Hong Kong’s best restaurants, chefs and nightlife revealed: get to know the winners of SCMP’s 100 Top Tables 2024 fine dining awards – from Rising Star Sean Yuen to Legend awardee Umberto Bombana

Mar 14 , 2024

Award winners at 100 Top Tables 2024, the South China Morning Post’s annual fine dining guide and awards ceremony for Hong Kong and Macau: Agustin Balbi of Ando, Anne-Sophie Pic and Leela’s Manav Tuli. Photo: Handouts

Every year, the South China Morning Post’s flagship dining guide 100 Top Tables pays tribute to the outstanding individuals and restaurants who help make Hong Kong’s F&B scene one of the very best in the world

From the interiors at Anne-Sophie Pic’s new openings to Manav Tuli’s pioneering work at Chaat and Leela to Agustin Balbi’s mainstay Andō, we take a closer look at this year’s annual ward winners

Every year, the South China Morning Post’s 100 Top Tables awards pay tribute to the outstanding individuals and restaurants who help make Hong Kong’s F&B scene one of the very best in the world.

Following the announcement of this year’s awardees, we profile the winners ...

Best New Restaurant – Leela

Tandoori Thor’s Hammer at Leela. Photo: Handout

The past 12 months have seen a raft of high-quality openings, but nowhere impressed on as many fronts and so significantly as Leela.

Upon entering, the design by André Fu Studio is warm and inviting thanks to ethereal cloud glass lighting, burgundy tones and glimpses of velvet. In the cooler months that have passed since the restaurant opened, the terrace has been a delight, its lush tropical plants and rattan furniture evoking another place and time.

The menu, thanks to chef Manav Tuli, is stellar and showcases great dishes from across South Asia, whether it’s the moreish Lucknowi tokri chaat from northern India, the toothsome chakundar oxtail gosht from Punjab, or the rich Saoji lamb shank that was inspired by the cuisine of the Kandahar region in Afghanistan.

While Tuli’s food alone is enough to sell a restaurant, the drinks menu has not been ignored either. Mario Calderone, Jia Group’s beverage director, has created a cocktail menu that thoughtfully enhances the dining experience and harmonises with the vibrant flavours found in Leela’s culinary offerings. The wine list too pairs nicely with the Indian spices at play. Altogether, it makes for an exceptional meal.

Best New Interior Design – Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic

A Baccarat chandelier at Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic. Photo: Handout

Multi-concept hotspot Forty-Five was arguably the most ambitious new F&B concept of the last 12 months, its own marketing unashamed to declare it Hong Kong’s “most thrilling new hospitality destination in a generation”.