Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022

In a virtual ceremony – yet again – the results of the 10th edition of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list have been unveiled.

2021

In 2021, we were stoked to have our very own Cantonese superstar The Chairman taking the top prize. The Chairman is no longer at the pinnacle of the ladder, but it well and truly retains top 10 bragging rights, coming in at number 5 this year and holding onto The Best Restaurant in China accolade.

Odette in Singapore dropped lower this year too, being judged as number 8 in Asia, but the French fine-dining eatery did pick up the Gin Mare Art of Hospitality Award in recognition of their meticulous eye for detail. Also in Singapore, Maira Yeo of Cloudstreet has been named Asia’s Best Pastry Chef this year.

2022

In 2022, topping the list for the first time and moving up from the number 3 spot last year is Den in Tokyo. Opened in 2007 by Chef Zaiyu Hasegawa, it debuted on the top 50 list in 2016 at number 37 and has won the title of The Best Restaurant in Japan for four years in a row. We can’t wait to visit!

In Hong Kong, Neighborhood has taken the number 9 position, and it has also been awarded the Inedit Damm Chefs’ Choice Award. This “undercover gourmet’s delight” by chef and owner David Lai managed to climb from number 17 last year, despite the obvious challenges that HK restaurateurs have faced.

Caprice climbed four spots from number 28 to 24, solidifying its credentials, and MONO moved up from 44 in 2021 to 32 this year. 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana finds itself at number 48, down slightly from number 33 last year.

New on the list at number 34 is Chef Vicky Cheng’s WING, a contemporary Chinese restaurant that uses mostly local ingredients cooked using European techniques. Having just opened last year and already appearing on the awards’ radar with a Michelin commendation, we expect this eatery to go to the moon. Interestingly, Chef Cheng’s VEA has dropped to number 63 this year (from 16) and is out of the top 50 for the first time since 2018. This does spark our curiosity about how this list is built.

This year in Hong Kong

5. The Chairman
9. Neighborhood
24. Caprice
32. MONO
34. WING
48. 8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana

Last year, Hong Kong had 11 restaurants on the top 50 list, and we are down to six this year. That we have any at all in the top 50 in 2022 is quite astounding, given that the free passage of judges has been severely reduced. One does wonder how HK restaurants are being judged at all...

Outside Hong Kong

Japan has 11 restaurants in the top 50 this year. No stranger to awards, Natsuko Shoji of Été in Tokyo has been named Asia’s Best Female Chef. Tokyo restaurant Ode has won the Highest Climber Award, moving from number 35 in 2020 and number 27 in 2021 to an impressive number 13 today. Also in Japan, Villa AiDA (established in 1998) is run by Chef Kanji Kobayashi and his, wife Yumi, and this rustic restaurant serving innovative Italian-influenced cuisine has just won the Highest New Entry Award, coming in at an astounding number 14.

We are totally on board for the American Express One to Watch Award, which has gone to a new restaurant in Kuala Lumpur offering a seafood-heavy Malaysian omakase menu in a stylised kitchen-table setting. Eat and Cook was born from misfortune, when the two chefs lost their hotel jobs owing to COVID, and now Malaysian omakase is a thing. They are at number 81 on the list this year and are obviously pretty awesome. Compatriot Dewakan (50) has been named The Best Restaurant in Malaysia.

Thailand is killing it, with four entries in the top 10 and nine in the top 50. Number 2 restaurant, Sorn, has also been named The Best Restaurant in Thailand.

In South Korea, Mingles (number 16) has been recognised as The Best Restaurant in Korea for the seventh year in a row. Buddhist nun Jeong Kwan is this year’s recipient of the Icon Award, recoginised for “spreading the gospel of Korean temple cuisine”. Kwan is the director of Chunjinam Hermitage at Baekyangsa temple in South Jeolla Province, and despite never even working at a conventional restaurant, her influence has been felt around the world.

Moving over to Taiwan, Florilège’s sister restaurant in Taipei, logy, lands at number 38 to claim the title
of The Best Restaurant in Taiwan. Taipei is also home to MUME (54), this year’s winner of the Flor
de Caña Sustainable Restaurant Award.

Finally, in India and Sri Lanka, Masque in Mumbai has grabbed The Best Restaurant in India award, overtaking seven-time tile holder Indian Accent (22) in New Delhi, while Ministry of Crab (35) in Colombo has retained the title of The Best Restaurant in Sri Lanka for seven years in a row.