Restaurant food doesn’t get much simpler than a properly cooked chunk of beef—and rarely delivers so much pleasure.

The smoky sweetness of the char, with its hint of crispness. The soft flesh releasing the deep and earthy flavors of the meat. It’s the stuff of meaty dreams and enjoyed worldwide.

Yet it’s easy to ruin a steak. No amount of sauce or mustard can fix bad beef. Overcooked meat will be dry and chewy. Walk into a random steakhouse when traveling and you may suffer more disappointment than joy.

Help is at hand. We asked leading chefs and restaurateurs for their picks around the world, from the classics of New York through the quality meats of South America through to the upstart steakhouses of London and Tokyo.

U.S.

• Bar Masa, New York

• Beatrice Inn, New York

• Keens, New York

“There’s so much history there,” says Will Guidara, co-owner of Eleven Madison Park and NoMad, in New York. “It feels as New York as any restaurant in the city. Go for the mutton chop and stay for the prime rib hash.”

Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti is a fan. “I always love Keens: Mutton chop and a few steaks,” he says.

Butcher-and-chef Richard H. Turner of Hawksmoor in London agrees: “I am not a fan of USDA (American beef) but I like Keens.”

• Minetta Tavern, New York

“I would put Minetta Tavern up there for sure,” says chef John Cadieux of Goodman steakhouse in London, “Great steak and great atmosphere.”

• Palm, New York

• Peter Luger, New York

Food writer Tom Parker Bowles keeps going back: ”I love it just for those huge slabs of old school corn-fed beef. Plus crisp bacon as a snack and slightly grumpy waiters. ”

Chef Albert Roux of Le Gavroche in London says: ”The whole atmosphere was wonderful and the cuts of meat superb.”

• Sparks, New York

• Alfred’s SF, San Francisco

• Cockscomb, San Francisco

• Canlis, Seattle

• CUT, Las Vegas

• John Thomas Steakhouse, Ithaca, New York

• Pappas Bros., Houston

• Prime, Las Vegas

• Prime 112, Miami Beach

Parker Bowles says it used to be one of the only decent restaurants in South Beach. There are “many more now, but it still holds nostalgic appeal,” he says.

• Spago, Hawaii

• Toturaku, Los Angeles

U.K.

• Hawksmoor, London

Chef Michel Roux Jr of Le Gavroche in London is also a fan. “I had an amazing steak,” he says. “I was very, very impressed. It’s the quality of all the different cuts, from high-end fillet, which I am not a big fan of, to the tomahawk for two or three people. “

Trevor Gulliver, co-owner of St. John restaurant in London, credits chef Turner for Hawksmoor’s quality: “If he’s at the heat I’m there. He knows his animals as a butcher and the flames as a chef.”

Argentina

• Don Julio, Buenos Aires

“It’s a traditional family restaurant with extraordinary meats, especially entraña (skirt) cuts, says chef Roca.

France

• Bistrot Paul Bert, Paris

Italy

• Dario Cecchini, Panzano

Japan

• Shima, Tokyo

Peru

• Osso, Lima

Spain

• Bodega El Capricho, Jiménez de Jamuz, León

• Casa Julian, Tolosa

• Laia, Hondarribia

• Loma Alto, Barcelona

• Trinkete Borda, Irún

Singapore

• Burnt Ends

Uruguay

• El Palenque, Montevideo