Food critic Fred Ferretti enjoys top service at Gaddi’s at the Peninsula, one of around 7,000 restaurants that have earned Hong Kong its reputation at a gourmet paradise

Writer Fred Ferretti has one of the best jobs in the world - sampling gourmet food and fine wines at top-end restaurants.

And one of his favourite parts of this five-star travelling life is coming to Hong Kong, to stay in what he considers to be the best hotels in the world, and to eat at restaurants which can hold their own with any major city.

For many years Mr Ferretti was a writer at large for Gourmet magazine in the US, recommending interesting places for its upscale readership of well-heeled professionals. The affable American was in Hong Kong again this spring, in his new role as food and wine editor for the online site travelclassics.com, checking out a few of the city's 7,000 or so restaurants.

"I have written tons of articles on Hong Kong over the years - hundreds of columns and features," says the veteran journalist who previously worked on the New York Times and NBC news.

"The energy of the streets grabs me here and I love the setting of the place. The food of course is outstanding. New York, London and Paris notwithstanding, it is probably the best city in the world for food. The Chinese food is spectacular."

Mr Ferretti has many favourite Cantonese restaurants, but his all-time number one is the renowned Fook Lam Moon, the subject of a special feature by him in a recent issue of Wine Spectator magazine.

"It is perfect," he says. "There are many other restaurants here where the chefs are doing special things. I like the Shang Palace in the Kowloon Shangri-la, T'ang Court in the Great Eagle Hotel and Man Wah in the Mandarin Oriental. When it comes to Western food, two of my favourites are Gaddi's in the Peninsula hotel and Petrus in the Island Shangri-la."

Mr Ferretti, 71, does not just write restaurant reviews. He often picks a theme, such as the growing, preparation and appreciation of Chinese tea, or the history of a particular dish, for a feature story.

He travels regularly with wife, Eileen Yin Fei Lo, a Chinese cookery book writer and food consultant, who he met while on an army leave visit to Hong Kong. The couple, who live in New Jersey, have three grown-up children.

As often as not, though, they can be found on the road, researching a book or a story. Being married to a Chinese chef/author and visiting Hong Kong so regularly as a food writer has made Mr Ferretti one of the foremost non-Chinese authorities on the cuisine.

"For me, Cantonese cuisine is so pure and elegant. If you ask for a fish in a Hong Kong restaurant that is what you get - a steamed fish - without a load of garnish. My all-time favourite dish is beef with black bean sauce, the first dish that my wife cooked for me."

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