VLV's Foo crowned Chef of the Year

This article is more than 12 months old

Mar 30, 2017 06:00 am

VLV executive head chef Martin Foo, 50, with his Chef of the Year trophy at the Best Asian Restaurants awards last night.

After weeks of anticipation, the wait was over.

The big winners in the inaugural Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao Best Asian Restaurants Awards are VLV at Clarke Quay, Imperial Treasure Shanghai Cuisine at Ngee Ann City, and Shinji by Kanesaka, formerly at the Raffles Hotel.

The three were given Gold awards, with 21 restaurants named in the Silver category at Wednesday night’s (March 29) gala reception held at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore. Restaurants in the Bronze category were announced on March 15.

Celebrating the very best in Asian dining in Singapore were about 200 people from the food and beverage scene. They were treated to a spread presented by the national culinary team, which won two gold awards at last year’s Culinary Olympics in Germany.

VLV’s executive head chef Martin Foo, 50, also picked up the Chef of the Year award, while Imperial Treasure’s founder, Mr Alfred Leung, 63, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for the consistent quality across his empire of restaurants. He is travelling, so his son Kenny, 37, who oversees the group’s operations and projects, accepted the award on his behalf.

Imperial Treasure’s Fine Teochew Cuisine restaurant at Ion Orchard was among the Bronze winners, while Shinji by Kanesaka’s sushi-ya at The St. Regis Singapore is in the Silver category. Its Gold restaurant at Raffles Hotel re-opens at Carlton Hotel Singapore on April 3.

The event is organised by Sphere Exhibits, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), and food and beverage consultancy Poulose Associates.

Sphere Exhibits chairman and SPH’s executive vice-president of circulation Chua Wee Phong gave out the Chef of the Year and the Lifetime Achievement awards, while the gold and silver prizes were presented by SPH deputy chief executive officers Patrick Daniel and Anthony Tan.

Other Silver award recipients include Peranakan restaurant Candlenut at Como Dempsey, Japanese restaurant Hashida Sushi at Mandarin Gallery, and fine-dining Indian restaurant Rang Mahal at Pan Pacific Singapore.

The judging panel was made up of The Straits Times Life editor Tan Hsueh Yun, Life deputy editor Wong Ah Yoke, Lianhe Zaobao food correspondent Marcus Yeo, and Ms Ng Yimin, a correspondent at the Chinese paper.

It came up with a list of 80 Asian restaurants to be considered and members dined incognito at the eateries, using quality of food and service to determine the winners.

The awards, part of the year-long gourmet extravaganza Asian Masters, are to be given out annually.

Asian Masters, which is in its fifth edition, features events such as whisky- and champagne-pairing dinners throughout March. It continues with monthly dining promotions until February next year.