Flounder with autumn truffles from TOKL Best Fine Dining Winner Cilantro KL's Friday lunch menu
This year's Time Out KL (TOKL) Food Awards had less surprises up its sleeve compared to last year's shocking results. Held at KLPac and hosted by the two D's aka Dominic Lau and Daphne Iking, the award night saw some shake up in some categories that have been previously dominated by a few restaurants. That change could most possibly due to the fact that this year had a phenomenal 50% increase of votes to reach 50,000 votes (per TOKL's press release and not verified).
Some results though were a big surprise such as Hakka Republic picking up Best Continental Restaurant, a place I see more for the bar with their fine wines versus its dining room. The Japanese Restaurant category was so close that they had two specially commended awards for the first time in the awards history. This year also saw the first time there was a Bloggers Choice category. This went to Memoirs of a Chocoholic (congratulations J!) who recommended Village Park, that infamous place for nasi lemak.
The results are set out below. Feel free to voice out your discontent, surprise or congratulate the winners. I would love to hear what all of you have to say.
Honey glazed cod from TOKL's Best Chinese Winner Li Yen, Ritz Carlton KL
Best Chinese Restaurant
2011 Winner - Li Yen, Ritz Carlton KL (Other nominees include Yut Kee, Shang Palace, Chynna, New Paris in SS2 and Grand Imperial)
2010 Winner - Chynna, Hilton KL
2009 Winner - Chynna, Hilton KL
Best Continental Restaurant
2011 Winner - Hakka Republic (Other nominees include The Press Room, Albion KL, twenty.one tables+terrace, Tanzini)
2011 Specially Commended - El Cerdo
2010 Winner - La Bodega
2010 Specially Commended - El Cerdo
Blue lotus dumplings from TOKL Best Thai/Indochine winner Rama V
Best Hawker/Mamak
2011 Winner - Devi's Corner (Other nominees include Lot 10's Hutong, Nagasari Curry House, Sri Nirwana Maju, Nasi Kandar Pelita)
2010 Winner - Nasi Kandar Pelita
Best Healthy Eating/Vegetarian Restaurant
2011 Winner - Marmalade (Other nominees include Haven, RAW, Yogitree and Annalakshmi)
2010 Winner - Marmalade
Best Indian Restaurant
2011 Winner - Kanna Curry House (Other nominees include Passage Thru India, Sri Nirwana Maju and Gill's)
2011 Specially Commended - Bombay Palace
2010 Winner - Bombay Palace
2009 Winner - Bombay Palace
risotto from Il Lido
Best Italian Restaurant
2011 Winner - La Risata (Other nominees include Nerovivo, Ciccio, Tatto and Sassorosso)
2011 Specially Commended - Il Lido
2010 Winner - Prego
2009 Winner - Prego
Best Japanese Restaurant
2011 Winner - Kampachi, Equatorial KL (Other nominees include Tatsu at Intercontinental Hotel, Gonbei San and Zipangu at Shangri-la Kuala Lumpur)
2011 Specially Commended - Fukuharu
2011 Specially Commended - Rakuzen
2010 Winner- Fukuharu
2009 Winner - Kampachi
2009 Specially Commended - Zipangu, Shangri-la Kuala Lumpur
Best Malay Restaurant
2011 Winner - Bijan (Other nominees include Songket, Rebung, Makan Kitchen at DoubleTree by Hilton)
2011 Specially Commended - Enak
2010 Winner - Bijan
2009 Winner - Bijan
2009 Specially Commended - Enak
Best Middle Eastern Restaurant
2011 Winner - Al-Amar (Other nominees include Al-Andalus, Tarbush, Al Rawsha, Laziz and Hadramawt)
2010 Winner - Al-Amar
2010 Specially Commended - Tarbush
2009 Winner - Tarbush
2009 Specially Commended - Al-Amar
strawberries compote with basil ice cream from Cilantro Kuala Lumpur
Best Thai/Indochine Restaurant
2011 Winner - Rama V (Other nominees include My Elephant, Sao Nam, Erawan and Tamarind Hill)
2010 Winner - Tamarind Springs
2009 Winner - Tamarind Hill
Best for Pub Grub
2011 Winner - Jarrod & Rawlins (Other nominees include Tom Dick & Harry's, Sid's Pub, Arthur's Bar & Grill and Hoofed)
2010 Winner - Jarrod & Rawlins
2010 Specially Commended - Sid's Pub
2009 Winner - Finnegans
Best place for Coffee (inaugural award)
2011 Winner - Espressemente Illy (Other nominees include RAW, Antipodean, Whisk and Chilla Cup)
Best place for Seafood
2011 Winner - Fatty Crab (Other nominees include Lala Chong, Pantai Seafood, Fisherman's Cove, Green View and Causeway Bay Spicy Crab)
2010 Winner - High Tide
2009 Winner - Fatty Crab
2009 Specially Commended - Magnificent Fish & Chips
Blackmore Wagyu steak from TOKL 2011 Best Place for Steak Winner, Prime from Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur
Best place for Steak
2011 Winner - Prime, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur (Other nominees include Suzi's Corner, Meatworks, Jake's Charbroiled Steaks, QBA at Westin Kuala Lumpur)
2010 Winner - Prime, Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur
2010 Specially Commended, QBA, Westin Kuala Lumpur
Best Restaurant for fine dining
2011 Winner - Cilantro, Micasa KL (Other nominees include Sage, Lafite, Shook! and Chalet)
2011 Specially Commended - Lafite, Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur
2010 Winner - Lafite, Shangri-la Kuala Lumpur
2009 Winner - Lafite, Shangri-la Kuala Lumpur
Norwegian salmon poached egg from TOKL 2011 Outstanding Chef of the Year, Nathalie Arbefeuille at Nathalie's Gourmet Studio
Best New Restaurant
2011 Winner - Ben's (Other nominees include Cuisine Gourmet by Nathalie, Arthur's Bar & Grill, Shangri-la Kuala Lumpur, Antipodean, Brotzeit and Hoofed)
2010 Winner - The Pressroom
Restaurateur of the Year
2011 Winner - Benjamin Yong from BIG (other nominees include Edward Hyde from Gastrodome, Joseph Afaki from Al-Amar, Werner Kuhn from El Cerdo Group, and Holland & Thomspon from twenty.one)
2010 Winner - Edward Hyde from Gastrodome
2010 Specially Commended - Benji Conway from Nero Group
Outstanding Chef of the Year
2011 Winner - Chef Nathalie Arbefeuille, Nathalie's Gourmet Studio (Other nominees include Chef Adi Radzi from Hakka Republic, Chef Michael Karam from Al-Amr, Chef Saiful from The Press Room and Chef David King from Westin Kuala Lumpur)
2010 Winner - David King
2009 Winner - David King
2009 Specially Commended - Damon Campbell
Congratulations to the winners, yes? Hmm.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the "live" blow by blow via twitter as well Boo ;)
ReplyDeleteGreat time there with u and the gang:) The awards were fab! should have had more guests turn up though.. shame!
ReplyDeleteAll i can say is the judges or voters have not ventured out of their comfort zone to pick the winners.
ReplyDeleteMost winners are run by Corporations - what happened to the small independent innovative start-ups? They truly derseved some mentions if F&B business is going to evolve in this country
I wanna announce that I didn't copy you! :P
ReplyDeleteAnd it was nice playing Masak-Masak for the night.
Specially commended = close results to the winner?
ReplyDeletelife for beginners - LOL Kenny, I heard abt this morning. Yup, definitely some surprises here but generally much improvement from last year since they finally recognised fine dining is Cilantro!
ReplyDeleteUnkaleong - you were welcome. Hope you are feeling better. I can see that the better half is taking good care of you.
C&C - we all had lots of fun but I was starving. Luckily we managed to get some Hokkien mee to end the night or else will die of hunger.
Brother B - big corps tend to win since more people can vote for them. I was particularly upset that Kl-lites had such bad coffee taste, to choose Illy as compared to great coffee from places like RAW. Sigh, hopefully they change for the better next year with more education.
qwazymonkey - hee hee, very original your post and I am glad you liked playing me! Thanks so much,
Baby Sumo - yes, I think specially commended is kinda like no. 2 or no.3 where the situation sees the margin between the two are very small. Japanese definitely surprised us this year, such a close call between 3 parties.
Huh Fatty Crab?? sighhh
ReplyDeleteActually I never trust online voting cos I can use a bot to vote :p shhhhh...
So Jon was your body double?? :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the congrats... :) :)
(I am still stunned. And a little bit in disbelief. But all in all a fun night - nice catching up with you a bit)
don't like the online voting part as everyone can vote many times.
ReplyDeleteNice list! I like Plan B better these days for veggy stuff than Marmalade - but the service can be a bit sloooooooooooooooooooooow.
ReplyDeleteDear boo_licious,
ReplyDeleteLooks like Cilantro is bagging all the top spots. I vaguely remember my last meal there over 12 years ago and whilst the food was delicious, I remember the service was really outshone my experience.
Wow! Amazing. Congrats to all the winners.
ReplyDelete