Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- The Michelin Guide gave top honors to three restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau, all in hotels, in the sophomore review of the southern Chinese cities’ eateries.

French restaurant Caprice added one star this year to score the best-possible three-star rating, joining Cantonese eatery Lung King Heen two floors down at the Four Seasons Hotel as Michelin’s top-ranked Hong Kong restaurants in the guide’s 2010 edition. Veteran chef Joel Robuchon retained his five Michelin stars, including three for his Galera a Robuchon in Macau, based in the casino haven’s Hotel Lisboa.

Awarding top honors to hotel restaurants showed the “mentality of the business in Hong Kong, where named chefs are not found in stand-alone street restaurants, like in North America or Europe,” said Allan Zeman, chairman of Lan Kwai Fong Holdings Ltd., which manages properties in Hong Kong’s largest bar and nightlife district. “Reviewers from overseas tend to gravitate first to restaurants in the hotels they stay in. If you really get into the local culture you will find that Hong Kong has the best Chinese restaurants in the world.”

This edition reviewed 245 restaurants and 53 in Macau, 86 more than its debut publication, and awarded nine establishments with two-star awards and 39 with one-star gongs, compared to eight and 18, respectively, in the 2009 debut edition.

Expanded Review

The expanded review comes after Hong Kong emerged from a yearlong recession in the second quarter when the economy grew 3.3 percent. The city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index is also climbing, spurred by China’s record lending and its 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package.

Two-thirds of the 51 star-rated venues in Hong Kong and Macau are housed in hotels or high-end shopping centers and just over half serve Cantonese cuisine. Among the new inclusions in Macau are Lei Garden in Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s sprawling 3,000- room Venetian Macau Resort-Hotel, and Wing Lei in Wynn Resorts Ltd.’s Wynn Macau casino and hotel.

Zeman said he hoped that as the Michelin Guide became more established in the cities, it would include more local restaurants.

“Last year’s guide attracted criticism from managers of Chinese restaurants who said not enough were included,” Zeman said. “Until it gets recognized by the Chinese-restaurant community, a Michelin award will remain just another award.”

Three Asian Editions

After launching its first Asian guide in Tokyo in 2007, Michelin now publishes three Asian editions, the Osaka/Kyoto version launched this year being the newest. The 2010 guide to Tokyo, published Nov. 17, established the Japanese capital as the most-starred city, with 11 three-star restaurants, overtaking Paris, whose 2010 edition will be published in March.

The guide’s top-rated venues bring to 82 the number of eateries worldwide awarded Michelin’s highest accolade. Caprice is the newest addition to the exclusive club after it won two stars last year. It serves modern French cuisine, with dishes such as Duck Foie Gras Terrine and Normandy Sole Fillet with Baby Artichoke and Winkle Fricassee. Main courses cost upward of HK$400 ($52).

Michelin says it rates restaurants for their food and drink based on a set of “unpublished criteria.” One star indicates a very good restaurant, two means excellent cuisine worthy of a detour, while three denotes exceptional cuisine deserving of a “special journey,” Michelin says.

Michelin & Cie., the world’s largest tiremaker, has been publishing its restaurant and hotel guides since 1900, at the start of the automotive era. Distributed for free until 1920, the guide was originally meant for chauffeurs and included tips on using and repairing tires.

Restaurants awarded three stars are:
Caprice, French                         (New)
Lung King Heen, Cantonese
Galera a Robuchon (Macau), French

Restaurants awarded two stars are:
Amber
Fook Lam Moon (Wanchai)                 (New)
L’Atelier
Ming Court                              (New)
Petrus                                  (New)
Shang Palace
T’ang Court
Tim’s Kitchen                           (New)

To contact the reporters on this story: Mark McCord in Hong Kong at Mmcord2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 25, 2009 23:05 EST