Restaurant awards such as the recent Epicurean Star Award by the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) may offer food lovers plenty to talk about, but they also celebrate efforts towards culinary excellence — those that mark the milestone achievements of both individuals and establishments in Singapore’s food and beverage (F&B) scene.

This year’s award ceremony, which took place on Tuesday night at the Raffles City Convention Centre, once again honoured top-of-the-class chefs and F&B dining concepts that have tabled innovative ideas and delivered consistently stellar food and service.

Graced by guest-of-honour Lim Swee Say, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, the gala event saw a total of 15 restaurant awards conferred, including Best New F&B Establishment, Best Buffet and Best Caterer.

The winners were selected by a panel of judges that comprised both industry professionals as well as notable personalities in the F&B scene, namely, food critic Moses Lim and popular food bloggers Daniel Ang and Leslie Tay, who weighed in on the shortlisted restaurants’ concept, menu, service quality and overall experience.

“There is much diversity in the types of cuisines available in Singapore, giving our small but vivacious F&B community the exposure to the best cuisines from around the world,” said Andrew Tjioe, president of RAS and Tung Lok Group’s executive chairman.

The need to stay relevant in an ever-changing market is another reason annual awards such as this are important.

“We hope these awards will galvanise the industry towards achieving greater success by constantly innovating, introducing new concepts and improving service standards,” added Tijoe.

The winners boasted a familiar line-up of establishments that have, over the past year, made quite an impact on the country’s penchant for quality fare. The popular Marmalade Pantry picked up two awards: One for Best Western Casual Dining and the other for the Best Of The Best (Casual Dining).

Marmalade Pantry’s ability to balance the growing standards in casual dining and expectations of customers with the restaurant’s approach to quality and affordability was something that its director of business development and marketing, Quah Bee Jin, said it worked hard to achieve.

“It’s all about providing an experience that matches customers’ expectations of price. When people go to a hawker centre, they expect to pay ‘hawker centre prices’, but when they go to a cafe that’s done up prettily, they don’t mind forking out a little bit more for the setting,” she said.

“Customers expect a certain quality from us, and if we’re still around after so many years, it shows we must be doing something right. We also review the menu every half-a-year to consider which dishes work and which dishes don’t. We also keep track of food trends and try to work new dishes onto the menu occasionally.”

The Best Japanese Fine Dining winner was Hashida Sushi Singapore, which brought the pedigree that Japanese food fans here have been craving for years. It topped its winning night by bagging the Best Of The Best (Fine Dining) award as well.

Hashida Sushi Singapore’s business development manager Tiara Ishikawa attributed part of its success to the restaurant’s service standards, which she said hinged on nurturing the right people.

“The head chef has very high, exacting standards, so the key concern was getting the service staff (a mix of locals and permanent residents) to match those standards,” she added. “It wasn’t difficult, though — we made sure to convey this during staff interviews and the service staff themselves have an innate want to ensure customers are fully satisfied, so it wasn’t really difficult to train them.”

Continuing the trend of double wins, the Best Chinese Fine Dining category saw a tie, with Tong Le Private Dining and Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant sharing the honours; and two restaurants tied for the Best New F&B Establishment award: the famously innovative Saha Signature Indian Restaurant & Bar as well as Pince & Pints.

Saha’s eponymous chef, Abhijit Saha, may not be well known in Singapore, but he is feted in his native country: He won Best Chef in India at the Indian Restaurant Congress & Awards last year and his two restaurants in Bangalore — the Mediterranean restaurant and bar Fava and Caperberry, serving modern European cuisine, are equally feted.

Pince & Pints, on the other hand, quickly earned a reputation for being Singapore’s answer to London’s popular Burger And Lobster chain when it opened in July.

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THE WINNER’S LIST

Best Caterer: Orange Clove Catering

Best Buffet: Edge from Pan Pacific Singapore

Best Gastro-Pub: Timbre@The Arts House

Best Cafe: D’ Good Café

Best New F&B Establishment: Saha Signature Indian Restaurant and Pince & Pints

Best Asian Casual Dining: Zaffron Kitchen from First Gourmet

Best Asian Fine Dining: Forest at Resorts World Sentosa

Best Japanese Casual Dining: The Flying Squirrel

Best Japanese Fine Dining: Hashida Sushi Singapore

Best Western Casual Dining: Marmalade Pantry

Best Western Fine Dining: Pollen

Best Chinese Casual Dining: Ling Zhi

Best Chinese Fine Dining: Tong Le Private Dining and Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant

Best Of The Best (Fine Dining): Hashida Sushi Singapore

Best Of The Best (Casual Dining): Marmalade Pantry