Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines—The Miele Guide was recently launched at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore, over an exquisite dinner prepared by three of Asia’s top chefs (whose restaurants made it to the Guide’s Top Ten list). The 350 guests comprised Asia’s most respected restaurateurs and chefs, plus some food writers.

The red book was creatively and literally served to each of the guests on a silver platter. The best part for us: Many Filipino restaurants were included in the list.

Here are Asia’s Top Ten Restaurants:

1. Iggy’s in Singapore
2. L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon in Hong Kong
3. Les Amis in Singapore
4. Gunther’s in Singapore
5. Mozaic in Indonesia
6. Robuchon a Galera in Macau
7. Garibaldi in Singapore
8. Yung Kee in Hong Kong
9. Hutong in Hong Kong
10. Antonio’s Fine Dining in Tagaytay, Philippines

The Filipino restaurants that made it are: Margarita Fores’ Pepato in Greenbelt, Jessie Sincioco’s Le Soufflé in Rockwell, Ariel Manuel’s Lolo Dad’s in Manila, Rolando Laudico’s Bistro Filipino at the Fort and La Cocina de Tita Moning near Malacañang.

Restaurants from hotels such as Prince Albert at the Intercon; Heat and Shang Palace in Shangri-La, Makati; and The Fireplace and Li Li at the Hyatt in Malate, were also included.

There was also a good showing of mall restaurants: from Greenbelt are Sugi, People’s Palace, M Cafe, Via Mare, Italiannis and The Chateau Group’s Sentro 1771 and Chateau 1771; from Serendra there’s Larry Cruz’ Abe; and at the Podium, Casa Armas.

ISCAHM’s Aubergine at the Fort also made it, as well as Old Swiss, near the Manila Pen. Pasay Road favorites El Cirkulo and Tsukiji were also on the list; as well as Salcedo Village’s favorites, Elbert’s Steak Room and Apartment 1B. Three restaurants from Tagaytay (or near Tagaytay) were also included: Sonya’s Garden, Kanin Club and Antonio’s Fine Dining.

Disappointed

How did the Miele Guide come about?

A few years ago, some of Asia’s food writers, chefs and restaurateurs were tapped, with food writers, chefs and restaurateurs around the globe, to vote on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.

Two of the restaurant authorities tapped were husband and wife photographer, writer and editor tandem Aun Koh and Tan Su-Lyn of Singapore. When the results came out, they were disappointed to see that only five restaurants from Asia made it to the World’s 100 Best (not even the Top 50).

In his blog, chubbyhubby.net, Aun mused, “In addition to profiling the world’s top 50, Restaurant magazine also lists the next 50 (i.e. those ranked between 51-100). This year, only 5 restaurants in Asia made it to the top 100; all are ranked in the bottom half of the list. Bukhara, in India, at #55, continues to hold its place as Asia’s top-ranked restaurant. Iggy’s, in Singapore, is in second place, at #77.

“The next three Asian restaurants are all situated in Hong Kong. Pierre Gagnaire, Robuchon a Galera (technically in Macau) and Zuma are ranked at #88, #98, and #99 respectively… Each year, when these results are announced, I have the same reaction. While it is always cool to scan the top 10 or 20 restaurants and pat myself on the back for having visited several of them, the thing that irks me is the question, ‘Surely, Asia has more than just five world class restaurants?’”

In 2006, Chubbyhubby came up with his own survey of Asia’s best restaurants based solely on online voting through the chubbyhubby blog. Incidentally, the first comment on the post that revealed the results said, “Finally, indeed… what I would do for a luxe-style travel and pocket guide edition of this!”

Thus, the Miele Guide was born.

Controversial

Aun Koh said at the dinner, “We expect that this list will be controversial… we expect people to dispute the rankings and to criticize us. But the more people talk about our Top 20, the better. The overarching goal of The Miele Guide is to help the restaurant industry in Asia grow.”

Controversial or not, what we should note here is that the turnout from the Philippines was great. The international press especially took note of Antonio’s as they were surprised that a Filipino restaurant made the Top Ten.

Thanks in great part to our wonderful food blogging community (and to the fact that we Filipinos just really love food and dining out), a good number of Filipino restaurants made it to the Miele Guide.

Hopefully, with our best chefs at the helm of this voyage, we can become a destination not only for our beaches, but also for our food!

Tags: Antonio's Fine Dining, Business, Competitions, cullinary arts