Battle of the Diamonds: Dining awards by China’s Trip.com Group, Meituan-Dianping ramp up presence in Singapore

Dining awards dished out by China-based restaurant review platforms are increasing their presence in Singapore, signalling the growing influence of deep-pocketed Chinese tourists in the city-state.  

Trip.com Group, which runs Ctrip, the largest online travel agency in China, unveiled its annual ranking of fine dining restaurants around the world by its food guide subsidiary, Trip.Gourmet in a ceremony held at Marina Bay Sands last Friday (23 August). It marked the first time that the Chinese travel service provider held the event here. 

A total of 59 restaurants from Singapore made the cut on the Trip.Best Gourmet Award list, accounting for one-third of the listed restaurants from Asia. Of the Singapore entries, 27 restaurants received awards in the top three categories. Three restaurants, Odette, Zen and Waku Ghin won the highest-rated Black Diamond award. 10 restaurants picked up the Diamond award, while 14 others received the Platinum award. 

The Trip.Best Gourmet Awards covers fine-dining restaurants in overseas travel destinations that are popular with travellers from China. They also include Japan. Thailand, France, United States, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United Arab Emirates. 

The score-based ranking (upon five) is determined by five broad criteria such as the relevance of theme (or dining category), popularity of restaurant and city, restaurant quality and user preference. 

On restaurant quality, Trip.Gourmet takes in consideration information such as the background of the chefs, if the restaurant is affiliated to well-established restaurant groups, and if the restaurant is also ranked on other dining award lists. 

The scores are based on two-pronged aggregation of information that includes user reviews and rating of restaurants on Trip.Gourmet, which has amassed 42 million users. 

Trip.Gourmet also sources information from its restaurant booking platform partners to “to better analyse and understand local culinary landscapes and consumer preferences”. These partnerships include The Fork in Europe, OpenRice in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and Chope, which was recently acquired by Grab, in Southeast Asia. 

The results are then shortlisted and verified by a panel of an multi-tiered “expert team” that include F&B and hospitality professionals, journalists and influencers. One of them is Cathy Ho, a Taipei-based food writer and consultant, who presented a segment at the awards ceremony. 

Increased awareness among Chinese gourmet tourists

Chefs whom The Peak spoke to shared that the award has helped to increase awareness of their restaurants to Chinese consumers, a key and viable market. 

Photo: Trip.com

Han Li Guang, chef-owner of one-Michelin-starred New Singaporean fine-dining restaurant Labyrinth, which received a Diamond award after its Platinum debut last year, says: "Labyrinth attracts a lot of tourists wanting to explore the flavours of Singapore and we have seen about 10 to 15 percent of our cliente come from China, amongst quite a few other countries, that has organically formed our key target markets from abroad over the years."

He adds that while the "material impact" from receiving the award (in terms of sales) "has not been quantified", Labyrinth has seen "a recurring and steady business stream from China" since it received its first Trip.Gourmet award two years ago. 

Thitid ‘Ton’ Tassanakajohn, chef-owner of one-starred Thai-influenced contemporary restaurant Le Du in Bangkok, which received the Platinum award for the second year in a row, says: "Le Du received 10 to 15 percent more guests from China after receiving the award last year. This is important especially during the slower dining season in Bangkok."

Photo: Trip.com

Trip.Gourmet also underwent a revamp this year with four new categories. Besides fine-dining, the other categories are local restaurants, light bites and restaurants for views and experiences. These categories are added to align with the platform’s more travel-friendly focus. More than 10,000 restaurants across 300 cities around the world are listed in these four categories. 

The change is made in line with a growing demand from travellers for food-related content when planning their trips. According to Trip.com, it saw an over 30 percent increase in the number of users who used the platform to search for food-related content in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period last year. 

Speaking to The Peak after the award ceremony, Ms Sunny Sun, Vice President of Trip.com Group and CEO of Trip.Gourmet, says: “What sets Trip.Gourmet apart from Meituan-Dianping is that we focus on providing a service to travellers around the world and provide restaurant information and rankings from the perspective of travellers and their needs. Meituan-Dianping focuses on providing food delivery and shopping services in the domestic market in China, whereas Trip has a wider global reach and incorporates a more extensive scope of overseas data in our restaurant rankings."

These developments from Trip.com come hot on the heels of a fellow Chinese company, Meituan-Dianping’s move to step up its efforts in Singapore. Last month, the China-based restaurant-review and group-buying platform, which is known for its Black Pearl Restaurant Guide, announced that it is collaborating with Marina Bay Sands. The partnership will see more dining events and workshops being organised to promote the exchange of Chinese and Singaporean culinary culture, and better showcase Singapore restaurants to Chinese diners.