Danny Yip is the Hong Kong restaurateur turned chef behind The Chairman in Central, Hong Kong, named Asia Best Restaurant 2026 at Asia 50 Best Restaurants on 29 March 2026. This was the second time The Chairman claimed the top Asian ranking, after first winning in 2021. The restaurant specialises in forgotten Cantonese ingredients and techniques, with Yip overseeing a menu built from heritage Chinese produce, in-house fermentation, and slow-cooked home-style dishes rarely served at the fine-dining level.
The Chairman holds one Michelin star and is currently ranked as the best restaurant in Asia in 2026. Yip is unusual among the elite Asian fine-dining generation because he came to professional cooking from a restaurateur background rather than a classical training lineage. He opened The Chairman in 2009 in Central Hong Kong and has rebuilt the menu around rare regional Cantonese produce, working with small growers and fishermen across the Pearl River Delta and Guangdong province.
TL;DR
- Hong Kong restaurateur and self-taught chef behind The Chairman
- The Chairman opened in 2009 on Kau U Fong in Central, Hong Kong
- Asia Best Restaurant 2026 (29 March 2026, Asia 50 Best Restaurants); previously won 2021
- One Michelin star; celebrated for forgotten Cantonese ingredients and heritage techniques
- Pastry chef Kanokwan Kanthawong works alongside Yip on the pass
Danny Yip key facts
| Born | Hong Kong |
| Nationality | Hong Kong Chinese |
| Main restaurant | The Chairman, Kau U Fong, Central, Hong Kong (opened 2009) |
| Current status | Asia Best Restaurant 2026; one Michelin star |
| Style | Modern Cantonese; forgotten regional ingredients; heritage techniques; slow-cooked home-style dishes |
| Pastry chef | Kanokwan Kanthawong |
| Background | Restaurateur turned chef; self-taught; Hong Kong food writer and producer before opening The Chairman |
Early life and background of Danny Yip
Yip was born and raised in Hong Kong. He spent his early career outside the kitchen as a food writer, producer and restaurateur, working across the Cantonese restaurant scene in Hong Kong and Australia for decades before opening his own restaurant. He has described himself in interviews as a chef who came to the pass late in life, shaped by long years of eating and thinking about Cantonese food rather than by a classical apprenticeship in a professional kitchen.
Before The Chairman, Yip ran a Cantonese restaurant group in Canberra, Australia, for nearly two decades. The experience of cooking Cantonese food in a Western context shaped his argument that heritage Cantonese cuisine had narrowed dramatically across the late twentieth century, as restaurants moved toward high-speed wok cooking with standardised ingredients. Yip return to Hong Kong in the late 2000s was framed explicitly as a project to recover Cantonese dishes and ingredients that had fallen out of regular rotation.
The Chairman opened in 2009 on Kau U Fong in Central Hong Kong, in a side-street location deliberately away from the main fine-dining corridors of Central and Sheung Wan. The restaurant was a 50-seat Cantonese room with a short menu, in-house fermentation, and a partnership model with small producers across the Pearl River Delta. Yip did not position himself as the head chef in the classical sense; instead he worked as creative director and on the pass, with a team of Cantonese cooks handling the wok and the kitchen.
Danny Yip career timeline
- Childhood: Born and raised in Hong Kong
- 1980s-2000s: Food writer, producer and restaurateur in Hong Kong and Canberra, Australia
- 1990s-late 2000s: Runs a Cantonese restaurant group in Canberra for nearly two decades
- 2009: Returns to Hong Kong; opens The Chairman on Kau U Fong in Central
- 2010s: The Chairman becomes known for forgotten Cantonese ingredients and heritage techniques
- 2016: The Chairman receives its first Michelin star
- 2021: The Chairman named Asia Best Restaurant (first time) at Asia 50 Best Restaurants
- 2022-2025: Remains in the top 10 of Asia 50 Best; continues to hold one Michelin star
- 29 March 2026: The Chairman named Asia Best Restaurant 2026 (second win)
- 2026: One Michelin star retained in the Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau
Danny Yip signature style: forgotten Cantonese ingredients
Yip central argument is that contemporary Cantonese restaurants have narrowed the cuisine by standardising ingredients and streamlining techniques for speed. The Chairman was built to rebuild the wider vocabulary of regional Cantonese cooking, drawing on heritage produce, older fermentation methods, and dishes that had faded from restaurant menus over the past half-century. The menu rotates with what Yip team can source from specific small producers, fishermen and farmers across the Pearl River Delta and Guangdong province.
The second defining choice is in-house fermentation and curing. The Chairman makes its own soy sauces, vinegars, preserved vegetables, cured meats and fish sauces, following regional Cantonese recipes that most modern Hong Kong kitchens buy as finished products. The restaurant has its own small fermentation programme that develops house-made versions of heritage condiments, many of which are used only in specific dishes tied to a particular season or producer.
The third pillar is slow-cooked home-style dishes elevated to fine-dining service. The flowering crab with aged Shaoxing, chicken and flat rice noodles dish (crab cooked in wine, broth and noodles) is the restaurant single most-ordered course. Other signatures include double-boiled soups using rare regional ingredients, braised meats with whole Cantonese spice panels, and fish preparations that rely on ingredient quality rather than speed. The approach shares philosophical DNA with Vicky Lau at TATE Dining Room, which applies a narrative approach to Chinese-French fusion, and with Junghyun Park at Atomix in New York, which runs a similar heritage-recovery argument for Korean cuisine.
Notable dishes at The Chairman
Several Chairman dishes have become reference points in modern Cantonese cuisine. The flowering crab with aged Shaoxing, chicken and flat rice noodles is the restaurant signature headline course, a slow-cooked seafood dish that distils the kitchen philosophy in a single plate. Steamed wild flowery crab with aged ShaoHsing wine is the autumn highlight. Double-boiled soups with rare regional ingredients rotate with the seasons. Braised whole fish with fermented soybean and preserved citrus peel is a heritage-technique signature. Suckling pig with rice and smoked aubergine pays homage to Cantonese festive cooking traditions. Pastry chef Kanokwan Kanthawong desserts, built around Southeast Asian fruit and Chinese tea, close each menu. The Cantonese tea service throughout the meal is an integral part of the experience.
Danny Yip awards and recognition
- 2016: First Michelin star at The Chairman
- 2021: Asia Best Restaurant (Asia 50 Best Restaurants, first win)
- 2022-2025: Top 10 of Asia 50 Best Restaurants
- 29 March 2026: Asia Best Restaurant (Asia 50 Best Restaurants, second win)
- 2026: One Michelin star at The Chairman retained in the Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau
Danny Yip impact on Cantonese cuisine
Yip most concrete contribution is reframing Cantonese cuisine as a heritage recovery project rather than a fusion experiment. Most internationally visible Cantonese restaurants in the 2010s either went the direction of streamlined, banquet-style cooking or pivoted toward French-Cantonese fusion at the high end. The Chairman charted a third path: Cantonese food cooked as Cantonese food, using heritage ingredients and older techniques without importing European technique for validation. The 2021 and 2026 Asia Best Restaurant wins show that this approach has reshaped the global conversation about Chinese fine dining.
The second contribution is the supplier model. The Chairman partnerships with small Pearl River Delta fishermen, heritage vegetable growers across Guangdong, and specific Cantonese fermentation producers have supported a network of small producers whose work had been squeezed by industrial supply chains. Yip has been public about the supplier strategy as a deliberate programme rather than a quiet sourcing choice, and has argued it should be considered part of the restaurant creative output rather than a back-office matter.
Within the current Asian fine-dining generation Yip sits alongside Gaggan Anand in Bangkok, Vicky Lau at TATE Dining Room in Hong Kong, and Junghyun Park at Atomix in New York, as chefs who have reshaped how regional Asian cuisines are expressed at the top of the fine-dining market. The Chairman occupies a distinct position as the Cantonese heritage-recovery flagship of the group.
Danny Yip FAQ
Is The Chairman really the best restaurant in Asia?
Yes, as of the 29 March 2026 Asia 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony. The Chairman was named Asia Best Restaurant 2026, its second win after the 2021 ranking. The restaurant has sat in the top 10 of the Asia 50 Best list continuously since 2020.
Where is The Chairman?
At 18 Kau U Fong in Central, Hong Kong, a side-street location deliberately away from the main Central and Sheung Wan fine-dining corridors. The restaurant is a 50-seat Cantonese room with a short heritage menu built around forgotten regional ingredients.
How many Michelin stars does The Chairman have?
One Michelin star, held since 2016 and retained in the 2026 Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau. Unlike some of the two-star and three-star hotel-based Hong Kong restaurants, The Chairman has maintained a single-star rating while climbing the Asia 50 Best list to the No. 1 position twice.
Is Danny Yip a trained chef?
Yip is self-taught and came to professional cooking late in life. He spent his early career as a food writer, producer and restaurateur in Hong Kong and Australia, running a Cantonese restaurant group in Canberra for nearly two decades before returning to Hong Kong to open The Chairman in 2009. He works on the pass rather than on the wok.
What is the signature dish?
The flowering crab with aged Shaoxing wine, chicken and flat rice noodles is the restaurant single most-ordered course, a slow-cooked seafood-and-noodles dish that distils the kitchen philosophy of home-style Cantonese cooking at a fine-dining level in a single plate.
What is next for Danny Yip
Following the 29 March 2026 Asia Best Restaurant win (the second in five years) and the 2026 Michelin star retention, Yip remains focused on The Chairman as the core of his work. The restaurant supplier and heritage-recovery programmes continue to expand, and new dishes rotate onto the menu through the seasons as small Pearl River Delta producers supply new ingredients. His public Instagram (@thechairmanhongkong) is the best source for current updates.
