It’s that time of year when Asia’s culinary elite gather to name Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. This year the awards were held at the Wynn Palace in Macau. China has 12 (one more than last year!) restaurants on the list and with two located in Shanghai.
Shanghainese style vegetarian dishes at FuHeHui.
The two mainland restaurants to make the list include Tony Lu’s upscale Chinese vegetarian restaurant, Fu He Hui, which climbed 18 places to make the cut at #30 and Shanghai’s Ultraviolet, helmed by Paul Pairet, which held strong at #8.
Sadly, Pairet’s Mr & Mrs Bund, which was knocked off the list last year, did not find its way back on the ranking in 2018.
The dining room at Ultraviolet (left) and Paul Pairet (right).
Hong Kong had more movement with nine restaurants on the list. Greater China is not in the top five this year as Richard Ekkebus’ contemporary French eatery, Amber, has dropped from fourth to seventh place. 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana and Lung King Heen also placed lower in the list than in 2017.
Danny Yip’s Contemporary Cantonese destination, The Chairman, jumped to #22 from #47 earning this year’s Highest Climber Award. Ever popular Ronin also climbed up four spots to #41 and French-Japanese, Ta Vie moved from #33 to #16.
New entrants included purveyors of homey French-Italian cuisine, Neighborhood, as well as the French bisto, Belon, opened in 2016 by the Black Sheep Group.
Two Michelin starred, Caprice (in the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong) is back on the list at #46 after a two-year hiatus. Their pastry chef, Nicolas Lambert, was also named Asia’s Best Pastry Chef.
Over in Macau, where the awards were held, the Cantonese fine dining outlet Jade Dragon was awarded a spot at #35, three spots lower than last year. It is currently the territory’s only ranked restaurant.
Bangkok’s Gaggan swooped up the top slot for the fourth year in a row. Gaggan Anand told Food & Wine recently that his eponymous restaurant will close in 2020, so the clock is ticking on eating at Asia's best restaurant. Tokyo based restaurants Den and Florilège, take second and third place respectively. Sühring in Bangkok and Odette in Singapore round out the top five.
Worth noting Chef Johnston Teo, former R&D chef of Odette, is now cooking in Shanghai at The Pine at Ruijin located in the Intercontinental.
The World's 50 Best awards have been subject to scrutiny due to gender representation and yet only two women made the Asia regional list this year. Bee Satongun is the 2018 recipient of the Asia’s Best Female Chef award, itself a hotly contested award. Her restaurant, Paste, entered the list at #31. The only other woman represented this year, also based in Bangkok, Duangporn ‘Bo’ Songvisava shares the #37 slot with her husband, Dylan “Lan” Jones.
The 2018 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list is sponsored by San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna and run by William Reed Business Media who also run The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants. This year’s sixth annual regional list was decided by “more than 300 restaurant industry experts in Asia.” See here for their manifesto.
Here is the full list of winners:
No. 1 Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 2. Den, Tokyo, Japan
No. 3 Florilège, Tokyo, Japan
No. 4 Sühring, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 5 Odette, Singapore
No. 6 Narisawa, Tokyo, Japan
No. 7 Amber, Hong Kong, China
No. 8 Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai, China
No. 9 Nihonryoi RyuGin, Tokyo, Japan
No. 10 Namh, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 11 Mingles, Seoul, Korea
No. 12 Burnt Ends, Singapore
No. 13 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong, China
No. 14 Le Du, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 15 Raw, Taipei, Taiwan | Best Restaurant in Taiwan
No. 16 Ta Vie, Hong Kong, China
No. 17 La Cime, Osaka, Japan
No. 18 Mume, Taipei, Taiwan
No. 19 Indian Accent, New Delhi, India
No. 20 L’Effervescence, Tokyo, Japan
No. 21 Locavore, Bali, Indonesia
No. 22 The Chairman, Hong Kong, China
No. 23 Waku Ghin, Singapore
No. 24 Lung King Heen, Hong Kong, China
No. 25 Ministry of Crab, Colombo, Sri Lanka
No. 26 Jungsik, Seoul, Korea
No. 27 Sushi Saito, Tokyo, Japan
No. 28 Il Ristorante Luca Fantin, Tokyo, Japan
No. 29 Les Amis, Singapore
No. 30 Fu He Hui, Shanghai, China
No. 31 Paste, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 32 Neighborhood, Hong Kong, China
No. 33 Eat Me,Bangkok, Thailand
No. 34 Hajime, Osaka, Japan
No. 35 Jade Dragon, Macau, China
No. 36 Corner House, Singapore
No. 37 Bo.Lan, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 38 Quintessence, Tokyo, Japan
No. 39 Issaya Siamese Club, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 40 Belon, Hong Kong
No. 41 Ronin, Hong Kong, China
No. 42 TocToc, Seoul, Korea
No. 43 The Dining Room at the House of Sathorn, Bangkok, Thailand
No. 44 Jaan, Singapore
No. 45 Nihonbashi, Colombo, Sri Lanka
No. 46 Caprice, Hong Kong, China
No. 47 Shoun RyuGin, Taipei, Taiwan
No. 48 La Maison de la Nature Goh, Fukuoka, Japan
No. 49 Wasabi by Morimoto, Mumbai, India
No. 50 Whitegrass, Singapore
[Images via Airmule, Asia's 50 Best Restaurants]
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