By Tatler Dining
March 25, 2021
Now that you know who they are, here are the dishes you can’t miss out on. Take a visual journey through the beautiful culinary creations that helped Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants win a place on the roster this year.
Elegant dim sum that celebrates seasonality is just one element of the authentic Cantonese cuisine on offer at Wing Lei Palace.
Toyo Eatery’s Bahay Kubo plays on a local children’s song that features 18 different vegetables, each of which is creatively prepared and presented in this one dish.
Seventh Son’s signature suckling pig, with skin so crisp it cracks, is served with house-made hoisin sauce and pancakes – make sure to order it in advance
Dim sum lunch at Lung King Heen requires booking well in advance, but is always worth it – particularly for signatures like the abalone chicken tarts.
Chef Garima Arora’s favourite spicy green thetcha chili chutney, found in the Indian state of Maharashtra, touches this fatty tuna belly served on crispy betel leaf with strawberries and coriander.
Inspired by local Taiwanese popcorn chicken, the smoked squab at Shoun Ryugin showcases the restaurant’s hyperlocal culinary philosophy.
New entry Mono serves a reinterpreted ceviche, where avocado is served both fresh and as a burned purée, then finished with leche de tigre.
Chestnut is reinterpreted three different ways in the tradition of Korean court cuisine at Hansikgonggan: as a porridge, a salad, and sweets
The Land and Sea dish at Jaan by Kirk Westaway combines a colourful medley of vegetables and botanicals with Scottish langoustine.
Chef Jason Tan’s culinary skills are exemplified by this dish of torched Maine lobster with sliced carrot confit.
The flavours of Singapore come together in Another Labyrinth, combining wagyu shortrib with ‘wok hei’ hor fun noodles, egg yolk injected with hor fun sauce, crispy pork lard, grated lap cheong sausage and pickled green chilis.
The popular Vietnamese bánh nhúng dessert is elevated into a savoury dish at Anan Saigon, utilising salmon mousse, creme fraiche, dill cream and salmon roe.
Hideaki Sato captures the essence of Japanese winter delicacies with the butter confited parsnip and foie gras terrine with fresh pear, tossed with ginger and vanilla dressing.
Amber and uni have always gone hand in hand. And the latest uni signature doesn’t disappoint, featuring aka uni with cauliflower, lobster and caviar.
Korean beef is celebrated at newcomer Born & Bred in a variety of ways, from steak and burgers, to pies and over a Korean barbecue.
Known for combining modernist techniques with Japanese traditions, Nihonryori Ryugin’s centrepiece dish is the beautifully presented Seiko Gani snow crab.
At the end of a meal at new entry 7th Door, expect this light and clean dessert combining ripe yellow melon foam with milk and quinoa.
When you dine at the house of Umberto Bombana, aka the king of truffles, you simply cannot leave without having their homemade tagliolini with truffle.
Chef Prateek Sadhu provides his take on the classic Rajasthani sweet, ghevar, with carrots marinated in orange and mustard dressing, topped with onion flowers.
Synthesising modern European with his Sri Lankan heritage, Rishi Naleendra presents the roasted monkfish with Kerala-style ishtu (vegetable curry), bishop’s nose and smoked chicken fat.
An homage to renowned Japanese sushi restaurant Tenzushi can be found in this course at La Maison de la Nature Goh, which pairs chūtoro tuna with sea grapes.
Among the Ministry of Crab’s straightforward offerings is the signature pepper crab, featuring the spice in three different forms: hand crushed peppercorn, whole peppercorn and pepper stock.
Longstanding French institution Caprice is known for chef Guillaume Galliot’s delicate touch, as seen in this smoked duck breast cooked with honey from the region of Gironde.
This instantly recognisable dish was inspired by chef Yusuke Namai’s love for the Dragon Ball Z anime, and contains shrimp-flavoured mousse within.
Representing Singapore’s multi-ethnic makeup, chef Jimmy Lim Tyan Yaw’s ‘Little India’ dish reinterprets southern India’s popular rasam vada street snack with bafun uni, cherry tomatoes from Tainan, and Taiwanese cream stracciatella.
The Pigeon Pithivier is a long-standing Belon signature that has been reinterpreted by chef Matthew Kirkley as part of the restaurant’s reopening: pink pigeon breast is surrounded by spinach and mushroom farce then enveloped in light puff pastry—with a thin layer of pigeon liver crêpe separating the two.
The whole roast duck at Logy is a masterpiece, with its ultra-crispy skin and tender meat.
A menu stalwart, Zen’s French Toast needs no introduction. Sourdough. Parmesan Custard. Truffle. What’s not to love?
Maitake mushroom is presented exquisitely at vegetable-forward restaurant Fu He Hui.
Chef André Chiang’s Pain Perdu combines almond mushroom, seasonal fungus and French toast for a full-bodied bite of Taiwan’s abundant natural environment.
The spicy squid salad at Nusara uses squid caught from Trat province in Thailand, providing an abundance of texture to the dish.
Sasanishiki risotto pairs with with Hamaguri clam, homemade caviar, firefly squid and sakura shrimp in this ode to the sea at L’Effervescence.
The Daulat Ki Chaat dessert at Indian Accent is made for the Instagram age, with its backdrop of rupee notes.
The salt-baked, 120-day-old local Hong Kong chicken at Neighborhood is not to be missed, so bring an appetite and some friends.
Vea’s charcoal-grilled pigeon leg is delicately stuffed with stir-fried glutinous rice and pigeon liver sausage
Mume’s painterly crudo, plum and kombu dish is a sharp dish that excels in its intense flavour combination. This, like all dishes at this groundbreaking restaurant, uses only local Taiwanese ingredients.
Burnt Ends’ take on steak frites pairs steak tartare with fried potato then ups the ante with an indulgent topping of caviar.
Les Amis’ cold angel hair pasta also brings black truffle and caviar to the table.
Kinmedai (golden eye snapper) is presented simply at Sazenka, where a refined fusion of Chinese and Japanese cuisine comes to the fore.
New entry Sorn’s vegetable starter brings elements of Thailand’s diverse ecologies together on one plate.
Lamb is one of Mingoo Kang’s favourite meats, which is why it has always featured on the Mingles menu from the beginning. One of the most recent iterations is a Korean take on lamb chops, where the meat is marinated with doenjjang (soy bean paste).
Yoshihiro Narisawa presents an ever-changing omakase menu that always features beautifully presented dishes sourced according to the seasons and made with as little food waste as possible.
La Cime’s world-class cuisine is captured in this dish of kiwi, amanatsu (a Japanese citrus), and kombu.
Florilège’s sustainable beef carpaccio is made from Miyazaki cows that are taken to slaughter much later than other cows, allowing them to calve more times before they meet their end.
Southern Germany’s distinctive Spätzle is topped with black truffle from Alba in this Sühring classic.
Gaggan Anand’s sophomore self-named restaurant makes a name for itself all over again with this goat meat kebab with toasted quinoa and passion fruit chutney.
River prawn topped with a tom yum sauce and crispy fried egg is paired with Le Du’s version of Thai dish khao kluk kapi in this restaurant signature.
Den’s iconic garden salad, featuring no less than 20 different seasonal vegetables, is bound to bring a grin to anyone’s face, mirroring that of the tiny little smiley cut from a slice of carrot.
Two-time first-place winner Odette showcases the Promenade à Singapour, which brings together locally farmed and foraged greens.
The Chairman’s steamed fresh flowery crab with aged shaoxing wine, fragrant chicken oil and flat rice noodles is a tried-and-tested classic