Ranking restaurants shouldn't be taken literally: Chef André Chiang
Critically acclaimed Taiwanese chef André Chiang has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top since opening his Mediterranean-fusion Restaurant André in Singapore in 2010. As part of our Relaxviews series in which we ask players at the top of their game to share their opinions on the goings-on in their industries, we ask Chiang to share his thoughts on the first ever Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards to be held on Monday.
Listings that purport to rank the best restaurants in the world reflect the culinary trend of the moment –- and shouldn’t be taken literally, says Taiwanese chef André Chiang of Restaurant André.
As Asia prepares to inaugurate their own version of Restaurant magazine’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards on Monday night, Chiang, one of Singapore’s most celebrated chefs, shared his opinions on the ranking that will try to do for Asia what it has done for the world: name the best restaurant on the continent.
“I think it’s difficult to rank hotels or restaurants,” he said in a phone interview from Singapore. “It’s like any type of art form, whether it be dance or paintings. It’s not like a sport where you can measure who runs the fastest.”
It’s a criticism shared by many chefs, restaurateurs, critics and consumers themselves. How can you assign a ranking to something as subjective and arbitrary as food?
On the other hand, what the awards do succeed in accomplishing is highlighting trailblazers in the industry, he said, restaurants that are setting the trends and pioneering new avenues in the world of food.
Another plus? Giving Asia its own version of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards will introduce the world to the continent’s dining scene, a culinary landscape that can be impenetrable and opaque for the Western world ill-acquainted with Asia.
Meanwhile, on a continent where ethnic flavors, styles and palates are strikingly diverse, Chiang also pointed that listings such as these compare apples to oranges.
At the same time, the culinary world has outgrown tidy definitions, he said.
“Nowadays, you can’t categorize cuisine anymore.”
Gastronomy is becoming increasingly distilled through a fine mesh sieve. For example, Spanish cuisine is being narrowed to regional styles of cooking such as San Sebastian cuisine. That in turn, is brewed down into a style of cooking that’s intensely personal, Chiang said, and more an expression of the chef themselves.
In the same way, a chef may use soy sauce simply because they want to impart the flavor profile it provides: depth of flavor and umami -- not to make the dish ‘Asian.'
As for Chiang’s favorite dining destinations in Asia, they include a small, intimate Japanese eatery in Taiwan, Sasa, that serves top notch sushi, and Sungei Road laksa, a small food stall in Singapore that’s been serving the same charcoal-fired laksa for the last 20 years.
Winners of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants will be announced Monday, February 25 in Singapore.
With accolades that include titles like "One of the World's Best Young Chefs" by Wallpaper magazine, inclusion in the list of "10 Restaurants Worth a Plane Ride" by The New York Times, and Best New Restaurant 2011 Singapore, as deemed by Tatler Asia, Chiang has quickly cemented his reputation as a culinary force to watch.
