Chinese Chef Awarded Three Michelin Stars
Chan Yan Tak, one of whose dim sum dishes was once described as "like eating clouds," has become the first Chinese chef to be awarded three Michelin stars. Despite the celestial nature of his cooking, we're told that the executive chef of Hong Kong's Lung King Heen is a very modest man. With no formal culinary training, he started working in kitchens at the age of 13.
Mr. Chan is in good company. Only one other restaurant in the Hong Kong-Macau Michelin Guide unveiled today was awarded the maximum three stars; it's run by a chef you may have heard of—Joël Robuchon.
Take a peek at Lung King Heen's menu. Of particular note is the Children's Menu, which is split into sections for the "8 and under" and "9 to 12" crowds. What is more surprising—that a three-starred restaurant would have a children's menu at all or that a grown-up should actually be tempted to order from it?
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9 Comments:
I must say, Michele, I really dislike posts like this. Because they are so bringing such attractive news... about a place that is so far away!
But seriously, thanks for posting. The menus are mind-blowing.
TikiPundit at 8:52PM on 12/02/08
It is appalling that he is being rewarded for having a menu with multiple preparation of shark's fin.
scottyp at 9:25PM on 12/02/08
lol @scotty
foodinmouth at 10:10AM on 12/03/08
scotty,
that was my first though too on reading his menu. I know that a lot of the meat we consume involves the suffering of animals, but shark's fin crosses a line of cruelty for me, as it should any person with a functional conscience.
for those who don't know: Fishermen catch sharks, haul them on board the boat, slice off their fins with machetes, and throw the wounded but still-alive sharks back into the ocean where they sink and drown or are eaten by other animals because they are unable to swim. to be blunt, it's pretty f*cked up.
mr guy at 10:45AM on 12/03/08
I grew up in Hong Kong, so I know that a good Cantonese restaurant that doesn't serve shark's fin is an anomaly. Assuming it was the job of the Michelin Guide to police sustainability or cruelty to animals, which it isn't, the Hong Kong-Macau Guide would be a very thin volume indeed!
Michele Humes at 10:54AM on 12/03/08
Personally, I find it deliciously ironic that the de-finned sharks are left to be "eaten by other animals." A taste of their own medicine!
Luther at 6:45PM on 12/03/08
Then you Ms. Humes must know that shark's fin has no taste. So why the inclusion in the Michelin guide of a place that popularizes the stuff? Michelin caters to the elite and seldom is based on the quality of food alone. Michelin is fatally flawed and this is just another example of why.
scottyp at 7:03PM on 12/03/08
scottyp: Michelin is flawed, but I think for greater reasons than your shark fin-phobia. //That// is trivial in any larger order of things.
It's the larger concept of the ratings scheme that is outdated, and the hordes who follow its maxims are kinda out of touch too. It's a business of ratings, and business trumps opinion, every time, in the culinary world we have both constructed and allowed to be constructed.
Get off your high horse shark nd put some of your obvious sensitivities and intelligence toward opining on some other aspect of the chef's success and menu.
One-trick ponies critics are so pre-Obama election.
TikiPundit at 8:26PM on 12/07/08
Ugh. So much for the HTML that worked in preview mode. Apologies.
TikiPundit at 9:53PM on 12/07/08