Ahead of the highly anticipated announcement of “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2018” list and awards ceremony tomorrow evening (March 27) in Macao, visiting chefs from renowned restaurants across Asia will be joining several gastronomy-related events to share their experience at educational and exchange sessions, along with visits to local markets and heritage to experience the east-meets-west cultural background of the city.
Some of the star-chefs in town for the event spoke this morning at a “50BestTalks” held at Wynn Macau. The session consisted in a culinary conference and demonstration, themed “Exploring Identity” in Asia cuisine, its traditions and cross-cultural influences, for an audience of chefs and restaurateurs, media, and other guests. The talks were conducted in tandem with the “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2018” awards ceremony, to share awarded chefs’ stories and new trends in the industry. The speakers line-up included this year’s “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” Lifetime Achievement awardee, number two on the list of “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017” and the only Chinese chef on “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants” list, André Chiang, originally from Taiwan region, who elaborated about his career path, along with one of Japan’s leading female chefs, Hiroe Higuchi, that talked about sustainability and combining Japanese produce with French techniques, among others.
In the afternoon, “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants” went to the Institute for Tourism Studies (IFT) to conduct an educational session for students. The main guest was the chef-owner of a restaurant in Singapore ranked number nine in “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017”, Julien Royer, originally from France. He engaged in a conversation and answered the questions of IFT students, sharing his global experience, influences and advises on how to excel in the highly competitive and creative field of culinary arts.
This evening, chefs and restaurateurs are booked for a Chefs’ Feast at the Military Club, for networking among themselves and with local counterparts. The menu for the dinner gathering of the best chefs in Asia will feature one of Macanese signature dishes, “Tacho”, prepared with the collaboration of IFT teachers and students.
Tomorrow morning, chefs from across Asia will visit some of the most popular markets in Macao to learn about local food culture and ingredients, and stroll around the historical areas nearby. Divided in different groups, the participants will embark on walking tour routes with Almirante Lacerda Municipal Market (Red Market), Mercado de S. Domingos Municipal Complex and S. Lourenço Municipal Market Complex as their focal points, and also explore surrounding characteristic areas, including heritage buildings, squares, churches, gardens and other attractions.
In the evening, Asia’s culinary community will gather at Wynn Palace for a gala event to unveil this year’s ranking of the fifty most influential restaurants in Asia and present several individual awards. Chefs and restaurant owners, food critics from Macao and destinations across Asia will attend the occasion. Organized by William Reed Business Media, with the support of Macao Government Tourism Office, the hosting of the world famous gourmet awards ceremony in the city is one of the highlight events of “2018 Macao Year of Gastronomy”, following Macao's designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.