Aimed at recognizing the most outstanding and popular restaurants over the past year, the yearly ‘OpenRice Best Restaurant Awards 2018’ Prize Presentation Ceremony was successfully held on 10th May at the Hotel ICON in Tsim Sha Tsui. It was a great honour to have representatives from award-winning restaurants and renowned gourmands participated in the ceremony to witness the 27 Best Restaurant Awards in town.

With the help of a smartphone, everyone can be a food reporter.  Restaurant reviews and critics can only be spread via mass media and word-of-mouth in the past, there is a dramatic change nowadays. With enormous information available online, it becomes a huge trend for foodies to take pictures and share on social media platforms. The theme of this year is ‘Lord of the Food Enjoy the Foodie Show’ to reflect the current food scene in Hong Kong. Emojis, hashtags, likes and comments are important elements on social media. Chefs or foodies are showing their best qualities and it definitely brings positive impact to the local food and dining industry.

During the 4-week public election, over 150,000 votes were cast, in which 82 restaurants from Hong Kong and 10 restaurants from Macau were selected as award winners. This year the award is expanded to Mainland China and Taiwan. Mainlanders can also vote and support their favourite restaurants in Hong Kong. It receives good feedback and 10 local restaurants are chosen. In Taiwan, 10 out of 100 hottest restaurants are selected according to the number of votes.

Notice that there are more and more overseas restaurants setting up branches in Hong Kong, and some of them are on our winners list. We should treasure the local small eateries which are loved and supported by foodies in Hong Kong. They are crucial team players in the dining scene for preserving our local gourmet and food cultures, and deserve appreciation from all of us.

‘OpenRice Best Restaurant Awards 2018’ Prize Presentation Ceremony was undoubtedly a great success. Congratulations to all winners and thank you for the continuous support and participation. We look forward to further collaborate with different parties in scaling new heights in the development of food and beverage industry in Hong Kong.

OpenRice Best Restaurant Awards 2018: https://www.openrice.com/info/awards2018/index.html

Text: Perrins