Guide Awards 2019: Who will be voted Mumbai's best new restaurant?

Mid-day's restaurant awards are back with a second season to see close to 100 finalists compete for 41 top slots

The defining trait of the debut edition of mid-day's annual food and drink recognition, The Guide Restaurant Awards 2018, was honesty. It produced a definitive list of 35 of the city's finest hospitality establishments and talent from the food, drink and nightlife categories. Mid-day endorses a restaurant or bar only if it meets quality and service standards. And the award recognises only those who deserve it. In short, no paid trophies.

Arjun Rampal with the winners of the Best New Bar category, Jagran President Apurva Purohit (extreme left) and mid-day executive editor Tinaz Nooshian (second from left)

The second edition is back, and it's bigger, better and bolder. Forty-one of the city's brightest stars will be honoured at a glitzy ceremony on April 9 at The St Regis Mumbai. Top restaurateurs and chefs will turn up to cheer their colleagues, even as social influencers, Bollywood stars, and our hosts — habitual humorists and passionate foodies, Kunal Vijayakar and Cyrus Broacha — make it an evening to remember.

Mandira Bedi (L) and Maria Goretti

New categories this year, totalling nine, include Best New Wine Bar, Best New Brewery and Food Chronicler of the Year, while the big awards of the night remain The Rising Star, Outstanding Entrepreneur, Best New Restaurant and Best New Bar.

This year, in a special segment we've called Bombay Meri Hai, we turn back the clock to celebrate culinary nostalgia and salute the veterans whose vision laid the foundation for this city to become the eating-out Mecca.

Kunal Vijayakar (L) and Cyrus Broacha

At mid-day, our food and drink correspondents — who scour the fanciest five-stars, modest stalls and secret pop-ups through the year (anonymously so that no special meals are cooked to please them), make up the jury. This is the only newspaper to visit an establishment three times in a year to assess its quality and service standards. The criteria a restaurant/bar has to meet to win: Authenticity of the idea, quality standards and sustainability, innovation and impact, and excellence in service.

The proof of the pudding, for our in-house jury, has always been in the eating. Isn't that just the sort of food award Mumbai deserves?

Winners of 2018

Here's the full list of last year's winners at The Guide Restaurant Awards 2018

Best New Regional Restaurant (Bohri)
The Tha'l Co.
Best New Regional Restaurant (Sindhi)
Sindhful
Best New Regional Restaurant (Maharashtrian)
Jivhala
Best New Regional Restaurant (South Indian)
South High
Best New Regional Restaurant (Mangalorean)
Ferry Wharf
Best New Indian Restaurant
Gymkhana 91
Best New American Restaurant
Xico
Best New Asian Restaurant
The Blue
Best New VFM Restaurant
Butter Chicken Factory
Best New VFM Bar
DIVE
Best New Vegetarian Restaurant
Madras Diaries
Best New Farm to Fork Restaurant
Kitchen Garden
Best New Coffee Shop/ Café
Blue Tokai
Best New Patisserie/Chocolaterie
Entisi
Best New Street Food
East Indian Fast Food
Best New Home Chef/Pop-up
The Danda Food Project
Best New Takeaway
Yorricks 2.0
Best New Witching Hour Grub
pack-a-pav
Best New F&B Idea
Yugo Sushi
Best New Celebrity Den
Bastian
Best New Performance Space
The Quarter
Best Comeback
Mani's Lunch Home
Readers' Choice Award
Estella

Best New Bar ranking
Koko
London Taxi
House of Nomad
Tamasha
Toit

Best New Restaurant ranking
O Pedro, BKC
The Clearing House, Ballad Pier
Boteco
Nara Thai
Slink & Bardot

The Rising Star
Munaf Kapadia (The Bohri Kitchen)

Outstanding Culinary Entrepreneur
Sanjana Patel (La Folie)

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