A Cantonese restaurant tucked above Wellington Street in Central has just taken back the title of Asia’s best restaurant. The Chairman, led by chef Danny Yip, was named No. 1 on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026 at a ceremony held March 25 at Hong Kong’s Kerry Hotel — its second time topping the list after first winning in 2021.
A Second Reign at the Top
The Chairman’s return to No. 1 came at a ceremony that was itself a first — the Kerry Hotel hosted Asia’s 50 Best for the first time this year. Wing, also in Hong Kong, placed second, with Bangkok’s Gaggan at No. 3, Mingles at No. 4, and Nusara rounding out the top five. Bangkok ended up the single best-represented city on the list with nine entries, while Ru Yuan in Hangzhou took the Highest New Entry Award and Odette’s Lesley Liu, in Singapore, won Asia’s Best Sommelier. Against that field, The Chairman’s win is notable less for novelty and more for consistency — it’s now won the region’s top title twice in five years, something no other restaurant on the current list has matched.
The Dishes Behind the Title
Chef Danny Yip built The Chairman’s reputation on sourcing over spectacle, and the menu still runs on a short list of dishes that rarely change. The signature is steamed flowery crab with aged Huadiao (Shaoxing) wine, finished with fragrant chicken oil and served over flat rice noodles that soak up the broth — a dish Michelin’s own inspectors still single out by name. Alongside it, order the camphor-wood-smoked black-foot goose, slow-smoked rather than roasted, which gives it a deeper, almost tea-like edge most Cantonese roast meats don’t have. For something less common on tourist itineraries, the steamed grouper fish head with fermented chili is the dish regulars order on repeat visits — delicate where the goose is smoky, and a good contrast if the crab and goose are already on the table.
None of these dishes depend on rare or flown-in ingredients; the restaurant’s standing comes from technique and consistency rather than novelty, which is part of why it’s kept the same core menu through a relocation and five years of rankings churn around it.
Getting a Table
The Chairman moved in 2022 from its original Kau U Fong location to the third floor of The Wellington, 198 Wellington Street, in Central — a short walk from the Hong Kong MTR station. It holds one Michelin star and is open daily for lunch and dinner (phone: +852 2555 2202), but walk-ins aren’t realistic. Michelin’s own guide notes that online booking opens only on specific days, with set menus emailed to confirmed diners a few days ahead of the reservation — book the moment a release window appears rather than waiting, since tables for a newly reconfirmed No. 1 don’t sit open long.
The Bigger Picture
Asia’s 50 Best is a separate ranking from the global World’s 50 Best Restaurants, whose own ceremony lands November 4 in Lima, Peru — meaning Hong Kong’s win is specific to the region, not a claim on a global title. Still, The Chairman’s repeat performance, paired with Wing’s second-place finish, keeps Hong Kong positioned as the clearest rival to Bangkok’s sheer volume of entries on the list. For anyone planning a Hong Kong trip around the win, the move is simple: decide on The Chairman first, then build everything else — Wing, the harbour, the rest of Central — around whichever reservation window actually opens.
