“We’ve always believed that the most simple food demands the highest level of culinary skill. We also believe that as long as the ingredients are fresh and the sauces are outstanding, simple cooking will rule. Poultry and seafood all taste exactly as they should be – this is what Cantonese cuisine is all about.”

Steamed fresh flower crab with aged Shaoxing wine, fragrant chicken oil and flat rice noodles; razor clams steamed with pickled lemon and mixed herbs; and king prawns cooked in fish and rice broth with peppered prawn heads.

It’s not easy to find a Cantonese restaurant that’s as beloved by locals as it is by visitors – after all, most Hongkongers would say that the best Cantonese food can be had at home. The Chairman’s success is in no small part due to their commitment to sourcing. Their seafood is brought in by local fishermen, and the same local ethos applies to their vegetables, meats, and sauces. Soy sauce is one of the few sauces they purchase - most other sauces are made from scratch, in-house.

The desire to reduce their carbon footprint was a result of their culinary vision – to honour the Cantonese philosophy of freshness. In Cantonese, “fresh“ means not only how recently the produce was harvested or butchered, but the innate, true, flavours of an ingredient, which can be coaxed out when cooked the right way.