Awards suss out fine-dining spots

NEW restaurants typically hog the media spotlight but when it comes to dining out for businesses lunches, it is the tried-and-tested that proves to be the go-to spots of choice.

Industry stalwarts Senso Restorante & Bar at Club Street and Cherry Garden in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel took home the awards for the Best Business Lunch (Western) and Best Business Lunch (Asian) categories respectively at this year's G Restaurant Awards, organised by The Peak Selections: Gourmet & Travel.

In its fifth year, the awards recognises fine-dining restaurants that deliver superb experiences. A total of 39 honours were handed out on Monday night at the Pan Pacific Orchard Singapore.

Chef Yves Schmid, executive chef of The Senso Group, felt that the restaurant won because of "a combination of factors: the understated elegance of our premises, attentive and efficient service, high-quality ingredients, and the marriage of innovation with tradition - something needed in a contemporary Italian restaurant nowadays."

Restaurant manager Christopher Soh of Cherry Garden, famed for its Cantonese cuisine, added that the award was an honour for the team and a motivation to work even harder to create innovative new menus paired with the hotel's top-notch service standards.

An external panel comprising ambassadors and head honchos who visited incognito, critiqued the restaurants from a shortlist compiled by veteran food critics such as The Straits Times' Tan Hsueh Yun and Wong Ah Yoke and Lianhe Zaobao's Dr Ng King Kang.

Restaurant Andre emerged as Restaurant of the Year for the second year, while other key awards such as the Best Dinner Experience went to Jaan in the Western category and Shinji by Kanesaka in the Asian category. The Best New Restaurant Award went to Bacchanalia (Western) on Coleman Street and Hashida Sushi (Asian) at Mandarin Gallery.

Pointing out that this year's list of winning restaurants also includes casual dining concepts reflective of the current dining landscape in Singapore, Sylvester Ng, editor of The Peak Selections: Gourmet & Travel, said: "As the restaurant scene gets more vibrant with new players and ever-changing concepts to cater to more discerning palates, it has also brought about a delicious diversity."

The Peak Selections: Gourmet & Travel is an award-winning tri-annual publication of luxury magazine The Peak which is published by SPH Magazines. It is available at leading Singapore bookstores. Readers who prefer to read the digital edition can download a copy onto their iPad or Android devices via platforms such as the Apple Newsstand and Magzter. Both the print and digital editions of The Peak Selections: Gourmet & Travel are priced at $18