| Michelin Rolls into Hong Kong |
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| Food | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monday, 08 December 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Of course, there was no complaint from people like Chan Yan-tak, head chef of Lung King Heen, whose restaurant in the Four Seasons hotel was the only one to be garnished with three Michelin stars. Other starred restaurants, such as the Hong Kong offshoots of Petrus and L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon will be familiar to Londoners. But with a rich culinary tradition of its own, would the Michelin guide give proper consideration to Cantonese and other regional Chinese food? It has emerged that only two of the twenty food critics were of Chinese (one each from the SAR and the mainland) - "to help us understand the cuisine" admits the Guide's director, Jean-Luc Naret. Given the number of Chinese restaurants in the city, and that the average age of the critics is over 40, this inevitably implies that the large majority of Chinese restaurants were reviewed by those with European palates, with a somewhat recent exposure to true Chinese cuisine. The proof is in the pudding, and sure enough the Michelin guides clearly state that they are rating only “what is on the plate”, with a separate indication for comfort and service. While this should have opened the guide to the burgeoning number of “private kitchens” and legendary dai pai dongs, whose basic settings are often more than made up for the quality of the food on offer, no such establishments are listed. Therefore the restaurants listed in the guide tend to be the glitzier and more upmarket choices Hong Kong has to offer. This is to the extent that Sevva, a recently opened bar and restaurant where local celebs go to see and be seen, seems to merit its entry purely on its reputation, with the guide itself admitting that the “only average element here is the simple, rather unsurprising international cuisine”. Personally, I would have preferred listings for places like Kau Kee in Sheung Wan (for beef brisket noodles) and Tung Po in a North Point wet market (excellent crispy chicken and seafood), where everything is average but the food. So how does the guide fare in its second foray into Asian cuisine (the Tokyo guide launched in 2007)? Unfortunately it seems that, like many Western tourists in Hong Kong, the guide has fallen into the trap of giving the higher ratings to those Chinese restaurants best known to tourists. For example, Yung Kee in Central is a Hong Kong institution with a large menu, mainly to list each and every award they have won over the last few decades. The food is decent, but hardly deserving of the Michelin star it received. The Luk Yu Tea House, another long standing restaurant which appears in many tourist guidebooks, provides an authentic environment in which to eat dim sum, but the food is simply average, not “excellent” as stated in the review. At the upper end of the scale, there seems to be a preference towards contemporary, and some would say westernised, Chinese cuisine. Eating last night at Fook Lam Moon, one of the best places for authentic traditional Cantonese dining in the city, and awarded one star, our waiter believed that the extra two stars awarded to Lung King Heen represented the contemporary nature of the food, rather than its execution. In conclusion, the guide is not a bad choice for a visitor to Hong Kong, and those who are looking to explore Hong Kong’s impressive international cuisine. The guide is easy to use with an alphabetical index of restaurants with photos and succinct descriptions, and indices to find restaurants by cuisine and location. However, although it is translated into Chinese, locals looking for the best Chinese food Hong Kong has to offer may be disappointed. The 2009 Michelin Guide to Hong Kong and Macao is available now and costs about HK$160. Three stars:
Two stars:
One star:
Luke Jackson How would you rate these restaurants? Would you agree with the guide? Let us know your views here.
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Perhaps it was always going to cause a stir. The launch of Europe’s most authoritative dining guide in a city whose residents are some of the most opinionated foodies was bound to create controversy. Sure enough, acres of newsprint in the city were duly filled with commentary and outcries, no doubt prompting many readers to shell out HK$160 to see for themselves what the fuss is all about.
