TEXT BY MARK PHILLIPS / TRANSLATION DAISY WONG
There were a few surprises at the 2025 Hong Kong – Macau MICHELIN awards ceremony in late March, but there was one announcement that we have very much come to expect, Zi Yat Heen at Four Seasons Macao has retained its One Michelin star for an impressive sixteenth consecutive year.
While no one was surprised by the award, for Executive Chinese Chef Anthony Ho, who only took over the reins of the restaurant a year ago, it probably came as something of a welcome relief. And now that he has this accolade secured, his sights are set on raising the bar even higher for one of the cities most renowned Cantonese restaurants.
“There are a lot of Michelin restaurants in Macau, so we have to be very strategic in determining how we are going to improve and make a point of difference, especially in terms of the ingredients, the plating, the service and the ambience,” says Chef Anthony.
“I think of my job as a ‘voyage’, as I like to travel around the place to find new and better quality ingredients. This is how I approach creating new dishes. My whole career has been a journey.”Moving from Hong Kong to join Four Seasons Hotel Macao last year was the latest step in this journey, bringing with it new challenges and opportunities.
“Four Seasons Hotel Macao is definitely one of the best properties in terms of luxury and sophistication, and Macau is playing a leading role on crafting the culinary map in the region. The market here is very competitive and the skill level of all the staff working in the gourmet scene here is very high.”
In his new role, Chef Anthony is always looking for ways to improve the menu and to provide unique and exciting experiences for guests, and one way to achieve this is by inviting other talented chefs to join him in the kitchen for exclusive four-hands collaborations.
In March, Zi Yat Heen hosted renowned Chef Wang Yong, Senior Executive Chinese Chef of Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake for just such a four-hands extravaganza, presenting an unparalleled dining experience for guests. The exclusive two-night event united these two master chefs, who between them boast four Black Pearl diamonds and two Michelin stars.
Born in Shenzhen, Chef Anthony became fascinated by Cantonese cuisine at an early age. Together with his father who supplied products for local businesses in Hong Kong, he would visit various Cantonese restaurants and soon realised that he wanted to be a chef.
“Since I was about 10 years old I would join my father for his daily deliveries of ingredients to these restaurants and I soon got to know all the chefs,” recalls Chef Anthony. “I was very
curious about what they did and one day I had the courage to ask one of them how to make sweet and sour pork, so he shared his recipe with me and through trial and error I figured it out for myself.”
By the age of 18, he knew he had found his passion and began working in a restaurant kitchen, and since that day Chef Anthony has never stopped following his dream of creating amazing culinary masterpieces.
On what he views as the true essence of Cantonese cuisine, Chef Anthony shares: “First is definitely the concept of ‘Wok Hei’ – getting the heat of the wok just right to cook the food perfectly. This actually takes a lot of skill to master. And then the second key is the freshness of the ingredients.
“Dim Sum is really the symbol of Cantonese cuisine,” Chef adds. “It must be very delicate, perfect and eye-catching all at the same time. To master this, you must have a sense of exploration, every day looking for new inspirations.”
Zi Yat Heen at Four Seasons Macao
Lunch: Monday to Saturday, 12:00 noon – 2:30 pm (last order at 2:15 pm)
Sunday & Public Holidays, 11:30 am – 3:00 pm (last order at 2:45 pm)
Dinner: Daily, 6:00 pm – 10:30 pm (last order at 10:00 pm)
Reservations: 28818818
