LEAPS & BOUNDS

The nebulous nature of the adjective ‘best,’ a word that’s carelessly tacked onto countless listicles on the World Wide Web, gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies (‘Instagrammable’ and ‘Instaworthy’ are close contenders).

After all, few things are as subjective as taste—quite literally!

Consider the following incident:

After heaping praise upon what I deem the best Caesar salad in town, a close girlfriend made her way to its source, but clucked her disapproval after finding the poultry too pink to be palatable.

Why then, does T.dining try to distinguish the great from the good or to identify the transcendent among the great? I think our raison d’être boils down to one of the greatest ironies of our time: having excess choice but limited time and resources. As such, we all benefit from a bit of guidance.

While it would be foolish to pretend that the Best Restaurants Guide is complete or conclusive, of this I am certain: the bloggers, chefs, consultants, gourmands, recipe writers, restaurateurs, and journalists who helped curate our list were largely influenced by three factors: great produce, gorgeous plating, and genuine personalities—pretty good determinants, in my view.

At my behest, we’ve added a new category to our competition, and will be revealing the Best Sustainable Restaurant among other accolades at the T.dining Awards in December 2019. Congratulations are in order! Not only are we on the right track for long-term sustainability; Malaysians have also taught themselves to produce caviar, cheese and chocolate, all of which were previously imported from overseas.

Consequently, I’d like to dedicate this issue to the movers and shakers in F&B, without whom life would be a little less delicious. I look forward to clinking glasses with everyone at the T.dining Awards. Chin-chin to healthy competition sans fear or favour!

Samantha Lim

Project Editor