Last week was an exciting week in Bangkok as the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 festivities descended on the cosmopolitan city. On Monday morning, Ian Kittichai of Issaya Siamese Club opened the event with a “Spice Off Challenge”, with his sharing of spices used by the various Asian countries and Thai regions. He then invited the crowd to have a taste of different spice mixes prepared by David Thompson of Nahm, Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah of Locavore and Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent. Participants had their fair share of ‘huffing and puffing’ as the spices proved to be too much for their taste buds to handle.
The late morning sessions were easier on the stomachs at cooking demonstrations conducted by Asia’s Best Female Chef May Chow, Bo Songvisava from Bo.Lan and Manish Mehrotra of Indian Accent. Participants were invited to taste the final results before an exciting spread of Thai dishes were presented by the Mandarin Oriental for lunch. It was indeed a relaxing but exciting start to the awards night to take place the very next day.
On 21st February, VIP guests, partners and Chefs arrived punctually at the W hotel to soak in the celebratory atmosphere. Pre-event cocktails and an endless array of Thai dishes, as well as, fresh seafood delighted the palate of this discerning crowd at the House on Sathorn. Not before long, it was time to enter The Great Room for the highly anticipated awards announcement.
Once inside the grand ballroom, the Chefs and their traveling parties could hardly contain their excitement as the list of winners were flashed out one by one on the huge screens. When it came to the Top 5 Restaurants, the atmosphere grew to be electric as loud cheers were heard for each of the winners. This year’s top honours went to Gaggan once again as he clinched the No. 1 spot at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017 for the third consecutive year.
For Aspire Lifestyles, we are proud to have been the Official Concierge Partner to the prestigious awards this year and even more honoured to have a number of the winning restaurants on our Global Preferred Dining Program. As a leading provider of Concierge services and loyalty solutions for financial institutions and luxury retail businesses, dining is a key lifestyle interest of the affluent segment and has been an exciting experiential evolution as travel frequency increases and the hunt for unique dining experiences continues. This trend is evidenced in the 2.1 million Concierge requests being fulfilled by Aspire Lifestyles annually, across the US, Europe and Asia continents.
In case you missed it, here are the full list of winners:
Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017
- Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand
- Restaurant Andre, Singapore
- Amber, Hong Kong, China
- 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong, China
- Nahm, Bangkok, Thailand
- Les Créations de Narisawa, Tokyo, Japan
- Nihonryori Ryugin, Tokyo, Japan
- Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai, China
- Odette, Singapore
- Burnt Ends, Singapore
- Den, Tokyo, Japan
- L’Effervescence, Tokyo, Japan
- Sühring Bangkok, Thailand
- Florilège, Tokyo, Japan
- Mingles, Seoul, Korea
- Les Amis, Singapore
- Lung King Heen, Hong Kong, China
- Quintessence, Tokyo, Japan
- Bo.lan, Bangkok, Thailand
- Waku Ghin, Singapore
- Issaya Siamese Club, Bangkok, Thailand
- Locavore, Bali, Indonesia
- Corner House, Singapore
- RAW, Taipei, Taiwan
- Jungsik, Seoul, South Korea
- Sushi Saito, Tokyo, Japan
- Tippling Club, Singapore
- Le Mout, Tai Chung, Taiwan
- Ministry of Crab, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Indian Accent, New Delhi, India
- Eat Me, Bangkok, Thailand
- Jade Dragon Macau, China
- Ta Vie, Hong Kong, China
- Hajime, Osaka, Japan
- Gallery Vask, Philippines
- The Dining Room at The House on Sathorn, Bangkok, Thailand
- Le Du, Bangkok, Thailand
- La Yeon, Seoul, South Korea
- The Tasting Room, Macau, China
- L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Bangkok, Thailand
- L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong, China
- JAAN, Singapore
- Mume, Taipei, Taiwan
- Shinji by Kanesaka, Singapore
- Ronin, Hong Kong, China
- Wasabi by Morimoto, Mumbai, India
- The Chairman, Hong Kong, China
- Fu He Hui, Shanghai, China
- Nihonbashi, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Takazawa, Tokyo, Japan