The Hong Kong and Macau's Best Restaurants 2012 has been trickling into local bookstores since November 29 and should be available for sale at all major booksellers by the end of this week. And just in case you haven't bought a copy of our hot-of-the-presses Hong Kong and Macau Best Restaurants 2012 (HK$150) yet, here are a couple of reasons why you should pick up your copy today.

The "Best of the Best" Restaurants

Every year, we award our highest scoring restaurants a "Best of the Best" icon to indicate a truly exceptional dining experience with high scores in setting, food, wine and service. To be awarded a "Best of the Best" icon, restaurants must score a total of 36 or above out of 40 and this year, we were happy to award a grand total of 17 restaurants (nine in Hong Kong and eight in Macau) the "Best of the Best" icon.

These included restaurants such as Amber (pictured above), Café Gray Deluxe and L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, all of which were also awarded an icon in 2011, but this year, there are a few surprises. Do you agree with our reviewers? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

An Alternative to Fine Dining

While Asia Tatler Dining is an obvious advocate of the whole glamour and luxury of haute cuisine, even we have to admit that most people are not going to sit down to three-hour meals each and every single day for lunch and dinner. So, in order to make the guide more relevant to our everyday lives, we have included two new sections. The first is our cafes section, in which we mean dining venues that offer all-day dining. This year, we included 16 cafes from Hong Kong and eight in Macau. Find out which cafes truly offer the best Hainan chicken rice (the competition was pretty tight there) and which coffee shop can lay claim to Hong Kong's best burger.

Another alternative we offer to the fine dining experience is included in our Top 10 Express Dining section. It was certainly difficult to narrow down just 10, considering the proliferation of excellent cha chaan tengs and dai pai dongs we are so lucky to have here in Hong Kong. But this is still Asia Tatler Dining after all, so in order to be selected as one of our Top 10 Express Dining venues, a restaurant had to offer not only delicious food, but also an ambient setting. Find out which ramen shops, kaiten sushi and delis (hint: one is pictured below) made it into our Top 10.

Environmentally Responsible Initiative

While there are lots of positives to fine dining and haute cuisine, one of the most unsavoury aspects is the fetishisation of endangered species. In its original usage, bluefin tuna or toro was a rare and prized item, intended for only the most special of occasions. Same goes for the use of shark's fin in Cantonese cooking. However, with kaiten sushi places now offering plates of toro and dim sum restaurants offering shark's fin dumplings at dirt-cheap prices, both the bluefin tuna and various species of sharks are seriously starting to suffer population decline and in the case of the tuna, probably extinction within the next five years. Therefore, for this year's Hong Kong and Macau Best Restaurants 2012, we decided to impose a blanket ban on bluefin tuna and sharks' fin. Our reviewers were banned from ordering those items and restaurants were not allowed to list them as their signature dishes. In addition, we also included a Responsible Sushi Guide, listing out which species of fish can be safely ordered, plus which ones should be avoided at all cost.

Recipes from the Best Restaurants

Last week, we revealed that this year's guide includes some recipes from the chefs working at Hong Kong and Macau's best restaurants. Well, here is the full list:

- Aria cocktail from Ozone bar at the Ritz-Carlton

- Old-fashioned cocktail from Lily & Bloom

- Almond tea dessert from Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons

- Sweet and sour cabbage from Golden Flower in the Wynn Macau

- Red mullet and escabeche vegetables from Zuma

- Escargot with radish bouillon from Whisk at The Mira

- Poached pear with sorbet from Grissini at the Grand Hyatt

- Salmon pastrami from FINDS

- Foie gras lollipops from Amber at the Landmark Mandarin

- Chocolate Sensation from L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon (pictured below)

- Lobster croquettes from Fofo by El Willy

- Wagyu beef breast from Petrus at the Island Shangri-la

So what are you waiting for? Pick up your copy of Hong Kong and Macau’s Best Restaurants 2012 at all major bookstores and gourmet grocery stores today.

Or click here to get your copy at a discounted price of HK$99.