COMMENTARY, Dec 25 — It’s that time of the year again. No, I am not talking about the year-end parties.
It’s that dreaded time when we await the Time Out KL Food & Drink awards to be given out to “the city’s best cafes, restaurants and bars.”
Since 2010, Time Out KL has been running these awards annually. It’s essentially a people’s choice awards since the votes are cast by the people of Kuala Lumpur.
What the publication does is curate the categories. For instance, this year they introduced a category for best place to drink gin cocktails.
There are two rounds of voting. First, the categories are released by Time Out KL and nominations are called. Once the votes are compiled, a shortlist will be revealed with five nominees.
The second round sees people cast their votes again to determine who wins the awards in each category. To date, the final list of winners has yet to be announced.
Previously when Time Out KL was in a printed magazine format, it would be out in their December issue. Now, they are fully digital, the timeline seems blurry.
But the question we often ask is this: Is popularity by voting a real indication of what’s best in KL? Let’s have a look at the nominees.
The category for Best Malay/Malaysian Restaurant is a strange one. Shouldn’t you have a Malay restaurant category on its own since our streets are peppered with all kinds of delicious, Malay food?
Is lumping in Malaysian with Malay under one category even a correct move? Shouldn’t this category reflect our diverse — Malay, Indian, Chinese and many more — culinary culture?
For the Best Chinese Restaurant, out of the five nominees, four are from hotels. The fifth one is a franchise restaurant from Taiwan!
While the hotels may offer... say, better trained service staff and posher surroundings, it does not mean they have the best restaurants in town. How about Chinese restaurant stalwarts like Overseas Restaurant or even old school places like Sek Yuen (they still cook with charcoal fire)?
Or even local Chinese restaurant groups like Oriental, Grand Imperial and the list goes on. And if you’re looking for creativity in Chinese food, the Oriental Group has Yu by Ruyi which serves modern Chinese offerings.
Under the Best Italian Restaurant category, you will find that all five nominees don’t serve any pork. The head-scratcher is, will these restaurants offer a true Italian taste since they omit an important ingredient in the cuisine.
I reckon any Italian nonna will turn in her grave as for her, the classic Italian bolognese sauce is made with a mixture of beef and pork mince.
A new category introduced this year is the Best Mall Food Court. According to Wikipedia, a food court is said to, be “an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner.”
Now, this definition totally does not apply to The Table at Isetan The Japan Store. It’s essentially different restaurants grouped under one roof.
Even the explanation on Time Out KL’s website claims the nominee is a group of restaurants, so why are they even in this category?
The list is not perfect, we understand that. But when the list omits those who rightly deserve to be in it, you begin to wonder why Time Out KL is even doing this.
