There's definitely a sense of normalcy among everyone when we all gathered
for the Michelin Guide 2023 announcement in Macau in late April. This annual
event has in the past been associated with much pomp and grandeur completed with gala dinner and parties, all of which have stopped during COVID (with
thelast in-person event held in December 2019)
With SJM being the co-host for the event this year (a change from
Melco/City of Dreams), the announcement event was held in the ballroom of Grand
Lisboa on the Macau Peninsula side. What started as a mundane press conference
type event in the past has now turned into an award ceremony of sorts (sans the
red carpet grand entrance). Chefs from newly awarded restaurants were
"crowned" with jackets embroidered with the iconic star on stage, and
starting this year they also gave out individual awards for best service,
sommelier and young chef.
Of course, everyone has their opinion about the results, but to
me, I was especially happy to see my friends David and Antimo getting the nod
from the Michelin inspectors (with their respective restaurants Neighborhood
and Estro being the new 1-star restaurants this year) and Steve (of Hansik Goo)
now officially recognized as the best young chef in the region. Kudos also to
those restaurants which retained their stars.
The festivities continued through the evening with the black-tie
gala dinner at the new Grand Lisboa Palace in Cotai. The newest resort complex in Macau (opened late last year) was impressive - completed with Versace and Karl
Lagerfield-branded hotel towers (and rooms), a huge shopping mall, a French imperial-style
garden and more. It's my first visit and stay at this resort and that will surely be
covered in a later post. I haven't attended a dressed-up social event for
a few years already so I was just glad to dust off my suit and tie (and glad
they still fit) and joined the who's who in F&B and hospitality industries
for an evening of celebration.
Dinner was a grand 8-course affair completed with wine pairing and
just like the previous occasions, each dish is prepared by a guest chef from
one of the Michelin-starred restaurants. We always admire the effort and
planning required to prepare and deliver the dishes to over 500 guests at the
same time and I think all of them did a reasonably good job to keep us well
fed. But for most including myself, the favorite dish of the evening has to be
the one prepared by Chef Julien Tongourian of Robuchon au Dome, with his
signature dish of Le Caviar, which came with picked king crab meat and crustacean
jelly with dots of
cauliflower cream on
top. I swear mine looked and tasted just the same as the one that would have
been served at his 3-starred restaurant on top of Grand Lisboa.
Other impressive dishes included the deep-fried wagyu and seafood
roll served with beef jus and coffee sauce, an creation by Chef Ken Chan of
Taipei’s Le Palais. I liked that exotic elements of using the coffee sauce to go
with something inspired by Cantonese dimsum (the pastry roll stuffed with beef
and minced seafood). The pan-fried spotted garoupa by Chef Albert Au of The 8
(also at Grand Lisboa) was another dish I like – I was impressed it came out
perfectly crisp and done given the amount of dishes they need to prepare the distance
they need to carry the dish from the kitchen to our table. We finished with a
couple of sweets from Chef Cesar Augustyniak from L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
Hong Kong, and my personal favorite was the second one of Chocolate Shell
stuffed with Hazelnut Mousse and surrounded by hazelnuts, praline and yuzu zest
garnish.
An interesting flight of wines were selected (and recommended by
the sommelier team at SJM Resorts, we were told), most of them from outside of
France with the exception of two (plus the Remy XO). The Portuguese Douro red
was the one I like most, medium-bodied smoky, plenty of red fruits, a nice bouquet
of floral aroma and almost no tannins, which was well suited for the rich blue
lobster dish that’s served, prepared by the Portuguese chef Jose Avillez from
Belcanto in Lisbon.
For the first time, the host also organized an official
after-party til wee hours but I opted to skip and instead went out with my
friend KC and others plus a few chefs to a neighborhood restaurant in Areia
Preta (about 20 minutes away by car), where local dishes awaited, including
their famous crab congee and the freshly made steamed rice flour rolls. And of
course, there were plenty of gossips to go around. On the day (and night) of
Michelin celebration, there's never a dull or hungry moment and I am just glad
those time has now returned.
(The event was by invitation courtesy of Michelin Guide Hong Kong & Macau team. More photos in my Flickr album https://www.flickr.com/photos/g4gary/albums/72177720307917350)
When? April 26 2023
Where? Grand Lisboa Palace Resort Macau, R. do Tiro, Cotai, Macau
Menu Highlights? Le Caviar, King Crab, Crustacean Jelly, Cauliflower Cream
Drinks?
Champagne Perrier Jouet Grand Brut
2021 Quinta do Vallado Reserva Branco, Duoro, Portugal
2010 Domaine Jeal-Louis Chave Selection Cotes du Rhone Mon Coeur
2020 Vietti Roero Arneis DOCG, Italy
2020 Penfolds Bin 311 Chardonnay, Southeast Australia
2017 Niepoort Charme Tinto, Douro, Portugal
2009 Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion, Pessac-Leognan
2017 Domaine Franco Chinois Petit Manseng, Hebei, China
Web:
(Michelin Guide Hong Kong and Macau) guide.michelin.com/hk/en
(Grand Lisboa Palace) www.grandlisboapalace.com
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