BEHIND THE AWARDS

Last week, I had a refresher as to why we recognise the best dining spots in Singapore year after year in the G Restaurant Awards (GRA).

It’s a story of bewilderment and it goes like this: Having read about a new restaurant opened by an established F& B group, I quickly reserved seats for lunch. I must say I was excited, whetted by the words of positive reviews.

The fi rst cause of perplexity came at the entrance of the restaurant: Why was the top quarter of the door blocked by a wooden panel, so customers who didn’t want to crash their heads into it had to bow to enter? Staff had to be deployed to protect the unwary from this design feature.

Then, I wondered why the waiter appointed to explain the menu mucked it up so badly. Was it his thick accent or the insipid pop music he had to talk over? I gave up trying to understand the dishes.

When our entree arrived, it was the wrong one – we had explicitly said no egg, and lo! here the dish was, doused in egg. And, when the right ones did arrive, they were delivered 10 minutes apart, which is forgivable, but, by now, resignation had set in. We had not even tucked into the fi rst dish served.

Until diners like me experience all the ways a meal can go wrong, we often take for granted the smooth efficiency of a restaurant’s operations. We get testy if hot foods arrive tepid, if our water glass is not regularly fi lled, or if the waitstaff are not knowledgeable about the menu. I know because these are the details that the GRA reviewers, who include country ambassadors and food connoisseurs, note in their incognito evaluations. Then, there’s the quality and creativity of the cuisine.

In the following pages, you will fi nd the best of the best that the island has to offer. We’d like to say that we’ve done the legwork so you can be assured of a solid dining experience. To the chefs and restaurateurs honoured, competition was stiff and good service hard to maintain in a labour-scarce industry. Bravo.