Asia's best chefs have gathered at Marina Bay Sands for the inaugural unveiling of Asia's 50 Best Restaurants.

The list is an offshoot of The World's 50 Best Restaurants, which comes out in April each year in London. The events are sponsored by S Pellegrino and Acqua Panna.

At the Sands Grand Ballroom, Singapore-based chefs such as Janice Wong of 2am:dessertbar, Justin Quek of Sky At 57, Andre Chiang of Restaurant Andre, Julien Royer of Jaan, Willin Low of Wild Rocket and restaurateur Ignatius Chan of Iggy's mingled with chefs who have flown in for the event.

These include Chan Tak Yan of Lung King Heen in Hong Kong, Seiji Yamamoto of Nihonryori RyuGin and Yoshihiro Narisawa of Les Creations de Narisawa in Tokyo, Anand Gaggan of Gaggain in Bangkok and Chris Salans of Mozaic in Bali.

At a reception outside the ballroom, the chefs nibbled on canapes and snapped photos of each other as they caught up on news in the food world.

Chef Narisawa said through an interpreter: "It's a great opportunity to have a list for Asian restaurants.

"I've been to the World's 50 Best Restaurants event for three years and this gathering of chefs here is a great chance to meet counterparts in Asia."

Besides honouring the top Asian restaurants on this list, other individual awards will also be given out tonight.

They include Best Pastry Chef and the Chefs' Choice Award.

The awards have just started and the full list will be released online at http://worlds50best.asia/ at 9pm.