SINGAPORE — This year’s Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards will be held in Bangkok, for the first time since its inception in 2013.

So it’s probably a nice coincidence that David Thompson, the celebrated chef of Nahm in Bangkok and Long Chim in Singapore, has been named this year’s recipient of The Diners Club Lifetime Achievement Award, conferred as part of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards programme.

The chef will formally receive his award at the fourth awards ceremony on Feb 29, hosted at the W Hotel in Bangkok.

“Usually, I am rather embarrassed by awards but to receive something as significant as this, voted for by my peers in the industry, does indeed make me proud and grateful,” said Thompson in a statement released today. “I still have the same joy in cooking as I had when I first began. It is a timeless pleasure for me, so I feel very lucky.”

He also said that while he’s been in the industry for a long time, he’s not in it for the awards “not matter how great a find they are”.

A staunch culinary traditionalist, the Australian-born chef who opened his first Thai restaurant in Sydney in 1991, is known for tracking down centuries-old cookbooks of former Thai matriarchs to revive the bold flavours of authentic Thai cuisine.

His now-defunct London Nahm restaurant was the first Thai establishment to be awarded a Michelin star. His Bangkok outpost, on the other hand, is living up to expectations. Taking residence at The Metropolitan Hotel by Como, the restaurant debuted on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2012 at No 50, rising to No 32 the following year. It is currently perched at No 22 on the World’s 50 and No 7 on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

Thompson extended his influence in the region last year with the much-anticipated opening of his Singapore restaurant Long Chim (Thai for “come and taste”), at Marina Bay Sands, which, unlike the integrated resort’s many celebrity chef lead restaurants, focuses on Thai street food, featuring the chef’s unwavering respect for culinary traditions with its fiery-hot spices and original recipes.