Well, that’s it.

The Time Out Restaurant Awards are over for another year.

And we have a new winner. A very deserving one at that.

The glittering awards ceremony at the Monarch Hotel finished just over half an hour ago and a new champion of the Dubai restaurant circuit has emerged.

Congratulations to are in order for The Noble House.

Not only did the new Raffles Hotel restaurant walk away with the Best Newcomer and the Best Chinese restaurant awards, it also did the unthinkable and knocked Gordon Ramsay’s Verre from the top spot.

It is now, officially, Time Out Dubai’s Restaurant Of The Year for 2008.

Not bad for a restaurant that has been running for less than 100 days.

“We’ve obviously had a fantastic night,” a delighted Christoph Ganster, Executive Assistant Manager/Food and Beverage, told Time Out just seconds after picking up the third award.

“Expectation was high because we know the team has put in a lot of work. This restaurant officially opened on the 24th of December last year and we’ve been exceeding expectations since then. We were pleased to pick up the award for Chinese restaurant. And then Newcomer. And then…wow…it has been a fantastic night for us”.

Nobody was more pleased than The Noble House’s head chef, Peter Lau.

Asked by Time Out how it feels to have toppled Gordon Ramsay from his position as the man behind the meals at Dubai’s best restaurant Peter was polite. Far too polite, in fact.

“I think I have cooked for Gordon Ramsay twice in restaurants. He liked the food a lot, so I was very pleased,” said the city’s newest superstar chef.

Comment of the night, however, goes to the multi-award winning Restaurant Manager, Christopher Won from The Noble House.

“Look, it says on my business card Christopher Won. And guess what? Christopher won Best Restaurant with Time Out!”

Brilliant. Congratulations again to Christopher, Peter and all their team. Keep up the good work. Just remember - winning the title is difficult, but retaining it, as Verre proved in the first two Time Out Dubai Restaurant Awards, is the hard part.

The after party for the event is sure to go on late into the night. Winners, highly commended managers and chefs, the losing restaurants and even Time Out’s team will be pushing the Bose sponsored sound system to its limits late into the night.

Keep checking back to the blog throughout the next few days for more comments from winning (and losing) restaurants, pictures of the prestigious black tie event, gossip from the night and maybe even an exclusive story or two and a few recipes from winning chefs.

More on these stories in the next few days:

* Who gave the biggest cheer on the night? And the strangest?

* What hotel’s manager claimed the emotions of Time Out Awards night were amongst his highlights of last year?

* What was the final sum for the amount of money raised for the Dhaka Project charity on the evening?

* Which Dubai radio celebrity turned up late and was was forced to pinch bread rolls from neighbouring tables?

Let Time Out know your thoughts as well. Did we get it right?

Look at our special awards section to see the complete list of winners in every category.

Have you been to The Noble House yet? Did we miss out your favourite restaurant? Think you know a better brunch?

Leave a comment and join the debate.