Consumption Vouchers Redeemable From Today

The first $2,000 tranche of consumption vouchers were distributed today to the roughly 5.5 million people who had completed the electronic registration by 17 July. Notifications of disbursement were sent by SMS or mobile app push.

For people who used AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK, the $2,000 vouchers have been directly injected into your account, separate from your existing e-wallet. When making a payment, just choose whether to use the vouchers or other payment.

People using Octopus cards can collect the $2,000 voucher by tapping the card at the Subsidy Collection Points of the Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme at MTR stations; Light Rail Customer Service Centres; piers; public transport interchanges; convenience stores; supermarkets; Octopus Service Points; or via Octopus app within three months from today.

  • Vouchers can be used at retail shops, market stalls, department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, restaurants, fast food shops, coffee shops, recreational facilities, beauty salons and public transport, etc. However, vouchers could not be used for the following items:
  • payments to the Government (e.g. tax, fines, licence fees, tunnel fees, parking meters)
  • payments to public utilities (i.e. water, electricity and gas)
  • payments to public organisations (e.g. Hospital Authority, Hong Kong Housing Authority, Hong Kong Housing Society)
  • education expenses (i.e. payments to primary and secondary schools providing local and non-local curriculum, and UGC-funded universities)
  • purchase of financial products or services (e.g. insurance)
  • donation (including charitable, religious and political organisations)
  • direct purchases from merchants located outside Hong Kong (including online purchases through non-local online platforms made locally)
  • person to person payments
  • encashment

Octopus Card users will first receive HK$2,000, another HK$2,000 two months later, and then HK$1,000 several weeks after that.

People who receive the vouchers via their AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK digital wallets will first get HK$2,000 and then HK$3,000 two months later.

People who completed their registration on or after 18 July, and those who submitted paper registration forms, will receive the first $2,000 tranche of consumption vouchers on 1 September.

If you have not applied, registration closes on 14 August www.consumptionvoucher.gov.hk

$5,000 Covid Vouchers – Registration Open

Registration for the first tranche of $5,000 Covid ‘vouchers’ is now open until 17 July. Sign up online or via the government’s iAM Smart app. Paper registration is also available, but you’ll have to wait until 1 September for your first payment.

Only adult permanent SAR residents and ‘new arrivals’ will be eligible and applicants will have to make a declaration that they are currently living in Hong Kong.

Octopus Card users will first receive HK$2,000, another HK$2,000 two months later, and then HK$1,000 several weeks after that. The vouchers can be collected by using Octopus card readers at MTR stations or in shops, or via the card’s app.

People who receive the vouchers via their AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK digital wallets will first get HK$2,000 and then HK$3,000 two months later.

www.consumptionvoucher.gov.hk

$5,000 Covid Vouchers

The government has announced that the first tranche of $5,000 Covid vouchers will be distributed from 1 August, 2021.

Registration for the ‘vouchers ‘will open on 4 July with people able to sign up online or via the government’s iAM Smart app. Paper registration is available, but you’ll have to wait until 1 September for your first payment.

Only adult permanent SAR residents and ‘new arrivals’ will be eligible and applicants will have to make a declaration that they are currently living in Hong Kong.

Octopus Card users will first receive HK$2,000, another HK$2,000 two months later, and then HK$1,000 several weeks after that. The vouchers can be collected by using Octopus card readers at MTR stations or in shops, or via the card’s app.

People who receive the vouchers via their AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK digital wallets will first get HK$2,000 and then HK$3,000 two months later.

www.consumptionvoucher.gov.hk

India by the Bay: A Digital Series

The Sixth India by the Bay, postponed from February, has become a slimmed-down online festival entitled India by the Bay: A Digital Series running from 15-18 October, 2020

The virtual festival features four free events and offers HongKongers an insight into Indian culture and history through film, food, yoga and conversation. The events are:

Yoga as a Way of Life | 15 October, 7pm
Yoga philosopher Daniel Simpson will present a specially designed session on the benefits of Yoga in these difficult times

Zaika: Food, Creativity and Lockdown | 16 October, 7pm
Romy Gill and Rahul Gomes Pereira in conversation with Vir Sanghvi

East West – A Legacy | 17 October, 7pm
Shubhendra Rao, disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar celebrates the centenary of his Guru’s birth.

Churchill: Hero or Anti Hero | 18 October, 7pm
Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Mukulika Banerjee on the life and legacy of Winston Churchill, one of history’s most complex figures.

India by the Bay 2020
Date: 15-18 October, 2020
Venue: Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Tickets: free

Belgium Beer House Frites Opens in Kwun Tong

Frites recently opened a fifth location at Quayside, Kwun Tong. The interior retains the 1920’s Belgian Beer Halls look found in the chain’s other restaurants.

The European-influenced menu includes  Frites, Mussel Pots and Roasted Pork Knuckle.

At all five restaurants Frites are offering Christmas and New Year’s Eve three-course menus – see their website for full details.

FRITES Kwun Tong: Shop 3, 1/F, The Quayside, 77 Hoi Bun Road, Kwun Tong.
Tel: 2781 0262
Opening Hours: Monday – Sunday, 12pm – late
Happy Hour: Monday – Friday from 3-8pm

Great American Texas BBQ @ Kowloon Cricket Club – 5 December, 2019

The annual Great American Texas BBQ is a feast of beef, where Hong Kong’s US beef importers showcase their favourite cuts cooked in a truly mouthwatering range of styles.

For over twenty years the BBQ has been hosted and sponsored by the Texas Beef Council, USMEF and USDA with Taiwanese band Whisky River returning to soundtrack the evening. Among those attending were the new US Consul General Hanscom Smith and USMEF CEO Dan Halstrom.

World Champion BBQ-master Timothy Broderick of Pit Ventures was back showcasing his smoked brisket and short ribs.

The mutual shared appreciation and enjoyment of good food stimulates conversation and the creation of new friendships and business opportunities.

While good food engenders conversation, strangely great food often silences it. The flavours and textures creating a sensory overload in the brain such that all you can do is luxuriate in the moment, before joyfully taking another bite…

Click on any photo or here for the full gallery of images

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Great-American-Texas-BBQ-KCC-5-December-2019/n-mktJXP/i-VkHRFZR

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Knickerbocker Glory & Coke Floats

It’s a little hot this summer, to help you cool down Pizza Express’s Lee Tung Avenue branch and Haagen Daz are offering some old-style summer flavours.

Originating in the UK in the 1920s the Knickerbocker Glory ($88) features layers of fruit (banana, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries), crumbed biscuits, raspberry sauce and Haagen Daz ice cream topped with whipped cream and Nutella.

The iconic coke float, created in  1874 by Robert McCay Green, is simply coca-cola and a scoop of ice-cream. Pizza Express have given the float a twenty nineteen twist by blending smooth the ingredients and called the original The Little Kid ($68), to allow for an ‘adult’ version, The Big Kid ($78), which adds Baileys and whiskey…

These summer specials are only available at Pizza Express’s Lee Tung Avenue branch from 19 July to 31 August.

If you’re in the area there are some free Little Kid tasters available on 20, 27, 28 July, 2-6pm; and on 21 July, noon-3pm – while stocks last.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Pizza-Express-Haagan-Daz-Summer-Promotion-18-July-2019/i-vKNprVP/A

Calabrese pizza ($188)

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Pizza-Express-Haagan-Daz-Summer-Promotion-18-July-2019/i-kVgTJ8g/A

Pizza Express Lee Tung Avenue
G31, G/F, Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai

Edited: 23 July, to clarify drink details.

Pizza Express Launches Summer Menu

Ahead of summer’s official start Pizza Express have launched a new Summer Menu featuring a wide range of new pizzas and pastas. bc sampled several of the new dishes at the Lee Tung Street branch which – with it’s chilled layout, fresh juice bar, coffee machine and free WiFi – also makes a nice change from your local coffee outlet when looking for a place to hunker down and work or chat.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Pizza-Express-Summer-Menu-2019/i-sb9jPCb

Burrata & Eggplant ($88)

Among the new items on the Summer Menu are three new starters: Burrata & Eggplant ($88), Prawn & Tomato ($58) and Mango Crab Flatbread ($88). The Burrata is rich and creamy complimented nicely by the marinated eggplant.

There are two new salads Watermelon & Feta ($68/$128) and Mango Salsa Salad ($63/$108) available in small and large portions. The mango salsa is nice but like several of the other dishes on the menu it lacks that little extra freshness/ bite that has your tastebuds going… I want more!

The range of new pastas includes, as our waitress informed us, the already popular Baby Scallop Linguine ($143); Omnipork Penne Aglio Olio ($108) made with a plant based ‘pork’ and flavoured with fennel, water chestnut, garlic and mushroom; A Prawn Risotto ($148) cooked in a pomodoro sauce with garlic oil, onion and white wine tossed prawns and clams; Penne alla Norma ($118) a classic Italian pasta with eggplant, cherry tomatoes, basil, ricotta, pomodoro sauce and drizzled with garlic oil.

The new selection makes for a difficult choice when dining solo or in duo as there are several that sound tempting. bc opted for the Penne alla Norma which was filling and tasty.

Pizza Express has a bit of summer fun with it’s customers via the Burger Formaggi ($138) – one of four new pizzas on the menu – which tastes like a burger and is already proving popular. The other new pizzas are the Pancetta Garden ($138) and two vegetarian / vegan options Omnipork Bianco ($128) and Flori ($138).

The one new desert is the light Pineapple Cake with Ice Cream ($73) which is not too sweet and makes a pleasant finale to your meal.

The Pizza Express Vegan Menu has been revamped and offers a wide range of vegan dishes featuring vegan cheese and vegan pork. With an increasing awareness of healthy eating and vegan diners it’s good to see a big chain restaurant offering these options on a regular basis.

bc also likes the Lee Tung Street Pizza Express branch because it has a juice bar offering fresh juice ($68), smoothies ($68) and the new Watermelon Lemonade ($38) and Mrs Peroni ($68).

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Pizza-Express-Summer-Menu-2019/i-g9k7CdG

Penne alla Norma ($118)

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Pizza-Express-Summer-Menu-2019/i-DSg9cxq

Pineapple Cake ($73)