Last night saw the unveiling of the latest rankings of the world’s top restaurants from Britain’s Restaurant magazine. There was one Hong Kong restaurant in the top 50, Amber, and a further seven from the entire rest of Asia.
In the last few years the annual listing has gained a prominence to rival Michelin, in terms both of publicity for itself and for the restaurants it ranks.
Restaurant is following one well-established business model for magazines aimed at a specific trade. They can have lots of adverts and lots of nice stories about their advertisers or they can have credibility and once a year organise a big event that earns them lots of cash. Restaurant has been masterful in taking the second approach, with the awards ceremony for its listing as the focus of its year.
The list has foodies talking for days and weeks afterwards, if not changing travel plans to go to the latest hotspot.
Hongkongers won’t need to change many plans though. There is nowhere listed in the city that hasn’t been there made the list before. Indeed the only surprise in the Pearl River Delta is that there are no Joel Robuchon restaurants on the list. the French chef’s Macau place dropped off this year. It seems odd that Macau restaurants such as Jade Dragon and The Tasting Room didn’t tickle the judges’ palates.
The judges seem like a conservative bunch. Elsewhere in Asia, they name only three restaurants in Japan – all of them in Tokyo. Singapore had five mentions and Bangkok and Shanghai two apiece. Is there nowhere on Bali or in Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Mumbai worth a mention?