Michelin guide reviewers have been spotted visiting restaurants and hotels in Hong Kong, sparking rumours that it could be the second Asian city to get a Michelin guide.
Tokyo last year became the world-leader in terms of Michelin accolades with nearly twice as many starred restaurants as Paris and more than triple than in London.
Reviewers for Michelin have now been seen at some of Hong Kong’s most established restaurants and hotels including the five-star InterContinental Grand Stanford.
The hotel’s communications director Tina Di Cicco told news service APF that she received a phone call from two people claiming they were from Michelin and would like to see our facilities.
She added that a few days later a European man dined at the hotel’s Italian restaurant showing a Michelin identity card when paying the bill.
“We are really excited,” Di Cicco said. “To have a Michelin guide for Hong Kong will help us measure the quality of our culinary experience and keep us up to the standard with international gourmet cities such as New York and Paris.”
Michelin’s Hong Kong is expected to launch this year or early next, but Hong Kong celebrity food critic Hugo Leung said he was concerned about having foreign palates judge Chinese cuisine.
“It's good to have a guide like that, but we can't take it too seriously,” he told the South China Morning Post. “Chinese cuisines have so many varieties and even a guide like Michelin can't represent everybody's tastes in food.”
Michelin was not available for comment.
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By Kerstin Kühn
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