Chairman & Yip — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

Story time! Recently I saw a @callanboys post talking about The Chairman Restaurant in Hong Kong. It's one of the most difficult reservations to make in HK given its previous No. 1 restaurant in Asia status and endless other merits. They do Cantonese classics, but with a focus on innovation, creativity and presentation. Possibly the most famed dish on their menu is the 'steamed fresh flowery crab with aged shaoxing wine, fragrant chicken oil and flat rice noodles'. Who knew that the Chairman Restaurant had Australian ties? When I was in Canberra last weekend, I met a chef who told me 'Chairman & Yip' in Canberra was a sister restaurant. The 'Yip' in the name was actually Danny Yip, who was the original restaurant partner before he headed back to Hong Kong for other ventures and opened the Chairman Restaurant years later. This Canberra sister, although less decorated, has also lived a long and fulfilling life. They have their own version of that crab dish using mud crab and pippies too! Far out! I was told the shaoxing wine wasn't as aged because of the Aussie palette. I find the sauce doesn't have crazy character on it's own, but it damn sure intensifies the sweet, delicious taste of the crab meat when eaten together. They do things a little differently too. Less large share plates, and more individual dishes with wines to match. Again, to suit the Australian clientele. And despite straying away from traditional Cantonese comfort cooking, the dishes here maintain comfort in their own way. We start on a egg white winter melon blended soup, with spanner crab and salted egg yolk oil, and a fried glutinous rice dumpling (you might recognise the 'ham sui gok' dim sum) but with a curry puff inspired filling, a nod to HK's South Asian community. Then shallot oil noodles, but using Japanese soba and with royal red prawns which were so sweet and soft. Our eyes lit up when the steamed crab and aged barramundi arrived upon the table. Let's just say we left completely buzzed, and mate, how good is wine with Cantonese food? Thank you to the Chairman & Yip team for the great conversation. Made our Canberra trip very special 🙂 📍Chairman &...

Not really sure what to expect. I booked for two for my mom's birthday, and we both thought it was a good meal. The food was good and well presented, but there were some parts that not perfect.

About food:

Sushi - the fish on the top was good but I don't like rice texture as it tastes a bit sticky to each other.

Dashi gazpacho - this was great. No complains at all.

cha-siu - The pork doesn't seem to be seasoned enough? Plus, they were cut too big for each piece.

duck pancake - usually the duck pancake used crispy fatty duck skin - not duck meat.

steamed seafood - a plate of steamed seafood that I think I can easily do it at home. It is more like a home made dish rather than a fine dining standard food.

lamb belly - This is great so no comment.

Dessert of the day - oh dessert was so amazing and never tried that thing before. It has an ice cream with hot black sticky rice in the bottom, the combination was amazing.

Some doubts about the food: Those food were all good, but they always gave me the feeling that they were made with prepared food rather than a chef doing it.

About service: When booking, I asked if they can have a birthday cake for celebration but they told me they couldn't do that and require $3 pp if I bring cake outside. Their reaction is a bit disappointing.

The staff was kind and helpful but not too professional. I asked for taking away and indicated for several times but none of the staff noticed my sign and I have to approach them to finish my request. They certainly didn't observe customers.

To summarise the experience, it was good but just not worth the money. With the money I paid, I certainly expected more. Probably won't visit for the...

We had such high expectations based on the excellent reviews and website. To be honest, our experience wasn't really a one star event, it's just that I'm cranky about a few things. Firstly, a reviewer complained about the ordinary food - in particular a seafood dish that contained tomato. The answer from the restaurant was that their dish doesn't contain tomato. Well, I don't know what that tasteless, soggy red stuff was that our seafood medley was covered in, but it sure wasn't fermented chilli as per the menu's description. It was suspiciously close to tomato according to all of us. The "wok tossed pork fillet with sweet chilli jam and five spice green pea" was the dodgiest dish I've had in years. Tasteless, tough and the peas were just a joke. The service was friendly but totally amateurish. There was no evidence of a maitre d' or anyone senior who could have lent a bit of authority or finesse to the restaurant. I've seriously had better meals at a very ordinary suburban chinese. This establishment markets itself as luxurious, five star, highest quality. It definitely has that potential as the decor reflects that, but the food and service definitely do not. Please don't waste your money here - go to Raku instead. Now that will be a memorable meal for all the...