Last night the 21 winners of the first annual What's On Restaurant awards were announced at a glittering gala dinner on the lawns of Dubai Internet City. More than 33,000 voted for the awards and their votes were collected by independent arbitrators Jacobson's Direct.

Akram Rassoul managing director of Jacobson's Direct said: "Only those paying the bill were allowed to vote for the restaurant in which they were eating.

"We simply monitored invoices against voting slips to ensure their authenticity."

Ian Fairservice Managing Partner of Motivate Publishing, which owns the magazine What's On, said: "The level of interest from hotels and restaurants has been overwhelming." He said the voters were primarily from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, allowing diners to express their opinion.

The various restaurants nominated for the voting process were selected by What's On, with over 250 outlets from Abu Dhabi and Dubai emirates making the lists.

There were 10 main categories, along with a Chef's Choice and General Manager's Recommend-ation.

Spokeswoman for the event explained: "Out of the 10 categories, seven had restaurants from both the emirates and three were speciality sections which were filled in by outlets from Dubai.

"In case of Chef's Choice and General Manager's Recommendation, chefs and general managers nominated their favourite restaurants outside their hotel chains."

The categories and the winners in each of them were: Arabian - Mawal from the Hilton Abu Dhabi and Mayes El Reem from J.W.Marriott hotel from Dubai; Italian - Peppino from Grand Continental Hotel in Abu Dhabi and Da Vinci's at Airport Hotel in Dubai; Pub Grub - Ally Pally Corner from Al Ain Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi and Irish Village in Dubai; European - Le Beaujolais at Novotel Centre Hotel in Abu Dhabi and Seville's in Dubai; American - Hemingways at Hilton Abu Dhabi and Hard Rock Cafe in Dubai; International - Trader's Vic at Beach Rotana Hotel in Abu Dhabi and Spice Island at the Renaissance Hotel in Dubai; Far Eastern - Chinese Restaurant at Novotel Centre Hotel in Abu Dhabi and Blue Elephant at Al Bustan Rotana in Dubai.

The Indian category winner was Ashiana from Sheraton Dubai, followed by Tokyo@thetowers from Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai in the Japanese category, along with The Fishmarket from Inter-Continental Hotel Dubai in the Seafood division.

Chef's Choice from Abu Dhabi was Come Prima at the Beach Rotana Hotel in the capital and Cucina at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Dubai.

The General Manager's Recommendation was Vasco's at Hilton Abu Dhabi and BiCE at the Hilton Jumeirah Dubai.