Shark's fin soup-serving Sun Tung Lok has been named Hong Kong's third Michelin three-star restaurant - a move that angered environmentalists but further cements the city as a gastronomic capital.
The top honour comes after three local Chinese Michelin guide inspectors ate at the restaurant eight times.
Jean Luc-Naret, director of the Michelin guides, said he understood the controversy surrounding shark's fin soup but the three stars were awarded to recognise the restaurant's fine Cantonese cuisine.
Environmentalists found that hard to swallow. 'Excessive consumption is driving sharks to extinction, and the award will indirectly encourage further consumption,' WWF Hong Kong marketing officer Silvy Pun Yuen-yiu, who is responsible for the shark's fin campaign, said.
Michelin should explain if its ranking policy took sustainability into consideration - and, if not, should introduce it, she said. 'It is an increasing trend for restaurants to take shark's fin off the menu,' Pun said, 'and more and more of them are offering alternative menus, too'.
A total of 52 restaurants and hotels have pledged to offer at least one banquet menu without shark's fin soup.
