Asia: What are the top 101 restaurants?

It was a big job, but somebody had to do it, said editors at the Daily Meal. So they set out to recognize Asia’s top 101 restaurants.

The list, which took six months to compile, includes restaurants in 25 cities. China topped the charts with 28 restaurants, 21 of them in Beijing.

“Tackling Asia was a tremendous challenge for all kinds of reasons,” said Colman Andrews, editorial director for the Daily Meal, “but we felt we had to do it.

‘‘The number of superlative restaurants in that whole vast region is just extraordinary — Japan, remember, has more Michelin three-star places than France.”

The list is part of a continuing series by the website, which earlier listed the “101 Best Restaurants in America” and “101 Best Restaurants in Europe.”

To arrive at a final list, the Daily Meal sought nominations from various sources, then evaluated the contenders. In this case, there were 300 nominees.

Andrews said they chose to evaluate Asia restaurants partly “because we don’t know anybody in America who doesn’t love Asian food of some kind, whether it’s take-out Chinese on the couch or a $300 omakase menu at an elegant sushi bar.”

This inaugural list includes restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau plus Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Although capitals such as Beijing, Seoul, Taipei, Taiwan and Tokyo are well-represented, some of the restaurants are in smaller cities: La Maison 1888 in Danang, Vietnam, and Kingfisher in Unawatuna, Sri Lanka.

There are also some unlikely locales such as Sushi Saito, a seven-seater in a Tokyo parking garage, and Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seater in a Tokyo subway.

The top 10 restaurants:

· Din Tai Fung, Taipei

· Duck de Chine, Beijing

· Green T. House, Beijing

· Temple Restaurant, Beijing

· Capital M, Beijing

· Varq, New Delhi

· Dali Courtyard, Beijing

· Lung King Heen, Hong Kong

· Michel Bras TOYA Japon, Tokyo

· 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo BOMBANA, Hong Kong

The full list can be found on the website.