Relaxed Hong Kong-based Cantonese restaurant The Chairman won the award for The Best Restaurant in China, sponsored by Cinco Jotas, at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020. 50 Best speaks to its owner Danny Yip about the mantras he has in place that have helped his restaurant win China’s top award
In a fine dining world where glitz and luxury proliferate in many of the restaurants on the 50 Best lists, this year’s winner of The Best Restaurant in China, sponsored by Cinco Jotas, marks a refreshing change of pace.
Set in a sleepy Hong Kong side street in the Gough neighbourhood, Danny Yip’s The Chairman doesn’t rely on gilding, extravagant service, or vast quantities of imported produce to define its identity. It rather focuses on traditional recipes that employ as few ingredients as possible, served in authentic Cantonese style. “I follow the philosophy of French chef Urbain Dubois, who said that ‘the ambition of every cook should be to make something very good with the fewest possible ingredients’,” explains Yip. “In Cantonese cooking we believe that less is more. We aim to bring out and enhance the original flavours – we try to create Chinese soul food rather than eye-candy.”
The Chairman's pared-back interior
Yip’s career trajectory is interesting. He spent 10 years in the Eighties and Nineties in the Australian capital of Canberra running a successful string of six restaurants, before he grew tired of the tight margins and relinquished his shares to his partner. In 1997 he moved to Hong Kong to take advantage of the Noughties tech bubble, forming a trading platform start-up which enjoyed great success. Although after a decade in existence, he sold up and took an about-face back into food.
At the time of The Chairman’s opening in 2009, running a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong was difficult. Yip noted that “the rents were too high and the perceived value of Cantonese food is far lower than, say, a Japanese restaurant. Whatever effort you put into the food, people just viewed it as a cheap meal”.
It forced him to take a fresh look at how a Cantonese-leaning restaurant could operate effectively and create a new identity for the cuisine in the process. He began by leasing farmland in the New Territories just outside Hong Kong which grew organic produce for the restaurant. This has subsequently expanded to a fully-fledged smallholding in Sheung Shui which grows in its contribution to The Chairman year on year.
He makes no bones about the fact that the restaurant will always need to receive ingredients from elsewhere and will never be farm-to-table. Although having its own stock of produce helps inspire new dishes and supports the pared-back ethos that underpins his menu and the homegrown ideology that has contributed to its win this year.
Coming around again
It would appear that Yip enjoys operating in decade-long cycles. This year sees The Chairman celebrate 10 years’ service – no mean feat for a restaurant scene as transient as Hong Kong. To what does Yip attribute its success? “To start, we don’t follow any recipes,” he says. “Chinese food is generally very recipe-orientated, but we meticulously create our own. Each dish at our restaurant is 100% Chinese, both in ingredients and cooking style, but we are very different from other Chinese restaurants. I believe that we don’t just offer tasty food, but a whole new dining experience.”
And to best enjoy this new dining experience, what does Yip recommend that diners order? “Steamed fresh flowery crab with aged ShaoXing wine, fragrant chicken oil and flat rice noodles, every time,” he says. “It’s the perfect example of ‘less is more’ and shows the freshness that we always strive for. For example, we are there waiting for the fishing boats when they return from the South China Sea at 5am to make our selection of the crab. Each batch of crab is different in taste, so we adjust the wine, chicken fat and egg mix every day to make sure the balance is right.
The Chairman's signature steamed fresh flowery crab with aged ShaoXing wine and flat rice noodles
“When we opened The Chairman 10 years ago, we didn’t expect anything,” Yip continues. “Our goal was to create the Chinese food we like, be innovative, use forgotten ingredients from China and to have happy diners. In 10 years’ time we hope The Chairman can be as simple as we were in the beginning and stay true to ourselves.”
A straight-forward restaurant that operates with a BYOB policy from a no-frills location which serves nothing but delicious Cantonese food: The Chairman is a worthy winner of The Best Restaurant in China, sponsored by Cinco Jotas.
Browse the full list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2020 on the website and discover all the individual awards recognising the work of chefs and restaurants in the region. Follow 50 Best on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for the latest news and initiatives in support of the global restaurant industry.
