Why fine dining is thriving in Hong Kong two years into pandemic: chefs tell Discovery Channel show how they innovated – and how diners showed their appreciation

Kung Food! Hong Kong’s Grandmasters of Cuisine on Discovery Channel is a homage to the resilience of the city’s restaurateurs amid the global health emergency

Guillaume Galliot of Caprice, VEA’s Vicky Cheng, Ricardo Chaneton of Mono, and Neighbourhood’s David Lai describe how they adapted – and how diners responded

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Chef Guillaume Galliot (left) of Caprice works meticulously on his latest creation. The adaptability of Hong Kong chefs during Covid-19 will be celebrated in new Discovery Channel show Kung Food! Hong Kong’s Grandmasters of Cuisine. Photo: Discovery

Published: 8:15am, 27 Dec 2021Updated: 2:27pm, 27 Dec 2021

Many fine-dining restaurants in Hong Kong have done very well in 2021, and a number of new ones have opened, making the city the envy of chefs in other culinary capitals such as Paris, London, Copenhagen and New York, where numerous lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus have forced them to close temporarily or put them out of business.

However, it was a different story in Hong Kong when the coronavirus pandemic began in January 2020; back then it caused havoc for restaurants. The government mandated restaurants close by 6pm, sparking facetious questions about whether the Covid-19 virus only spread in the evenings; for two days in July 2020, people could not even eat lunch in a restaurant, before officials came to their senses and reversed course.

For the city’s top chef-restaurateurs, the pandemic was a test of their ability to stay open and comply with government regulations. Would customers dare come in and dine? If not, should restaurants offer takeaway? If so, what would the menu and packaging look like? More importantly, could they stay afloat financially, and for how long?

These are all questions touched on in a TV show on Discovery Channel called Kung Food! Hong Kong’s Grandmasters of Cuisine, which will be shown on December 29.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board, which was involved in the show, noted that the city has the most restaurants on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list, with 11 in 2021. Discovery was keen to find out how the chefs of these fine-dining restaurants managed to thrive in a challenging environment where rent is the biggest expense, much of the food is imported and there is a shortage of people willing to work in the hospitality industry.