It’s my most wonderful post…of the year.

I joke, but this post is a highlight for me to write, and I look forward to it every year. If you want to see what made the list in previous year, check out the 2017, 2016, and 2015 picks.

We eat well, and 2018 was no exception. Compared to previous years, 2018 lacked any over-the-top Michelin starred meals. While we had ample opportunities, we dove headfirst into more casual, regional Chinese food than luxurious fine dining. Don’t get me wrong, we still love the fancy stuff, but we didn’t make it a priority in the past twelve months. Who knows, maybe we’ll turn back to formal dining in 2019!

The “Country Club Food” Award: The Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I spent some of my high school days around country clubs (it is a New England stereotype, but sometimes stereotypes are true) and have been to many others in my time. Generally, the food is as boring and generic as the ubiquitous chicken caesar salad wrap. No thanks.

While spending time with friends in KL (shorthand for Kuala Lumpur if you’re cool), we had lunch at their club, called the Royal Lake Club. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be wasting a lunch at a social and tennis club, when there are plenty of great things to eat in KL. However, Royal Lake Club has a full street food vibe, complete with six to eight local vendors selling Indian curries, grilled skate wing, Malaysian stir-fry, and Chinese dumplings, among other temptations.

Our friends quickly took to ordering, and we sat on the outdoor patio in the blazing KL summer sun and had the most amazing chicken satay we’ve ever had. The plate was piled high with skewers of the iconic Indonesian street food, with the charred, fatty chicken thigh, glazed in the sweet and savory peanut sauce with a little extra on the side for dipping. Dessert was a towering cone of dosa drizzled with honey and sugar. The thin, almost cracker-like Indian flatbread was made to order, arriving piping hot and glistening with the glaze.

The “Best Yurt” Award: Da Cao Yuan, Shenzhen, China

Da Cao Yuan was definitely the most memorable meal we ate in 2018. Early in the year, we became friends with a group that meets up every month for a meal. This was our introduction to the group and we were told to meet at Da Cao Yuan, a Mongolian restaurant.

We arrived at this open-air restaurant filled with about 30 private dining yurts and knew we were in for a unique evening. Our yurt fit twelve people around a large, circular table. Our friends had also arranged for a whole lamb. You heard that right, a whole lamb, which was wheeled in on a wooden cart, roasted and falling off the bone. It was my first time seeing meat presented by mini-chariot.

The whole night was a feast and we ate and drank like royalty. We were ordering 1L bottles of beer so quickly that they just brought a whole case of chilled beer into the yurt and gave us a bottle opener. The night ended with the staff storming our yurt in full traditional Mongolian attire, with an amp and microphone to serenade us a mini karaoke concert.

I just realized that we have been in 2 yurts this year, the other one on our Ireland road trip. This has been a yurt-heavy year for us, and deserves its own award category.

The “Instagram-able Food” Award: Crate Cafe, Bali, Indonesia

Oh, the smoothie bowl. It is like breakfast crack for hipsters, and is commonly found on Instagram feeds followed by a multitude of hashtags. When I first heard the term smoothie bowl I shuddered with hatred. Why would you pour a perfectly good smoothie into a bowl to eat with a spoon? Never was there a less-necessary food.

This past February, when we found ourselves in the perennially Instagram-able enclave of Bali called Canggu, we were among restaurants and cafes hawking this very thing. Our very first morning in town, sweating profusely in the early day humidity, we walked down to Crate Cafe, an industrial, open-air cafe/chic retail store. Maybe it was the heat, or proof of our utter inability to resist peer pressure, but we promptly ordered a smoothie bowl. And, just like that, we were hooked. It was visually stunning, of course, but also delicious and filling, in the feeling-good-about-your-life-choices way.

Are we hypocrites? Of course. Never have we so quickly jumped off the proverbial soap box into a vat of pureed fruit. But was it worth it? A thousand times yes.

The “2 for 1” Award: Beef and Liberty, Shanghai

Over the past few years, Shanghai has become burger crazy. Burger-centric restaurants are all over the city, and a new Shack Shake is opening here soon, meaning that Shanghai might be at peak burger right now.

These aren’t your average burgers, because they feature oft-imported Australian beef. Rather than $5 fast-food meat-ish patties, it’s not uncommon to spend $12-15 for the pleasure of higher cholesterol and a shame hangover for the rest of the night.

Ok, so we get it, people love burgers, but we’re Americans for goodness sake. We grew up on the things, and have freakishly high standards without the tolerance for the high prices.  We never feel the need to spend $50 for two burgers, fries, and drinks for a weeknight dinner. But, Shanghai has a prolific “2 for 1” burger deal scene. Particularly on Mondays, when there are six restaurants within walking distance of our apartment that offer this deal.

If the promise of a good deal on a Monday isn’t enough to get you revved up, well, we obviously can’t be friends. In a move that will surprise literally none of our friends or family, we have been diligently visiting any and all burger deals around the city. Shockingly, all have been especially good, even by American standards. The winner (so far) is Beef and Liberty, which has locations in both Shanghai and Hong Kong. The thick patty is perfectly seasoned, well charred, and the classic preparation is topped with caramelized onions and melty cheddar cheese. Julie and I both did a double take after one bite, because it was far better than expected. Hats off to you, Beef and Liberty.

The “Don’t Skip the Wontons” Award: Din Tai Fung, Taipei, Taiwan

Din Tai Fung is a international mega-chain, with dozens of locations around the world, from London to Los Angeles. The restaurant group started back in 1972, in a small restaurant in Taipei. When we visited Taipei this year, we knew we should make a pilgrimage to the original.

They are famous for their xiao long bao (XLB if you’re cool), which are steamed pork soup dumplings. At all locations, the dumpling team is in full view of the diners, an army of cooks prepping, folding, and pleating thousands of dumplings per day. The XLB (we’re cool) at Din Tai Fung are perfectly bite-sized and have a thinner, more delicate wrapper. They are far superior to other versions we’ve had.

We have been to multiple locations of Din Tai Fung and the food has always been consistently good (you definitely should order the XLB). But the standout dish, the one that rarely gets mentioned? The shrimp and pork wontons in spicy sauce. Let’s put it this way – we get the XLB to share, but we both always get our own order of the wontons.  They are simply the shining example of what all wontons should be. The skins are not overcooked or gloopy. The shrimp and pork filling is packed with flavor, and the generous helping of fiery chile sauce and chili oil burns so good.

The “Duck Duck Goose” Award: 1881, Shenzhen, China

Peking duck is my favorite preparation of duck. The difficulty level is high enough that you’d never make it at home (unless you are this nut job), so it’s automatically a fun, special occasion affair. We have been to Beijing twice this year, the home of Peking duck, and have had some very, very good duck.

But in the spirit of the “Best Of” awards, it is only fitting to award to the creme de la creme. The winner is the 1881 Restaurant, located not in Beijing, but Shenzhen. In a Grand Hyatt hotel. Tiny back-alley hidden gem this is not.

The ducks at 1881 are roasted and glazed in a huge wood-fired oven that guests walk by on the way to the dining room. Julie has never been a Peking duck superfan, but even this duck made her change her mind (Editor’s note: It passed her scrupulous standards). The meat was incredibly moist, yet the skin, expertly shaved off the duck during the table side presentation, shattered like glass when you took a bite. No flabby, semi-rendered fat here.

The fun presentation, the paper thin pancakes for wrapping, and the little bowls of hoisin, cucumbers, sugar, and garlic paste, all make for a DYI duck wrap that made everyone smile. I’ve never seen a better tablescape than a half-demolished duck.

The “Why Didn’t We Eat More Irish Seafood Before?” Award: Kai Cafe + Restaurant, Galway, Ireland

We have been to Ireland a few times, but our food experiences have been mostly the stew and potato variety. On our recent road trip through Ireland, we cast aside the traditional pub food for more Irish seafood. Crab, mussels, cod, monkfish, John Dory, oysters. The icy cold Atlantic Ocean waters surrounding the Emerald Isle, while not great for swimming, are perfect for great shellfish and fish, and we ate it all.

The best meal of the journey around the country was a tiny restaurant in Galway. Kai Cafe + Restaurant was warm, cozy, and quaint, a splendid respite from the bitter cold autumn weather. We went all seafood, sharing a plate of fresh crab from County Clare, picked and plated with thinly sliced celeriac and toasted pumpkin seeds for texture. Main courses followed, with a seared piece of John Dory topped with aioli and seared salmon with local mussels in a spicy, Madras curry broth.

The food was refined yet simple, and the service was relaxed but professional. We understand all the accolades this place has received, and wholeheartedly agree.

The “Last Runner Up” Award: Teochew Chendul, Kuala Lumpur

This was not one of our favorite bites of the year, but deserves special mention because it certainly was the most…visually disturbing? It looks like, well, a lot of things you don’t want to eat.

In actuality, this dessert was quite tasty, if you just closed your eyes. What looked like a weird experiment I would have made in the kitchen as a toddler is actually chendul, a shaved ice treat mixed with coconut milk, palm sugar syrup, and green noodles flavored with pandan leaves and made with palm flour. The noodles clearly look like worms, and the vivid green color does not help. This particular bowl was coffee flavored.

You can find shaved ice desserts with different textures and fruits all over Asia and these flavors bypass the more familiar Western palette standbys like chocolate, peanut butter, and vanilla. Teochew Chendul, which has been around since 1936, serves up one of KL’s most beloved bowls of chendul. It may not be appealing to look at, but when it is about 95F and humid, you’ll feel much better in the world if you just (close your eyes and) take a bite.