Following the successful move to Macao in 2018, the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony and associated event program will return to the city-state in 2019.
On the evening of Tuesday 26th March, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants will gather the region’s most celebrated chefs, renowned restaurateurs, industry VIPs and international media at Wynn Palace Cotai to reveal the 2019 list and special award winners. The prestigious awards ceremony, sponsored by S.Pellegrino and Acqua Panna, is hosted with the support of Macao Government Tourism Office.
The gala awards evening is the highlight of a series of events over the week in Macao which will see the greatest culinary talent from across Asia gather for collaborative dinners, interactive talks and the annual Chefs’ Feast celebration. In 2018, chefs and restaurateurs from over 90% of the restaurants on the list attended to witness Bangkok destination Gaggan being named as The Best Restaurant in Asia, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, for a record fourth time.
The 2019 program will include the popular #50BestTalks event at Wynn Macau, presented by Miele, on Monday 25th March. The one-day curated forum will bring together world-leading chefs and culinary leaders to discuss big ideas around sustainability, sourcing, over-consumption and other current issues facing chefs, restaurateurs and diners under the heading ‘Vital Ingredients’. The theme of #50BestTalks reflects the organisation’s recent focus on key issues of sustainability, inclusivity, opportunity and diversity in global gastronomy. In 2018, the Sustainable Restaurant Award was introduced as part of the wider Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards program for the first time with the new winner to be announced in Macao next year.
Since its 2013 launch, Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants has celebrated local culinary traditions, rewarded innovation and identified new talent in the region. Now in its seventh year, the list has become a trusted guide for lovers of gastronomy. The awards have been hosted in Singapore (2013-2015) and Bangkok, Thailand (2016-2017) before moving to Macao for the first time in 2018.
The 2018 list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, featured eight new entries and included special awards such as the Miele One To Watch Award, Asia’s Best Pastry Chef, sponsored by Valrhona, the Sustainable Restaurant Award and the elit® Vodka Asia’s Best Female Chef.
How the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list is compiled
The list is created from the votes of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, an influential group of over 300 leaders in the restaurant industry across Asia, each selected for their expert opinion of Asia’s restaurant scene. The panel in each region is made up of food writers and critics, chefs, restaurateurs and highly regarded ‘gastronomes’. Members list their choices in order of preference, based on their best restaurant experiences of the previous 18 months. There is no pre-determined check-list of criteria, but there are strict voting rules.
