Dining Out: The top 5 restaurants in Hong Kong and Macau

A general view of local and foreign casinos in Macau, including Hotel Lisboa (in pink) and Wynn Macau (with orange lines), in the evening of July 20, 2007.

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - The Miele Guide to Asia's finest restaurants is written by food experts who know and love the region (www.mieleguide.com).

This is a list of the top 5 restaurants in Hong Kong, long renowned as a regional gastronomic hub, and Macau. It is not endorsed by Reuters.

1. L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, Hong Kong

A stunning restaurant that excels in all areas. The service is as close to perfection as you can find. The food is delicately magnificent, with dishes that are comforting and others that are novel and will thrill the palate and the imagination. The wine list is impeccable. And both the location and the setting are divine. While we highly recommend dining at the counter, where you can watch executive chef Sebastien Lepinoy and his team cook and plate the delicacies on offer, those seeking a little more privacy can opt to eat in the restaurant's small but chic dining room. In many ways, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon represents the future of dining: a restaurant that offers amazing but not overly challenging food, with perfect service and in a cool but entirely unpretentious setting.

Shop 401, 4F The Landmark

15 Queen's Road, Central Hong Kong

www.robuchon.hk

2. Robuchon A Galera, Macau

Robuchon a Galera, the supremely high-brow French restaurant in the splendidly over-the-top Hotel Lisboa, is proof that formal fine dining isn't dead. The restaurant's blue and gold-themed neo-Empire interiors are theatrically luxurious and just a little over-the-top. The over-burdened breadbasket, dessert and petit four trolleys are always greeted enthusiastically. The flatware is appropriately Christofle, and Bernardaud porcelain lithophane votive lights dot the starched tablecloths. But the real draw is the consistently outstanding food on offer and a wine list that would make any oenophile weep. Executive chef Francky Semblat creates masterful dishes that are elegant, rich and flavorful.

3F New West Wing

Hotel Lisboa

2-4 Avenida de Lisboa

www.hotellisboa.com

3. Yung Kee, Hong Kong

Yung Kee is virtually synonymous with Hong Kong, and no visit to the city is complete without a taste of its world famous roast goose. The restaurant itself runs like a well-oiled machine: uniformed doormen help people alight from their cars; a walkie-talkie-wielding receptionist tells the lift operator which floors guests should be taken to and informs the floor manager who's coming up so she can greet them by name. Regulars also know to order certain things in advance: the roast goose livers, the tea-smoked pork belly, or, when in season, the hairy crab dishes and platefuls of tiny rice birds, which are eaten whole (except for the beak). Executive chef Choi Wai-Chor ensures that the food is consistently good, authentically local, and comfortably unchanging.

32-40 Wellington Street

Central Hong Kong

www.yungkee.com.hk

4. Nobu, Hong Kong

Nobu Matsuhisa's sexy black and tan restaurant in Hong Kong has, in just three years, established itself as a firm favorite in one of Asia's toughest food cities. Fantastically located on the second floor of the InterContinental Hotel, Nobu Hong Kong has breathtaking, panoramic views across Victoria Harbour. The restaurant is chic yet casual, perfect for every occasion from a first date to a family meal. Norwegian-born executive chef Oyvind Naesheim, who was previously second-in-command at Nobu's very popular London outlet, is maintaining Nobu's stratospheric culinary standards, with the assistance of executive sushi chef Hideki Endo and the rest of his team.

2F InterContinental Hong Kong

18 Salisbury Road

Kowloon

www.noburestaurants.com

5. Caprice, Hong Kong

It might be difficult to find a more glamorous dining room anywhere in Asia. Caprice, the Four Seasons Hong Kong's signature French restaurant, is fantastically chic and romantic. Four large crystal chandeliers hang over well-dressed diners. Floor-to-ceiling windows frame unbeatable views of Victoria Harbour and Kowloon's skyline. Even the open-kitchen, sparkling under crystal-clad cooker hoods, is breathtaking. The food, of course, is brilliant. Chef Vincent Thierry's dishes are modern interpretations of French classics, some of which are inventively and subtly perked up with well-chosen Asian ingredients. And pastry chef Ludovic Douteau's desserts are masterpieces.

Caprice

Hong Kong

6F Four Seasons Hong Kong

8 Finance Street, Central Hong Kong

(Editing by Miral Fahmy)