Seoul leads Asia's 50 Best extended list for 2026
Seven restaurants and a leap of 22 places for Kuala Lumpur's Dewakan mark the 51-100 list ahead of the March ceremony in Hong Kong.
Seoul placed seven restaurants on Asia's 50 Best Restaurants 2026 extended list, more than any other city, as the rankings body revealed its 51-100 selection ahead of the main ceremony.
The list, released on 12 March 2026, two weeks before the awards ceremony in Hong Kong on 25 March, covers 27 cities, four more than in 2025. Seoul's seven entries include newcomer San at 54, alongside Solbam, Born and Bred, Alla Prima, Soigné, Jungsik and Kwonsooksoo.
Four cities debut on the list
Seven tables in, twelve newcomers, and a ranking still two weeks from naming its actual top 50.
Twelve restaurants are new to the 51-100 selection this year, and four cities appear for the first time: Busan, Chengdu, Kanazawa and Nishikawa. The highest-ranked debut is Chef 1996 in Beijing at 52; Dewaya, a ryokan restaurant in Nishikawa dating to 1929, enters at 93. India placed three restaurants this year: Papa's and The Table in Mumbai, and Inja in New Delhi.
Bangkok placed five restaurants, led by Baan Tepa at 53, with Samrub Samrub Thai, Côte by Mauro Colagreco, Gaa and a re-entry for Haoma. Singapore and Hong Kong each placed four: Thevar, Burnt Ends, Meta and Peach Blossoms for Singapore; Ta Vie, Vea, Andō and Amber for Hong Kong.
The biggest climbers on the list
Dewakan in Kuala Lumpur made the largest jump, rising 22 places to 62. Singapore's Thevar climbed 12 places from 70th in 2025. Busan's debut entry, Fiotto, run by a husband-and-wife team on organic produce from their own farm, lands at 99.
The extended list sets up the main ceremony, where the top 50 is revealed separately. It follows a similarly closely watched year for global rankings: Asador Etxebarri topped the World's 50 Best Restaurants list for 2026, with Lima hosting the ceremony.
Organisers have not yet said how many of the 51-100 restaurants will keep their places when the main list returns for 2027. Lima's own economic gains from hosting this year's World's 50 Best show how much one ceremony night can move a city's dining economy.
