PUBLISHED February 22nd, 2017 11:37 am | UPDATED March 26th, 2019 01:08 pm
Held last night at W Bangkok’s The House on Sathorn, the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna have crowned their dining royalty for the year. Frankly, the results aren’t all that surprising.
Fans of Gaggan Anand’s explosive Indian cuisine served in progressive new formats will be glad to hear that Gaggan is the best restaurant in Asia for the third year running. Singapore’s Restaurant André is number two with his reinterpreted Southern French nouvelle cuisine while Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, dishing out classic French dishes, follows in third place. 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana (Hong Kong) and David Thompson’s Nahm round up the top five.
Bangkok and Singapore might dominate the list with nine restaurants apiece, but Tokyo doesn’t fare badly with eight (Tokyo’s Narisawa and Nihonryori Ryugin find themselves in the top 10 in sixth and seventh place respectively) and Hong Kong with seven. International diners will also be glad to see an increasing representation in the Indian sub-continent with Ministry of Crab (Colombo, No. 29), Indian Accent (New Delhi, No. 30), Wasabi by Morimoto (Mumbai, No. 46), Nihonbashi (Colombo, No. 49).
Bangkok more than doubled the number of restaurants on the list from last year, with the re-entry of Bo.lan at No. 19 (they dropped out last year), and new entries by The Dining Room at The House on Sathorn at W Bangkok (No. 36), modern Thai Le Du (No. 37), and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Bangkok (No. 40).
Indonesians will also be proud of Bali’s produce-forward Locavore, which jumped from No. 50 last year to No. 22.
At home, Odette by Chef Julien Royer is the highest new entry this year at No. 9 while his alma mater JAAN retains its spot on the list at No. 42 under his successor Chef Kirk Westaway. After a Michelin let down last year, we’re glad that Chef Dave Pynt and Burnt Ends fought their way to No. 10. Other local restaurants on the list include: Les Amis (No. 16), Waku Ghin (No. 20) Corner House (No. 23), Tippling Club (No. 27), and Shinji by Kanesaka (No. 44).
For the full list and rankings, please see Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants’ website.