Food-lovers wanting advice on where to find their favourite dishes were in for a feast yesterday at a talk by The Straits Times food critic Wong Ah Yoke.

Mr Wong's free talk at library@orchard, drew interest from 200 people. Titled Which Is The Best Restaurant In Singapore?, it was the eighth in a monthly series of 12 by ST journalists.

The talk began with Mr Wong offering his opinion on what restaurants he thought were the best in Singapore. These ranged from Waku Ghin in Marina Bay Sands to Corner House at the Botanic Gardens - two of his favourites.

He went on to recommend a handful of books on food, such as Paul Freedman's Food: The History Of Taste and Everything You Want To Know About Chinese Cooking, which contains recipes from his childhood in the 1970s.

But the real meat of the session was the hour-long question-and-answer session that saw Mr Wong fielding a stream of questions from those hungry for recommendations on where to find the best local food in the heartland - from char kway teow to hor fun to chilli crab.

Other questions were more personal, with people eager to find out more about the man behind the food columns.

"How do you find new vocabulary to talk about food?" one of them asked.

"Are you a good cook?" asked another.

One foodie at the talk was Mrs Rita Mittelsdorf.

The 60-year-old housewife said of Mr Wong: "He was very honest with his opinions on what's good, and what's not - and that's what we like. Many speakers are very protective about their opinions, but he was very generous."

Mr Telvin Goh, 41, who was there with his wife and daughter, said he might give Corner House a try one day. But Mr Goh, who works in sales, admitted: "I still prefer my Maxwell and Telok Ayer (eateries)."

The next askST@NLB talk is on Jan 20. Ms Lee Siew Hua will talk about which places should be on your travel bucket list for 2017. Members of the public can register at http://str.sg/askSTNLBtravel