Seoul to host Asia's 50 Best Restaurants ceremony in 2024

Seoul will host the awards ceremony for Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2024, marking the first time the event will be held in Korea. Around 800 industry leaders are expected to attend.

Logo of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants [SCREEN CAPTURE/ THE WORLD'S 50 BEST RESTAURANTS]

Seoul is set to host the awards ceremony for the 2024 edition of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, according to the city government’s news release on Sunday.

It will be the first time that the global awards ceremony will take place in Korea.

The event is slated for March. More detailed dates and locations will be announced in December, Seoul Metropolitan Government said.

Some 800 industry leaders and experts are expected to participate in the event's award ceremonies, gala dinners and conferences in the city.

“I believe that Seoul’s hosting of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, Asia’s best gastronomic festival, is the result of the city of Seoul’s continuous efforts to commercialize its gastronomic tourism, such as Seoul Taste Week and the 100 Taste Seoul list,” Kim Young-hwan, director-general of the metropolitan government's Tourism and Sports Bureau, said. “Now, by hosting this event, we hope it can be a stepping stone to further promoting the excellence of Seoul’s gastronomy to the world.

“We will inform the public and further brand it as a world-class gastronomic tourist destination to lead the era of 30 million tourists.”

Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list is a spinoff of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. Launched in 2013, it aims to celebrate gastronomy and act as a gourmet guide to diners around the globe. The annual list is selected, via vote, by a group of some 300 restaurant-industry leaders across Asia who have ample knowledge and expertise of the continent's gastronomic scene. Its ceremonies have previously occurred in key tourist destinations such as Singapore, Bangkok and Macao.

Restaurants in 26 countries, in six regions including East Asia and Southeast Asia, are considered for the award: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, the Maldives, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

Four Korean restaurants made this year's list: Mosu in Yongsan District, central Seoul, ranked 15th; Onjium in Jongno District, central Seoul, ranked 23rd; Mingles in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, was 28th; and Born & Bredin Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, was 47th.

Bangkok's Le Du, run by chef Thitid Tassanakajohn, was crowned The Best Restaurant in Asia in 2023.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]