Winner

Emma Renfrew, head pastry chef, The Press Room Group

She is not reinventing the wheel with showy, ego-driven recipes inspired by the latest kitchen trickery. Instead, Emma Renfrew is bringing sexy back to the otherwise forgotten art of raiding your mother’s recipes box. It’s not easy being a female in high-octane restaurants such as The Pawn, SML, Classified and The Press Room. In her cosy nook she creates poached pear tarte tatin, carmel profiteroles in butterscotch, and pots of chocolate. And for that, she deserves to be on this list.

Honourable mention

Pastry chef Jason Casey of Union J.

Reader’s choice

Our voters have called it, Alvin Leung of Bo Innovation is the king of modern Chinese cuisine.

Check out our other Dining Award 2009 categories:

Noodles

Burger

Sushi

Pizza

Steak

Sunday Brunch

Dim Sum

View

Cafe/Coffee Shop

Splurge

Family Friendly

Al fresco

Vegetarian

Chinese

Wine selection

Cheap eats

Date

Star Chef/Creativity

Value for Money

Best New Restaurant

Best Restaurant