Yes, it’s that time of the year when we put our opinions aside (for once) and pass the pen over to you—our much loved readers—to decide what’s hot and awesome in the city. For two months we watched as you (and you, and you) voted for the individuals, venues, products and services that you think stand out. Now, at long last, the results are in.

Click the following links to find out who the winners are:

Nightlife
Dining
Shopping
Arts & Entertainment
Living
Travel
Tech

Full winner list

1. TBA, Sretsis

2. TBA, Senada Theory

3. B4,995, Greyhound

4. TBA, Issue

5. B4,550, Disaya

6. B2,950, Kloset

7. B4,550, Disaya

8. B2,595, Greyhound

9. TBA, Sretsis

10. TBA, Matina Amanita for Sretsis

11. B2,450, Kloset

12. B16,500, Disaya

Essentials

Disaya. Try L/F, Gaysorn, 02-656-1388, www.disaya.com
Greyhound. Try 3/F, Siam Center, 02-251-4917. www.greyhound.co.th
Playhound. Try 3/F, Siam Center, 02-252-3861. www.greyhound.co.th
Kloset. Try 1/F, Siam Paragon, 02-610-7907, www.klosetdesign.com
Issue. Try Siam Square Soi 3,
02-658-4416, www.issue.co.th
Senada Theory. Try 3/F, Siam Center, 02-252-2757, www.senadatheory.com
Sretsis. Try 1/F, Siam Paragon, 02-610-7881, www.sretsis.com

As more new condos come furnished with kitchens or at least stoves of some sort, we hope its inspiring more of you to try a spot of cooking. For an extra push, though, go one beyond the usual, boring pantry standards with these eight upgrades to get you excited.

1. Preserved Goods

Standard: Even the most amateur pantries should have the usual can of coconut milk, maybe a couple of cans of tuna and a tin of plum tomatoes.
Upgrade: You won’t even know what you’re missing until you stock some higher-end preserved goods like capers by Fragata (B89 from Tops), which make a nice addition to many pasta sauces, like a simple marinara you can make with that tin of plum tomatoes, and pickled gherkins by My Garden (B65 at Tops), which fancify that sandwich you’re making.

Seasoning sauces

Standard: In Thai cooking, a bottle of fish sauce and light soy sauce are irreplaceable for everything from eggs and stir-fries to soups and curries.
Upgrade: Ask any auntie, and she’ll rattle off a long list of sauces she uses to get her food tasting just so. So, along with nam pla and see yoo khao, invest in bottles of dark soy sauce (B40 from Tops), which lends a slightly sweet flavor (not to mention color), Golden Mountain seasoning sauce (B16 from Tops) and a jar of prik pao (B29.50 from Tops) for a more complete collection of seasoning options.

2. Pasta

Standard: Boxes of dried pasta make for a quick meal. Or perhaps you’re from the snobby fresh pasta camp and prefer multicolored fettucine or ravioli.
Upgrade: Even in Italy, there’s an occasion for dried pasta from a box and fresh pasta. It depends on the sauce. Factory-made pasta (B32-69 at Gourmet Market) is smoother—and doesn’t have the many microscopic holes it would if it was rolled on, say, a wooden table—and doesn’t soak up sauces as much as San Remo’s egg fettucine (B179 from Tops). It is, however, hardier and does well with chunky sauces and those that involve a lot of stirring.

3. Condiments

Standard: Convenient squirty bottles of condiments like ketchup and yellow mustard are standard for any kitchen, whether or not you cook and can sit in the fridge door for a year, even after they’ve been opened.
Upgrade: Your kitchen will feel way more competent and chic with condiments like Waitrose’s hot horseradish sauce (B109 from Tops), which has similar, nose-blasting flavors to wasabi, but with added creaminess, and a jar of Maille whole grain mustard (B169 from Tops), which has the crunch of little mustard seeds, making for a more textured eating experience.

4. Pepper mill

Standard: Sure the McCormack’s black pepper and sea salt mills are really handy and you feel savvy for using freshly ground seasoning. But other than the fact that they’re so damn ugly, there’s also no easy way to refill them—and it says so in fine print on the bottle. Whatever points you may have earned in the kitchen, you’ll lose with the environment.
Upgrade: Get a pair of simple salt and pepper mills (B425 each from Central). They’re refillable, and a heck of a lot more elegant.

5. Cereals

Standard: Cereals are a long-lasting, quick breakfast option. But the cheap ones are full of all of sugar and chemicals and the expensive ones are, well, expensive. And besides, cereals are too much a throwback to when you were a kid.
Upgrade: Grownups have oatmeal, and not that silly Quaker instant stuff either. Get yourself a bag of Longman’s rolled oats (B125 from Gourmet Market). They’ll still cook in the microwave, with water or milk, and best of all, you can spice them up with anything you like from slices of apples to raisins to nuts. Your options are unlimited.

6. Cooking oils

Standard: As a hip urbanite, perhaps you’ve come around to the idea that olive oil is better for your heart, and that extra virgin olive oil is best of all.
Upgrade: But that’s only half the story. Extra virgin olive oil (B229 from Tops) may be fancy, but it has a low smoke point, which means you can’t really do serious cooking with it. And the strong flavor and aroma will mess with your Thai cooking. For deep frying, stick to canola oil, or rice bran oil, which is better for you. A liter of King Rice Bran Oil is B119 at Tops.

7. Essentials

Central Silom 191 Silom Rd., 02-233-6900. BTS Sala Daeng
Tops Try the one at Marketplace, Thong Lor Soi 4, 02-381-3187
Gourmet Market Try the one at Siam Paragon, Rama 1 Rd., 02-610-9000

BQ Bar
The bar is a favorite among expats and tourists and boasts a metropolitan vibe. So it's no surprise that pub quizzes are a regular feature. Friendly competitions where groups of three or more −from friends to total stranger− come together to test their trivia knowledge and winners stand a chance to win anything from a bottle of wine to a pint.
39 Boat Quay, 6536 9722. Quiz entry is free.

Brewerkz
Held on Tuesday nights, pub quizzes here add even more punch to the already lively microbrewery. Challenge your knowledge of everything from geography to history, sports and science. What’s more, with half-price pints, this joint is the ideal getaway after a hectic work day.
#01-05/06 Riverside Point, 30 Merchant Rd., 6438-7438. Quiz entry is free.

Video: I-S and friends at Brewerkz quiz night

Harry’s Bar
The best thing about pub quizzes is that they’re versatile. Though the rules are similar (just get the answers right), the number of trivia rounds, people on the team and prizes is up to anyone’s fancy. At Harry’s Bar, the pub quizzes can last hours and feature barrels of laughs for the participants. Check with the bar for more info.
28 Boat Quay, 6538 3029. Quiz entry is free.

In 1998, Indonesian sea-cucumber divers discovered the shipwrecked remains of a ninth century Arab dhow in waters north of Belitung Island on the east coast of Sumatra. Unknown to them,they'd stumbled across the most important maritime discovery in history.

The dhow carried more than 60,000 artifacts ranging from exquisite ceramics to rare and extraordinary items of finely-worked gold. Dating back over a thousand years, the find is considered the most important collection of late Tang Dynasty artifacts ever found outside China. “This exhibition will change the way we visualize the contacts between East and West more than a millennium ago,” says director of the Smithsonian’s Freer of Art and Arthur M. Sackler galleries, Julian Raby. “It brings to life the tale of Sinbad sailing to make his fortune in the China trade.”

Among the many dramatic objects on display is an extraordinary tall ewer measuring over a meter in height, with a dragon-head stopper. Beautiful gold and silverware was also found on the Belitung shipwreck, including a gold octagonal cup decorated with figures of Central Asian musicians and a dancer. The cup is the largest and heaviest Chinese example of its kind, upstaging even pieces known to have been given by the Tang imperial family to the Famen Temple in the city of Xi’an.

“The milestone exhibition is a testament to how history and heritage can transcend boundaries and encourage greater cross-cultural understanding,” says chief executive officer of the National Heritage Board, Michael Koh. Singapore is Shipwrecked’s first stop in a world tour expected to conclude in 2015. And what better location to exhibit these rare gems than the new ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. Wander through the 12,000-square feet exhibition space for a glimpse into the ninth century world; for insights about the ship and the crew’s life onboard; to learn about the discovery, recovery and conservation of the cargo; and to inspect close to 450 artifacts salvaged from the shipwreck.

It's an exhibition that tells a story strongly linked to that of our own—the blossoming of a city from a fishing village into a modern thriving metropolis due to its strategic location in the global trade network. And it's well worth seeing.

Embark on a voyage into the Shipwrecked: Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds exhibition through Jul 31. ArtScience Museum, Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Ave., 6688-8868. $10-30.

The buzz: Vintage furniture and homemade bagels? Former neighbors Hwee Min and Meg seem to have got the hybrid café concept down pat.

The vibe: The minute you step into this one, you know that it’s not your run-of-the-mill furniture store. The atmosphere is refreshingly laidback and the owners have granted a touch of whimsy to the place with chairs propped on the walls, low lighting and raw cement flooring.

The goods: No doubt, the main stars are the 50s-style dining chairs ($180-590), as well as stools upholstered in colorful, quirky fabric. Study tables, short cabinets and marvelous-looking shelves offer a pleasant blast from the past. The café’s sinful treats like strawberries and whipped cream ($8.80-9.80) and bagels ($5.50) present a separate indulgent experience altogether.

Why you’ll be back: If pre-loved items intrigue you, you’ll want to spend some time here. Best to come on the weekends because we all know how congested (human) traffic can get at Tanjong Pagar during office hours.

124 Tanjong Pagar Rd., 6222-3510. Open Tues-Thu 11am-7pm, Fri 11am-8pm, Sat 12pm-8pm, Sun 12pm-5pm.

Run350 (Apr 17, Singapore)
Thankfully, this isn’t the ultra-endurance event it sounds like. Rather, it’s a 10k run that promotes the notion of reducing the global carbon footprint to a more sustainable 350 parts per million, with a portion of the proceeds also going to the Garden City Fund’s Plant-A-Tree program. You’re quite literally running for the future of mankind. No pressure, though. Register for $25-35 at www.run350.com by Mar 20.

Borneo International Marathon (May 1, Malaysia)
Runaway to one of the region’s top holiday destinations, Kota Kinabalu. The scenic town makes the perfect backdrop for a half or full marathon and this world renowned race slots in between the famed Penang and Singapore Marathons to keep all you runners in top racing condition. Register for MYR15-110 (S$6-46) at www.borneomarathon.com by Apr 23.

The Great Wall Marathon (May 21, China)
Widely regarded as one of the world’s toughest regular marathons, this is your chance to put your training to the test by attempting to overcome the 5164 steps of the Great Wall. Plus points: The surrounding countryside is breathtakingly scenic. Negatives: You could run up and down Bukit Timah for weeks and still not be ready. For information on race & international tour packages, log on to www.great-wall-marathon.com. (Filling up fast)

Sundown Marathon 2011 (May 28, Singapore)
All of you that grumble about running in the heat of the day here just ran out of excuses. With 10k, half- and full marathon options (the latter doesn’t even start until 10pm), it’s also a great opportunity to see the city in a different light. What with after-dark running and an F1 night race, perhaps it’s time we forget about daylight hours altogether and embrace being nocturnal. Register for $55-85 at www.sundownmarathon.com by Apr 21. (Filling up fast)

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2011 (June 26, Malaysia)
The Big Daddy of Malaysian races. As with other Standard Chartered marathons you can be assured of a professionally run event; though previous participants have complained of having to run alongside traffic, and bemoaned the absence of spectators. Still, it’s a great warm up for the Singapore event later in the year. Register for $35-60 at www.kl-marathon.com by May 31.

Gobi March (June 26, China)
The RacingThePlanet series consists of rough country footraces at some of the most remote and exotic locations in the world. The Gobi March is one of the world’s top 10 endurance events; and at 250km, spread over seven days it’s no wonder. You’ll need to carry your own equipment and food, and be prepared for tough conditions. Still, if 21 year old Chue Zheng Yang (this year’s youngest compeititor, and a Singaporean no less) is willing to sign up, so can you. Register for US$3,300 (S$4,200) at www.4deserts.com.

Grassland Extreme Marathon (July 2, Mongolia)
Runners of all ages and levels of fitness are welcome to participate in the scenic 10km, 21km and 42km races across the sweeping Mongolian hills surrounding the city of Xiwuqi. While you’re there for the race, don’t miss the chance to absorb the traditional local culture. Stay overnight in one of their yurts, go horse riding and wrestling as well as visit famous landmarks such as the Genghis Khan Imperial City. Register for 150-300RMB (S$29-59) at www.nordicways.com by June 24.

Fuji Mountain Race (July 22, Japan)
One for the super fit, or mentally unbalanced. Scaling one of the most beautiful snow-capped peaks in the world, Mount Fuji, is certainly a nice idea; but running the 21km to the summit takes a special sort of person. Temperatures will also be below freezing. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Register for the Summit or 5th Station Race for ¥8,000-10,000 (S124-155) at www.fujimountainrace.jp by Mar 28.

Conclude a summery outfit with a dainty straw hat from JQ The Clothing Store (G/F 43 Haji Lane, 6297-9279) that serves to complement rather than distract. Remove the scarf if you favor a less lady-like look. $25

Fedoras are ubiquitous these days but this unisex one from Egg3 (#01-10/11/12, 33 Erskine Rd., 6536-6977) stands out with its beautiful dark camel-brown furry texture. $79

This charming pink wool vintage hat is bound to be a topic among your friends. Quirkiness style points upped by five. $35.90 from Ohm Mani (29A Haji Lane, 9723-7359.)

On closer look, you notice the subtle lacy floral designs on this one from Skyroom (84 Haji Lane, 6392-4533.) Its polka dot sash brings a splash of color to this off-white fedora. $35