When Mumbai's best restaurants raised a toast to themselves

A hundred and one finalists vied for 35 top awards across the food, drink and nightlife categories, from fancy fine dining establishments to quirky pop-ups and quaint street food stalls

Winners of the Best New Restaurant jam with celebrated restaurateur Rahul Akerkar (first, left) at the group shot. Pic/Nimesh Dave

KS Narayanaswamy, the polite proprietor of iconic Udipi joint Mani’s Lunch Home, was in the same room on Tuesday night as ace restaurateur Riyaaz Amlani. And together, they celebrated all things good about Mumbai food.

Them, and the most significant names in the business of food gathered at St Regis for the first edition of Mid-Day’s The Guide Restaurant Awards 2018. A hundred and one finalists vied for 35 top awards across the food, drink and nightlife categories, from fancy fine dine establishments to quirky pop-ups and quaint street food stalls.

View gallery - mid-day Guide Restaurant Awards 2018 in pictures: Highlights from the event

Food writers from mid-day's around town section, The Guide, fanned out across the city to eat and drink anonymously, scouring for the most deserving winners.

Veteran chef and restaurateur Hemant Oberoi and actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra give away the award for Best Culinary Entrepreneur to patisserie chef Sanjana Patel. Pic/Shadab Khan

And last night saw them all, including Bollywood stars, authors, musicians and social influencers turn up to support Mumbai's first credible no-fear, no-favour award.

The niceties were reserved for the after-party as hosts for the night, Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijayakar kept the laughs (and jibes) coming. Shilpa Shetty, Shabana Azmi, Malaika Arora, Tabu, Arjun Rampal, Shaan, Viren Rasquinha, Masaba Gupta, Shekhar Ravjiani, Atul Kasbekar, Rahul Khanna, Divine, Mandira Bedi, Maria Goretti, Hemant Oberoi, Rahul Akerkar, Zorawar Kalra, Manu Chandra and Kiran Nagarkar handed out the awards, and met up at the after-party over chatter and drinks at the bars set up by pouring partner Pernod Ricard.

Malaika Arora jokes with Farokh Khambatta and wife Dilshad at the after party. Pic/Pradeep Dhivar

But the big star of the evening was credibility. Veteran chef and restaurateur Hemant Oberoi, in his closing address, summed up the spirit of the evening when he said, at a time "when awards come by the tonnes, some deserving, some not. Everybody gets one, one way or the other. I think this award will help change the cuisine scenario in Mumbai."

Did Mumbai get its first badass restaurant award? It sure did.

Also read: The Guide Restaurant Awards 2018 nominees pick their seasonal favourite dish

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