The Chairman

Verdict

Book The Chairman if you want the strongest argument for contemporary Cantonese cooking in Hong Kong right now. Ranked #2 in Asia's 50 Best (2025), #26 globally in the World's 50 Best (2024), and holding a Michelin star, this is as credentialed as the city's restaurant scene gets. At $$ pricing, it also represents serious value against the broader field of award-winning Hong Kong dining. The catch: getting a table is close to near-impossible without planning weeks, often months, ahead.

The Restaurant

The Chairman sits on the 3rd floor of The Wellington in Central, having relocated from its previous Central address in 2022. The new room is larger and more considered than its predecessor, with lush plants, low-lit lamps, and an eclectic art selection that reflects owner Danny Yip's interests in art and literature. It doesn't feel like a restaurant chasing awards. The room is relaxed, the staff are in suits but genuinely welcoming, and the entire operation is structured around the food rather than the theatre of fine dining.

That food is the work of Yip and long-time head chef Kwok Keung Tung, who approach recipe development as a research process: months of ingredient sourcing, cooking method experimentation, and historical reference before anything lands on the menu. Ingredients skew organic and come from small suppliers and local fishermen. The result is a menu that reads like classic Cantonese but tastes like nothing you've had before. House signatures confirmed in the record include steamed flowery crab with Huadiao wine, Sichuan peppercorn stewed oxtail, pickled rose buds with crispy raw lotus roots, lemon-spiked seared local scallops with rice noodles and spring onions, and stir-fried seasonal vegetables with XO sauce. These dishes don't perform innovation — they achieve it through restraint and ingredient integrity.

The Chairman's reputation is built on a fiercely loyal local clientele, now joined by international visitors drawn by the global rankings. That combination is part of why the room feels grounded rather than touristic, which is increasingly rare for any restaurant operating at this level. For context on where this sits in the broader Chinese fine dining conversation, it compares favourably with venues like The Eight in Macau, Lei Garden in Singapore, and Shang Palace in Paris — all respected Cantonese addresses , though The Chairman's approach to recipe innovation sets it apart from the more traditional positioning of those venues.

Lunch vs. Dinner

Both services run the same hours structure (12 PM–3 PM and 6 PM–11 PM, seven days a week), but the practical dynamics differ. Lunch is marginally easier to book and tends to draw more locals on weekday sittings. For food explorers who want the full experience without the late-evening premium energy, a weekday lunch is the move. Dinner is when the room fills with occasion diners and international visitors, and the atmosphere shifts accordingly. The menu is delivered via set format with the specific menu emailed to diners a few days ahead , this applies at both services, so there's no à la carte option to fall back on regardless of when you go. If the set menu format doesn't suit your group, consider Neighborhood or Sun Tung Lok for more ordering flexibility.

Booking

Online only, on designated booking days. Tables are not available through standard third-party platforms in the usual way , check the restaurant's own site for the current booking window. This is not a walk-in venue at any meaningful level. For comparable difficulty in the Hong Kong market, Amber and Caprice are easier to secure. If you're planning a Hong Kong trip, The Chairman should be the first restaurant you try to book, not the last.

Quick reference: Central, Hong Kong | Cantonese | $$ | Mon–Sun 12–3 PM, 6–11 PM | Book online, near-impossible availability, plan months ahead.

How It Compares