HONG KONG, Nov. 27 – Along with luxury fine dining establishments, the sophomore edition of the Michelin Guide to Hong Kong and Macau 2010 also recognized humble noodle stalls, congee shops and roast goose eateries making it one of the most affordable places in the world to get a Michelin-starred meal.
The respected hotel and restaurant guide tasked a Hong Kong-based team comprising of two Chinese, one French and 1 British to rate 245 restaurants in Hong Kong and 53 in Macau. In Hong Kong, nine establishments were given two-star awards, 39 with one-star gongs.
Top three star marks went to French restaurant Caprice and Cantonese eatery Lung King Heen in Hong Kong and Chef Joel Robuchon’s Galera a Robuchon in Macau. Local restaurants like Hong Kong’s seafood restaurant Loaf On located in the former fishing village of Sai Kung and family-run Hung’s Delicacies were awarded one star.
Allan Zeman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Holdings told Bloomberg that giving top honors to hotel restaurants showed the “mentality of the business in Hong Kong, where named chefs are not found in stand-alone street restaurants, like in North America or Europe.”
He says: “Reviewers from overseas tend to gravitate first to restaurants in the hotels they stay in. If you really get into the local culture you will find that Hong Kong has the best Chinese restaurants in the world.”
While the newest guide included affordable choices majority of the starred restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau were still found in hotels or shopping centers. In Macau, Lei Garden in the Venetian Macau Resort-Hotel, and Wing Lei in Wynn Macau casino and hotel were newly added to Michelin list.
The Michelin Guide has three Asian editions including the the Osaka/Kyoto guide and the Tokyo guide. According to the guide, one star means a very good restaurant, two stars means excellent cuisine worthy of a detour and the highest rating, three star means exceptional cuisine deserving of a special journey.
