100 Top Chinese Restaurants of the World（2020）

Book excerpt: 100 Top Chinese Restaurants of the World 2020 is into its second edition. I hope readers agree with the majority of my choices. As a Singaporean of Chinese descent, I proudly admit that the annual guide is a labour of love – and greed – for the great cuisines of China. My two favourite are Yue (my maternal family comes from Shunde) and Huaiyang (particularly the delicate cold dishes). My father came to Singapore as a child from Huai’an, Quanzhou, so I also love Min cuisine. And Lu, Chuan, Chaozhou, Kejia and many other branches of Chinese cuisine. I write about cuisine from a cultural, historical point of view. So, 100 does not contain recipes. But, you will discover that xiao long bao does not come from Shanghai but were already very popular in Kaifeng during the Northern Song Dynasty (960 – 1127). Or that Cantonese food should properly be called Yue cuisine which has its origins from the Kingdom of Nanyue (204 BC – 111 BC). 100 has Chinese restaurants from New York, London, Paris, Mumbai, Bangkok, Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Foshan, Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Suzhou, Shanghai, Yokohama, and lots more. The restaurants are not rated from 1 to 100 but there is a Restaurant of the Year, 10 Top 10, 10 Top 20, 10 Top 30, and 69 other restaurants to make a total of 100. You may be surprised to learn that the best char siew may actually be from Malaysia. Or that there is a tea house in Yangzhou that makes up to 50,000 baos a day! And that the Restaurant of the Year 2020 was started by a woman. CH’NG Poh Tiong Publisher/Author of 100 Top Chinese Restaurants of the World