Hong Kong
On 27 January 2021, the Michelin Guide unveiled its full selection of restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau for 2021. A total of 10 restaurants were crowned with new stars, including a duo of two-star restaurants and 8 new one-star restaurants. All in all, the selection has revealed a total of 69 starred restaurants in Hong Kong and 18 starred restaurants in Macau.
“The 2021 edition is a celebration of the courage and creativity of the restaurant industry and its commitment to serving local communities as well as medical staff. 2020 was a year full of challenges but also opportunities for innovation. Despite the difficult times, the wonderful culinary journeys and the unfailing talent behind every plate proposed to diners in Hong Kong and Macau have amazed our inspectors. This is exactly what we want to celebrate with this brand new edition of the MICHELIN Guide Hong Kong Macau.”
“The decision to release the annual edition of the guide is also testament to the MICHELIN Guide team’s desire to support the local chefs and their teams, encourage readers of the MICHELIN Guide, gourmets and food lovers to discover or rediscover new addresses as well as wonderful well-known establishments, and to bring a new energy to promoting Hong Kong and Macau in their position as benchmark cities in the gastronomic world,” said Gwendal Poullennec, the International Director of MICHELIN Guides.
Entering the two-star ranks for the first time in Hong Kong is TATE Dining Room, led by chef-owner Vicky Lau. Sophisticated decor meets immaculate plating in this fine dining restaurant, which serves an eclectic mix of French and Chinese cuisine presented in the form of ‘Edible Stories’.
L’Envol in the St. Regis Hong Kong is the other newly two-starred venue in this year’s guide. Here, French chef Olivier Elzer prepares meticulous dishes inspired by his heritage, which are served with professionalism and warmth.
With these new additions, Hong Kong now boasts 12 two-Michelin-starred restaurants, while Macau is home to 6 two-starred establishments. All 7 restaurants in Hong Kong and 3 restaurants in Macau have retained their coveted three-star ratings. There are also 7 new 0ne-star restaurants in Hong Kong and one newly promoted to one-star restaurant in Macau.
The complete selection of MICHELIN Guide Hong Kong Macau 2021 can be found here.
Switzerland
Despite the ongoing pandemic, Switzerland’s fine dining scene is blossoming, with this year’s guide taking the number of two-Michelin-starred Swiss restaurants to the greatest number yet. Remarkably, there are now 24 restaurants in the country that have been lauded with two stars. In addition, Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl in Basel, Le Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville in Crissier led by Franck Giovannini, and Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau led by Andreas Caminada have all kept their three stars in the 2021 guide.
“While the industry continues to face and tackle considerable challenges amid the health crisis, our teams have been impressed by the Swiss restaurants’ creativity, expertise and drive to offer excellent fine dining experiences. In both town and country, our inspectors were delighted by the quality of the culinary dishes on offer, paired with a very high level of service. In light of this, we wanted to take this new edition as an opportunity to reaffirm our fondness for the finest Swiss restaurants and encourage gourmets to make their way back to restaurants as soon as they possibly can. In these tough times, it is also encouraging and exhilarating to see new talents emerge who are brimming with energy and ingenuity, in terms of both culinary identity and their commitment to making the dining ecosystem a virtuous one. It was to recognize this that we recently introduced the Green Star”, said Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guides.
The four newly two-starred restaurants come from all over Switzerland. In St Moritz, it was Cà d’Oro located in the Grand Hôtel des Bains Kempinski that was awarded with two stars for the first time. Inspired by the Mediterranean, Executive Chef Matthias Schmidberger creates bold yet refined plates that are perfectly pleasing to the palate.
In Schwyz, it was restaurant Magdalena that nabbed a two-star rating in the 2021 guide. Run by a young, motivated team with Chef Dominik Hartmann at the helm, this trendy establishment serves particularly unique vegetable-based dishes that use fish and meat to enhance the plates, rather than overpower them.
The already gourmet municipality of Vitznau has delivered yet another gastronomic sensation – newly two-starred Restaurant Sens located in Hotel Vitznauerhof. To the breathtaking backdrop of Lake Lucerne, Dutch chef Jeroen Achtien serves dishes packed with flavor. Previously Chef de Cuisine at Jonnie Boer’s three-star restaurant De Librije in Zwolle, it’s no surprise that Achtien brings an abundance of skill and knowledge to the kitchen of Restaurant Sens.
Finally, Widder Restaurant in Zürich was also awarded two stars for the first time this year. Headed by renowned Swiss chef Stefan Heilemann, Widder Restaurant brings exceptional cuisine to the forefront. After the closure of his previous restaurant Ecco Zürich, the chef brought his expertise and his entire team to the new restaurant, and they have certainly risen to the challenge.
The Michelin Guide Switzerland has also seen the addition of 16 new one-star venues, taking the total number of Michelin-starred restaurants in the country to 95. See the full list of results here.