Six Indian restaurants made it to the list of Asia’s 50 Best restaurants in a recently held award ceremony at Singapore.
Established in 1978, Bukhara, New Delhi, ranked number 27 on the list as against its 26th position last year. Located in ITC Maurya Hotel, Bukhara serves traditional Indian cuisine since the last 35 years. Its concise menu has remained the same since day one! Famous for its tandoori dishes cooked overnight, Bukhara has bagged quite a few awards in the past. Some of its signature dishes include Dal Bukhara, Sikandri Raan, and Murgh Malai Kebab. To its credit, Bukhara has been a host to royal dignitaries including Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Vladimir Putin.
From the 41st position in Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list last year, Indian Accent, New Delhi, has springed to the 29th position in 2014. Serving modern Indian food like tandoori bacon prawns with wasabi cream , achaari New Zealand lamb shank, and Chicken tikka quesadillas with Swiss gruyère, Indian Accent is set inside The Manor Hotel. The restaurant has made to the list of Asia’s best or finest restaurants in the past.
Known for its handi cooked food over slow fire, Dum Pukht, ITC Maurya,New Delhi bagged the 30th position on the list falling down from number 17 last year. The other three fine dining restaurants are located ITC Maratha, Mumbai; ITC Windsor, Bengaluru; and ITC Sonar, Kolkata. The restaurant is famous for kebabs, biryanis, and stews prepared in a sealed clay pot, a technique inspired from the 18th century palace kitchens of the Awadh kingdom.
New Delhi based Varq restaurant at Taj Mahal Hotel moved down from the 30th position last year to 32nd this year. Serving modern Indian food using exotic ingredients such as sand crabs, morels, scallops, foie gras, and black cod, Varq is specially known for its desserts like green apple kheer and vertical jalebis. Varqui crab, Ganderi kebab, Palak Patta Chaat, Khurmani ke kebab, Mustard prawn, and Limchee brulee are some of the signature dishes of the restaurant.
Wasabi, Mumbai secured 36th position in the top 50 moving up from the 20th rank last year. A fine dining Japanese restaurant, Wasabi is a joint association between Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto, and Taj Hotel’s chef Hemant Oberoi. The restaurant’s menu was designed in partnership with Morimoto. Taj Hotel’s chefs visited Japan to learn the traditional Japanese techniques while Oberoi created a meat-and-fish free menu for the vegetarians. Tomato Carpaccio topped with wasabi and yuzu sorbet is a favourite of the vegetarians while for non-veg lovers black cod miso is a hit.
Recovering from the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Wasabi has bounced back to make it to the list. The restaurant also has a section stocking Japanese whisky, sake and plum wines.
Featured at number 49 in the list this year, Karavalli, Bangalore has moved down the list when compared with its 44th position last year. Famous for its Southern Indian delights has picked up cooking techniques from Portuguese-influenced Goa, Malabar Coast, and Mangalore. Pothi choru and seer fish cooked in a wood-fired curry pot with chilli sauce are some of the favourites at the restaurant.
Nahm, Bangkok, Thailand topped the Asia’s 50 best restaurants list by bagging the number one spot advancing from the number three position last year. Narisawa Tokyo, Japan, moved down from the number one slot to number two in Asia. Showing a great improvement was Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand which moved up from number 10 position last year. Retaining its last year’s position in the list, Amber, Hong Kong, China secured the fourth position this year too.
Nihonryori Ryugin, Tokyo, Japan slipped down from the number two position to number five this year while Restaurant André, Singapore was ranked as number six against number five last year. Waku Ghin, Singapore move up from the number 11 slot last year to number 7 this year.
Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai, China stood at number eight position followed byLung King Heen, Hong Kong, China; 8 1/2 Otto E Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong, China; Mr And Mrs Bund, Shanghai, China; Iggy’s, Singapore; Caprice, Hong Kong, China; Les Amis, Singapore; Bo Innovation, Hong Kong, China; Ishikawa, Tokyo, Japan; Jaan, Singapore; L’atelier De Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong, China; Fook Lam Moon, Hong Kong, China; Jungsik, Seoul, South Korea; Sra Bua By Kiin Kiin, Bangkok, Thailand; Quintessence, Tokyo, Japan; Tippling Club, Singapore; Le Moût Restaurant, Taichung, Taiwan; L’Effervescence, Tokyo, Japan; Fu1015, Shanghai, China; Bukhara, New Delhi, India; Bo.Lan, Bangkok, Thailand; Indian Accent, New Delhi, India; Dum Pukht, New Delhi, India; Issaya Siamese Club, Bangkok, Thailand; Varq, New Delhi, India; 28 Hubin Road, Hangzhou, China; Takazawa, Tokyo, Japan; Shinji By Kanesaka, Singapore; Wasabi, Mumbai, India; Eat Me, Bangkok, Thailand; Sukiyabashi Jiro, Tokyo, Japan; Robuchon Au Dôme, Macau, China;Imperial Treasure Super Peking Duck, Singapore; Sawada, Tokyo, Japan; Hajime, Osaka, Japan; Sushi Saito, Tokyo, Japan; Nihonbashi, Colombo, Sri Lanka; Yardbird, Hong Kong, China; Family Li Imperial Cuisine, Shanghai, China; Sarong, Bali, Indonesia; Franck Bistro, Shanghai, China; Karavalli, Bangalore, India; Tenku Ryugin, Hong Kong, China.
Over 900 international restaurant leaders voted for the best restaurants. Conducted in 26 regions globally with each region having a 36-member panel headed by a chairperson, the panel comprises chefs, restaurateurs, and food critics who can cast seven votes. From the seven votes, three votes must give recognition to restaurants not in their region.
