The Chairman

This is one of the most interesting and innovative Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong. They have many dishes that are not served in other places.
For starter, we had stir fried clams with basil. A common dish in Hong Kong, but the sauce was very special and different. It has a some Thai flavour, but yet distinctively non-​Thai. The clams were very good quality and fresh. The soup of the day was fish maw and black chicken soup. It was well executed, as good as any Cantonese-​style soup can get, full of flavour of fresh ingredients. The slowed cooked chickened with shallots and spring onions was excellent. The chicken was very tender and the shallots/​spring onion tasted sweet from caramelisation.
The stewed beef (brisket, tendon & tripe) with fig was an unusual dish. The sauce was creamy and rich. The fig tasted excellent. The beef was tender and flavourful. The stir fried vegetable with dry bean curd was good, but no surprise there. Fried rice with prawns trio (fresh prawns, sun-​dried prawns & shrimp paste) was another excellent and innovative dish. The combination worked well, creating a rich texture of flavours.
Service was attentive and thoughtful.

This was probably my favorite meal during my time in Hong Kong! it’s located at the end of a dark cul-​de-​sac area but don’t let that scare you from trying this place haha. once inside the restaurant is pretty bright and clean. there is a flight of steep stairs so be careful of that. we showed up right at opening at 6pm without a reservation and luckily they were able to accommodate our party of 2. we just needed to be out of our table in 2 hours — so no problem at all! we were told that you do need reservations at least 2 weeks in advance so we felt even luckier that they would seat us! although during our time at dinner, we were pretty much the only table dining in the whole restaurant so shrugs haha.
as for the food, we went with the Dinner for Two set menu which was about $ 80 USD per person so definitely not a cheap meal by any means but we thought this would be a great way to try a lot of different menu items. i think there were about 5 or 6 courses so plenty of food for 2 people. i loved everything that we had — deep fried crab/​meat dumplings, lamb belly, prawns with the head, spare ribs, chinese veggies, and shrimp fried rice… it was all so good! i am kinda bummed i didnt know about their signature crab dish ahead of time to pay the supplement charge for it… but i guess that gives me reason to come back haha. i was impressed with everything here with our meal. the food was outstanding and so was our service. i felt kind of bad that since we were the only ones there that they didnt have much to do haha. plates were cleared, water was re-​filled and dishes were even served out to us. definitely worth a splurge for a nice meal out!

The Chairman was our backup spot and it turns out it should of been our A-​plan. This place is legit. Service is impeccable to the point it seemed like bad form to serve or pour yourself anything.
We ordered the prix fixe for two and they knocked it out of the park. Oddly enough, the only item they wiffed on was the stir fried rice, which was a little dry.
The store front is nondescript and we missed it on the first pass. The interior is very basic. I wouldn’t go for the ambiance, but the food and service was solid.

Quiet, unpretentious restaurant with excellent food and service. I could eat about six orders of the wild clams sautéed with chili jam & basil and probably still want more. Same goes for steamed fresh flowery crab with shao xing wine. And where else would I get osmanthus and wolfberry ice cream. What a treat.

Instagram is dangerous. When you see fellow foodies posting pictures of delicious food, you immediately want to pick up the phone and call the restaurants for reservations and IM your friends all at the same time.
Such is the back story for our visit at the Chairman (大班樓), which is known for using fresh and local ingredients. What I appreciate the most though is the fact that they sell no shark’s fin, sea cucumber, bird’s nest on the menu. The restaurant is located in Sheung Wan and hidden in a cul-​de-​sac, it is easy to miss if you are not looking carefully. If you want to try their signature dishes, make sure you tell the host when you are making your reservation. (Don’t make the mistake that we made!)
Even though we did not order their claim of famed Steamed Fresh Flowery Crab with Aged ShaoXing Wine, Fragrant Chicken Oil & Flat Rice Noodles (雞油花雕蒸大花蟹配陳村粉) (my tongue got tied right there…) and BBQ Chicken Liver with Chinese Bun (古法金錢雞配饅頭) (advance order), we pretty much tried everything else.
I have to say the Braised Spare Ribs with Preserved Plums in Caramelized Black Vinegar (話梅肉桂糖醋排骨) and The Chairman’s Soy Sauce Chicken (十八味豉油雞) are both excellent and I would return again and again just for the spare ribs (Note: I loved anything soaked in vinegar).
Remember to save room for desserts as their Osmanthus & Wolfberry Ice-​cream (桂花杞子雪糕) is to die for. If you are into Almond Milk (生磨杏仁茶), they have a very good one here as well. Slightly on the bitter side but it’s rich and creamy!
Overall, the dishes are very high quality but the portion was small and a bit pricey. The restaurant recently undergone renovations so it looks modern and clean. It could get noisy as the tables are close to each other. Either way, I think it’s worth a visit and I certainly will return for a special occassion :)
P. S. I am saving my final star until I tried their signature dishes!

My office is a few blocks away & we lunch there every now & then, if we can get a table. The food & service is too notch, unobtrusive and laid back. I would describe it is quiet elegance. It’s an anchor in a neighborhood that is changing to more restaurants, galleries & boutiques many of which I’m not crazy about & probably won’t be around for long. This high end plaice is just down the stairs from 九 記 a basic but very popular beef brisket place, which you should also try for some HK contrast.

9. Stir Fired Chinese Vegetables in Ginger Sauce
This is a very family oriented dish. However, I can tell the chef really cares about the customer. When they prepare the veggie, they peeled the skin at the bottom of the vegetable, which made the vegetable crispier. Also, the vegetable was as green as jade!
10. Fried Rice with prawns Trio — Fresh Prawns, Sun-​dried Prawns & Shrimp Paste
This is another famous dish of this place. Shrimp paste tends to make dishes very salty, but this fried rice was not salty at all. Also, this fried rice has a good combination of color. The shrimp is orangish-​red, the vegetable and green onion is green, the egg is yellow. It just like a rainbow colored fired rice!
11. Gogi Ice-​cream, Ginger Ice cream, and Chinese Almond Milk
The dessert is truly fusion style. Gogi and ginger are more towards the Asian ingredients, and ice-​cream is more western. Gogi and ginger ice-​cream is what I can say «when the east meets the west!» Gogi itself is a bit sour, but the sweetness of the ice-​cream can cover the sourness of the gogi — perfect! Ginger ice-​cream reminds me of the Chinese dessert «Ginger milk. «However, ginger milk is always a hot dessert. The chef is so smart that he/​she can change the format of ginger milk and make it a cold dessert! Finally, the Chinese almond milk was served in a tiny coffee cup, which is so different from traditional style that serves from bowl and spoon. Chinese almond milk is known to be good for having smooth skin after you drink it. The thickness of the milk was about right. It was not too thick or watery! I wish I can have another cup or even a bigger cup!!!

Service was impeccable.
Ate at several multi Michelin star restaurants over the last week and Chairman beat them all.

The Chairman! Luckily has nothing to do with the CCP schmucks in charge up in Beijing, nor does it have anything to do with some communist Panda bear in San Francisco that operates out of a truck and selling dbag style pork belly bun sliders (come to think of it, Bao Wow in Wanchai did a way better job than Chairman/​Chairman Bao SF!!!)
The Chairman 大班樓, has won many accolades in recent years, with their most noteworthy accomplishment of a Michelin star (only to have lost it this year). There are a few other factors going against this place… the space is small, so if you don’t reserve a month (weekday) or two months (weekend) in advance, you are pretty much hosed. The restroom is small (one only) and in a semi inconvenient spot in the restaurant. So what do they do to ante up? Easy… service and food quality/​execution.
The philosophy and MO of the restaurant is simple. I dare say this is one of a kind for HK, very locavore in nature. It is this insistence on going out of the way to procure and use quality local and artisan ingredients/​raw materials and cooking skill to create unique dishes that reflect «original flavor, original taste 原汁原味». They also don’t serve shark fin, abalone, fish maw, sea cucumber. It is possible to achieve upper class Cantonese good fine dining without resorting to those ingredients, and The Chairman has achieved that.
Took some dear friends visiting from San Francisco earlier this year, made the reservation a couple months in advance via email. Danny (in charge) is extremely helpful, and Simon the manager helped create our tasting menu with some substitutions and personal requests when I went to the restaurant a week before.
Let’s see what I remember
龍井菊花煙薰乳鴿 (Dragonwell and Chrysanthemum tea smoked squab) — ridiculously awesome. Never knew tea smoke squab could be done like this. And I thought Lung Wah Shatin squab was da shiznit…
chilled marinated tomato and pickled turnip (沙葛) — looks very simple and one can’t help but wonder how they infused the flavor of basil into the tomato. Refreshing!
馬友鹹魚煎肉餅 (salted threadfin pan fried pork patty) — quality salted fish (threadfin 馬友) from Tai O, paired with pork, pan fried and shaped into delicate patties. Intense flavor. Salted fish fans should not miss this rendition.
chilled ox tongue cubes with spices/​herbs and aged black vinegar — a very interesting contrast of flavors with a nice textured cubes of ox tongue (some pieces have a little fat in them, delicious!), rounded off with an almost balsamic vinegar like taste…(likely a local artisan made aged black vinegar)
Double boiled soup of the day — honestly I do not remember what was inside. Pork, melon, 無花果 (dried Chinese fig?) which elevated the sweetness level. Incredible stuff, yet on a different level than Ser Wong Fun’s soups.
And the raison d’etre /​piece de resistance… and apparently if you do not order or have this, you have not really been to the Chairman. 雞油花雕蒸大花蟹配陳村粉.
Steamed medium sized (2+ catty) flower/​blue crab with a sauce made of chicken lard, huadiao liquor sauce (it’s a variant of Shaoxing wine), with a bed of fresh ho fun noodles (a variant called Chan Village noodles, strangely resembles Vietnamese banh cuon!). If you like liquor flavor, this is for you. Hands down the best dish of the evening, intense crab flavor. The quality of the ingredients plus the cooking skill make this one of the finest HK has to offer.
Shrimp three flavors fried rice (shrimp, dried shrimp, dried shrimp block)
三蝦炒飯 (蝦,蝦膏,蝦乾). The flavors of Tai O plus fresh shrimp. Can’t be beat. Shrimp roe sprinkled on top would have made it four flavors! Stellar.
羊肚菌炆腐皮 — this is a wild Chinese mushroom with dried bean curd sheet braised dish. Strictly vegetarian but is spectacular. The beancurd sheet was procured daily from 樹記 in Sham Shui Po (sadly closed down due to family dispute!). Very lucky to have had this.
There was a beef brisket dish that was not bad, but not as noteworthy.
Dessert: 杞子雪糕 /​杏仁茶(Goji berry ice cream, grounded Chinese almond tea). Absolutely stunning. The combination of the two and their textures, were of a nice contrast, light, sweet, and refreshing. Loved the almond tea which didn’t have that slight bitter taste in many other renditions.
Service was very attentive and our server Atra was friendly, helpful, and courteous. After chatting with him, we learned that he served Seiji Yamamoto (of 3 Michelin star Ryugin) on his way to the airport without realizing it. I told him «Dude, that’s Aaron Kwok of the J-​food world!» and joked that he should have taken a selfie with him. He also told us the story of how they lost their Michelin star (his theory), and visits by Pierre Gagnaire, Robuchon, and a few other famous chefs. Fergus Henderson dropped by earlier this summer as well.
Well done, Chairman. We are very impressed.
Until next time!

very balanced dishes with fresh ingredients. modern and easy access for visitors. set menu nice sampling and progression.
opens with Cherry Tomatoes Pickled in Basil Reduction with Lemongrass Pickled Pear — delicate and refreshing.
Slow Cooked Pork Chin served with Lightly Pickled Turnip — nice contrasting flavors and textures, especially with the smoked pork shoulder flavor
complex rich double boiled black chicken soup
Fresh Flowery Crab with Aged ShaoXing Wine & Fragrant Chicken Oil & Flat Rice Noodles — a signature dish
Braised Spare Ribs with Preserved Plums in Caramelized Black Vinegar — crispy with ginger flavor.
gai lan, rice/​congee, ends with goji ice cream plus almond milk.
bookings 2 hrs long.

Wow — this place is amazing! The food is so good here! All the dishes were really well executed and presented nicely!
You simply must try the following dishes:
— Clams with chili jam and basil (sweet and tangy!)
— Chicken (any chicken dish will suffice, it’s super fresh and tender!)
— Signature steamed crab with wine and flat noodles (to die for!)
Note: This place is small, so be sure to make reservations ahead of time! On the weekend, the dinner menu is served at lunch.

Dear Chairman:
This review is a declaration of my love to you. You are just like my lover if he’s a restaurant: Chinese, stylish, with a great sense of humor, knows your way to my stomach and isn’t afraid to reinvent the wheel a little. To me, you are also in the top 5 in terms of looks.
In terms of aesthetics, you are like a small, hipped up version of an old-​school seafood restaurant: from the store signage to your crystal chandeliers, plush velvet seats, hardwood floors with gilded stair rails, and bathrooms tiled in mosaic. It seems that not many got your nostalgic wit but I did. And that feast for my eyes is only the beginning of what became a long term love affair.
On to the food. Yours is a rendition of classic canton favorites using the best ingredients. Granted, portions are small but for such delicate dishes it’s only fair to entice and leave us wanting for more –tantalize me why don’t you. Your Chinese yellow wine steamed crab with egg is to die for… And your dark soy sauce braised pork belly is velvet smooth and beckons me steadily, seductively to have that extra bowl of rice.
But nothing, nothing beats your congee. In most restaurants it would be an afterthought, only offered to those who wanted a lighter alternative than rice, but your congee, your congee quietly takes center stage. Cooked to milky perfection with tofu sheets melted-​in, and ginko nuts that offer fragrant punctuations in the sea of delicate rice broth. I remember once, in feverish delirium, I had considered visiting you, thermos in hand, so I can have bring home a pot of the lovely congee to heal my ailment. That’s just about how good your congee is to me.
My dearest Chairman– please don’t succumb to the rising costs of running a business in Hong Kong and scrimp on your yummy food. I also hope your landlord will never jack your rent so you can concentrate on making Hong Kong fall hard for you (like I did) through your good food. Don’t ever leave the hk food scene.
With love,
Your biggest fan