Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2018: Bangkok’s Gaggan is No. 1 for Fourth Consecutive Year, Odette is Singapore’s Best Restaurant

PUBLISHED March 28th, 2018 02:15 am

The sixth edition of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants was announced yesterday evening at Wynn Palace in Macao, and unsurprisingly, Gaggan in Bangkok has maintained its hold on the crown for the fourth consecutive year. For the individual awards, Chef André Chiang (of Raw, Taipei and previously Restaurant André, Singapore) and Chef Bee Satongun (Paste, Bangkok) clinched two of the most important respectively – the Diners Club Lifetime Achievement award and Elit Vodka Asia’s Best Female Chef.

While Japan dominates with 11 restaurants on the list – eight in Tokyo, two in Osaka, and one in Fukuoka – Singapore maintains a strong showing with seven restaurants, such as Best Restaurant in Singapore Odette (No. 5), Dave Pynt’s Burnt Ends (No. 12), and first-timer, Sam Aisbett’s Whitegrass (No. 50). In the land of the rising sun, Den (No.2) is Best Restaurant in Japan, replacing five-time title holder Narisawa (No. 6). Other restaurants that made the cut include Florilège (No.3), this iteration’s highest new entry La Cime (No. 17, Osaka), L’Effervescence (No. 20, winner of Sustainable Restaurant award), and Fukuoka’s La Maison de la Nature Goh (No. 48), which is back this year after dropping out of the top 50 in 2017.

Bangkok and Hong Kong tie with nine restaurants apiece. Besides Gaggan Anand’s eponymous restaurant and new entry Paste (No. 31), we’re happy to see the city’s favourites Sühring (No. 4, up nine places), Nahm (No. 10), and Le Du (No. 14, up 23 places) return. The Fragrant Harbour sees Amber (No. 7) taking the Best Restaurant in China for its third successive year in the row; familiar names, such as 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana (No. 13) and Four Seasons Hong Kong’s Lung King Heen (No. 24), entertain a sort of homecoming while new restaurants like Neighbourhood (No. 32) and Belon (No. 40) make names for themselves.

Other restaurants worth noting include Hong Kong’s The Chairman (No. 22) and Taipei’s Mume (No. 15), who tied for the Highest Climber Award. Raw (No. 15) is Taiwan’s best restaurant for the second year, while Locavore (No. 21) and Ministry of Crab (No. 25) secures Best Restaurant in Indonesia and Best Restaurant in Sri Lanka for the third consecutive year. Asian giants India and Mainland China’s best restaurants go to Indian Accent (No. 19) in New Delhi and Shanghai’s Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet (No. 8).

See the full list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants below:

1. Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand
2. Den, Tokyo, Japan
3. Florilège, Tokyo, Japan
4. Sühring, Bangkok, Thailand
5. Odette, Singapore
6. Narisawa, Tokyo Japan
7. Amber, Hong Kong, China
8. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai, China
9. Nihonryori RyuGin, Tokyo, Japan
10. Nahm, Bangkok, Thailand
11. Mingles, Seoul, South Korea
12. Burnt Ends, Singapore
13. 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong, China
14. Le Du, Bangkok, Thailand
15. Raw, Taipei, Taiwan
16. Ta Vie, Hong Kong, China
17. La Cime, Osaka, Japan
18. Mume, Taipei, Taiwan
19. Indian Accent, New Delhi, India
20. L’Effervescence, Tokyo, Japan
21. Locavore, Bali, Indonesia
22. The Chairman, Hong Kong, China
23. Waku Ghin, Singapore
24. Lung King Heen, Hong Kong, China
25. Ministry of Crab, Colombo, Sri Lanka
26. Jungsik, Seoul, South Korea
27. Sushi Saito, Tokyo, Japan
28. Il Ristorante – Luca Fantin, Tokyo, Japan
29. Les Amis, Singapore
30. Fu He Hui, Shanghai, China
31. Paste, Bangkok, Thailand
32. Neighbourhood, Hong Kong, China
33. Eat Me, Bangkok, Thailand
34. Hajime, Osaka, Japan
35. Jade Dragon, Macao, China
36. Corner House, Singapore
37. Lan, Bangkok, Thailand
38. Quintessence, Tokyo, Japan
39. Issaya Siamese Club, Bangkok, Thailand
40. Belon, Hong Kong, China
41. Ronin, Hong Kong, China
42. TocToc, Seoul, South Korea
43. The Dining Room at The House on Sathorn, Bangkok, Thailand
44. JAAN, Singapore
45. Nihonbashi, Colombo, Sri Lanka
46. Caprice, Hong Kong, China
47. Shoun RyuGin, Taipei, Taiwan
48. La Maison de la Nature Goh, Fukuoka, Japan
49. Wasabi by Morimoto, Mumbai, India
50. Whitegrass, Singapore

All images courtesy of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna.