HK restaurant slips down list of world's best as old favorite closes

Hong Kong's famed Cantonese restaurant The Chairman ranks No 24 in the "World's 50 Best Restaurants for 2022" hosted by British magazine Restaurant, down from last year's No 10.

The Chairman in Central was the only Hong Kong restaurant on the list, making it three years in a row since it ranked 41st in 2019.

The ranking was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The restaurant, at 18 Kau U Fong ranked 10th last year but dropped to 24th this year.

Denmark's Geranium is the world's best restaurant, followed by Peru's restaurant Central and Spain's Disfrutar.

Rankings were based on voting results of 1,080 experts in the catering sector, including chefs, food writers and restaurant owners.

The award ceremony this year was held in London on Monday, which is the first time guests have been allowed to attend a live event since the Covid-19 pandemic began in late 2019,

It is understood The Chairman is fully booked until the end of September and will temporarily close for renovation soon after.

The restaurant is famous for its Cantonese cuisine, including steamed fresh flowery crab with aged ShaoXing wine, fragrant chicken oil and flat rice noodles.

In the list of restaurants ranked 51 to 100, two other Hong Kong diners were included. French-and-Italian restaurant Neighborhood in Central ranked 76 and Chinese restaurant Wing in Sheung Wan ranked 100.

The Chairman topped Asia's 50 Best Restaurants last year, making it the first Hong Kong eatery to be recognized as Asia's best.

However, it dropped to fifth in the Asia ranking this year with the top four places given to two restaurants in Japan and two in Thailand.

Only six Hong Kong eateries, including The Chairman, made it to Asia's 50 Best Restaurants list this year, down from last year's 11.

The other five were Neighborhood at nine, Caprice in the Four Seasons Hotel at 24, Mono in Central at 32, Wing at 34 and 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana in Central at 48.

Meanwhile, the 72-year-old Mido Cafe in Yau Ma Tei has closed, saying goodbye to customers through a notice on its gate last week.

The cha chaan teng on Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei was established in 1950. Its traditional decoration, including wooden booths and floor and wall tiles, attracted movies and TV shows to film there, including The World of Suzie Wong and Days of Being Wild.

It was closed in March for two months due to the fifth wave of pandemic and was reopened in May.

But netizens found that the cha chaan teng shuttered last week, with a notice in Chinese, English, French, Italian, Japanese and Spanish.

"The Mido Cafe has operated for 72 years, so now let the cafe relax and have some rest at this moment," the restaurant said.

But it also said it may see customers again someday in the future.

Many residents visited the cafe yesterday for the last time.

One of them, Chan, said he began eating in the restaurant when he was in secondary school and he was sorry to see its closure.

Although there was a sharp rise in food prices in the restaurant over the past 20 years, he would still dine there from time to time, Chan said, adding he understands the restaurant needed money to maintain operations.