Asian restaurants join elite club

Asia's best restaurant will be announced on Monday evening, and the winner will be thrust into the international spotlight with bragging rights to the title for the next year. It will be the first time this award has been bestowed by the creators of the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

The World's 50 Best Restaurants list began in 2002 when journalists at British industry magazine Restaurant came up with the idea. They knew it knew would ruffle a few feathers, and create a bit of a stir in the media. But they couldn't have predicted how huge their creation would become.

By 2007, sponsors were on board, and the list had evolved into an awards ceremony in London. It garnered international publicity when the likes of The French Laundry in the US, El Bulli in Spain, The Fat Duck in Britain, and Noma in Denmark topped the list. Proclaiming one restaurant as the best in the world was certainly controversial, and there was much discussion about the merits of those who had made the list at all. Equally controversial were those restaurants (and their chefs) which were excluded.

For several years the list came under considerable criticism, not least because a disproportionate number of the placings was in Britain. This was mainly because the judges were based there - we were all industry acquaintances of the magazine staff. Judges knew then that if they voted for a restaurant in, say, Hong Kong, the chances of it appearing on the list were very slim, since no one else would be voting for it.

So an effort was made to become more international and professional. Now there are 27 food expert "academy chairs" based around the world, and each has a panel of about 30 judges in their region.

For the inaugural Asian list, which will be announced at a ceremony in Singapore, the academy panels covering Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, China, Korea, India and Japan will be voting.