street Grill is widely regarded as the best seafood place in town. Here the fish is flown in specially from around the globe, fresh each day, and eager patrons work their way through over 600 pounds of it daily. From lobster and oysters to bay crab and jumbo shrimp, there’s also a good wine list available for washing it all down.

Just a few miles south-east of Salt Lake City is the scenic Sundance Resort, located on land purchased for preservation by Robert Redford in 1969. Here an award-winning restaurant serves seasonal mountain cuisine in a romantic setting; candlelight, white linen tablecloth, log walls and great forest views. Cosy yet elegant, the private Native American art collection belonging to Redford (the region’s local super-star) adorns the walls.

Of course this is the mid-west, and that’s ‘cattle country’, so dining here still has much to do with the myriad ways of cutting up a cow, from the cheapest burger joints to the most expensive culinary establishments.

An authentic piece of the great American diner experience. With that classic retro ambience in its atmosphere and furnishings, The Blue Plate is open all day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Staying true to the diner ethos, it delivered piled-high portions and service with a smile all the way. Eggs how you want them and wobbling stacks of syrup pancakes, what more could you want?

Only Arizona separates Utah from the border into Mexico, as this colourful restaurant will remind you. Decorated in a mélange of hubcaps and cowboy boots, with brightly painted rural Mexican furniture, this place serves great tacos. The authentic fish ones, using marinated and grilled fish topped with cabbage, tomato, cilantro and jalapeño mayonnaise, are some of the best you’ll find outside Baja.

This restaurant established in 2005 in a charmingly restored old house is authentic Thai, from the imported original art and carved décor to the owners, Wilati and his wife, Chef Pom. This is home-cooking in the US, but Thai style, with the tang of fresh herbs and infused with the fragrance of coconut and lemongrass. Dishes are delicious and there’s a staggeringly wide range. No wonder Sawadee has won an award for Best New Ethnic Restaurant.