bc magazine

No Eating Food Expo…

With the weather hot, wet and miserable the no eating Food Expo, which runs from 11-15 August, looks very enticing – crowded though it will be.

As usual there’s a cornucopia of edible delights and special promotions to enjoy. Many of the companies were still building their stalls at today’s media walk-through but here are a few things, amidst the mounds of mooncakes and noodles, that caught our eye.

Social enterprise company Hello Cocoa makes speciality chocolate items while supporting and employing Hongkongers with special education needs.

For those tired, at the end of a long day, there’s Trevijano‘s range of healthy premade risottos, couscous, and quinoas. Each packet is good for 3-4 people and they look delicious – we have yet to taste the cooked versions – and a simple way to add variety and flavour to any meal.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220810-Food-Expo-2022/i-QdbqXNt

Absolutely the cutest item on sale at this year’s Food Expo is the Propolia bee (S69).

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220810-Food-Expo-2022/i-H2PX5T8

Local cookie company Cookieism have an expo promotion on their tasty, but small, American cookies: 5 cookies and another item for $100.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220810-Food-Expo-2022/i-mSfjNWK

For something a little different… Black Churros

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220810-Food-Expo-2022/i-6vhHtTK

On the 3/F there is a wide assortment of massage chairs and foot massagers on display/sale – and while the chairs will be too big for many flats the idea of having a foot massager at home to help relieve the many stresses in today’s Hong Kong is very appealing.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220810-Food-Expo-2022/i-rbfXFGc

Fancy a Korean BBQ at home several appliance companies have home BBQ machines on display/sale.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220810-Food-Expo-2022/i-FvFsXKG

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220810-Food-Expo-2022/i-26fGJK5

Food Expo, Hong Kong International Tea Fair, Beauty & Wellness Expo, Home Delights Expo
When: 10am, 11-15 August, 2022
Where: HK Convention & Exhibition Centre
Tickets: $25 from HKTicketing/Octopus App

images: bc magazine

Cod-licious – The Chippy, Granville Food Square, TST

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away… Ok, it was Chater Garden in 2015 – but today in twenty twenty-two it feels like a different time and place – an Englishman frustrated at the quality of fish and chips found locally imported a complete fish and chip shop, The Chippy, from Derby.

A bit extreme perhaps, but the massive queues and smiling faces at the Best of British pop-up event proved he wasn’t the only frustrated Hong Kong diner yearning for quality fish and chips. At the end of the week-long festival, the Englishman said he hoped to open a permanent version of The Chippy soon…

Is ‘seven years’ soon? I’m not sure, but the newly opened ‘The Chippy’ in Tsim Sha Tsui certainly scratches an itch. Crispy battered succulent Icelandic cod served on a bed of hot chips – simply delicious!

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220611-The-Chippy-Tsim-Sha-Tsui/i-2jDK4tR

And yes you will want to Instagram your beautiful-looking meal, but do it quickly so you can enjoy the freshly prepared meal hot. There are two sizes of cod; the Signature a 10-12oz fillet ($188) and a regular (5-6oz fillet, $108) served in a “Cod Save the Queen” Chippy Box full of plump English chips.

The Granville Food Square location seats around 60 and as well as fish the menu includes battered jumbo sausages, Pukka pies, mushy peas, curry sauce and proper gravy – all imported from Derby. Cold beer and drinks are also available in the food court and delivery options will be added soon.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220611-The-Chippy-Tsim-Sha-Tsui/i-hDBL8vQ

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220611-The-Chippy-Tsim-Sha-Tsui/i-3dpSj6t

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220611-The-Chippy-Tsim-Sha-Tsui/i-WFPxHN3

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220611-The-Chippy-Tsim-Sha-Tsui/i-CfZRmwJ

The Chippy – Tsim Sha Tsui
Granville Food Square, 46-48 Granville Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Tel:
Opening Hours: 11am til late

Vinexpo Rebrands and Moves to Singapore in 2023

After twenty years Vinexpo Hong Kong is no more. The government’s covid restrictions on travel and the bar and restaurant trade have essentially forced the popular wine exhibition to leave Hong Kong for a location where over 1000 global exhibitors will be able to participate.

CEO of Vinexposium Rodolphe Lameyse commented on the move “Unfortunately I and my shareholders consider that Hong Kong is not where we want to be in the future.”

Vinexpo Asia will take place at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore from 23-25 May 2023.

Duck & Waffle in IFC Closes

Duck & Waffle in IFC has closed its doors this month, another victim of the government’s dining restrictions where restaurants have hours and capacity limits – but landlords are still allowed to charge full rent.

It was tasty while it lasted…

Duck & Waffle
Shop 1081, 1/F, ifc mall, 8 Finance Street, Central – CLOSED
Tel: 2267 6338

Image: Duck & Waffle

Egg Custard Buns @ Red Bean 紅豆烘焙

紅豆烘焙 Red Bean bakery in Mongkok launched their new take on an egg tart a few weeks ago but the lines were massive and supply sold out quickly… Today however bc managed to grab one.

The $15 egg custard bun, released daily at 3pm, is basically a hollowed-out bread roll filled with egg custard. The texture of the bun makes a nice contrast to the rich creamy egg custard – thankfully not excessively sweet – and it’s really rather nice hot or cold!

There are several versions including chocolate and a ‘creme brulee’ style with burnt sugar on top.

Red Bean Bakery: Shop A2-A3, G/F, Wah May Building, 520A-522 Shanghai Street, Mongkok – is on the corner of Shanghai and Shantung Streets, near Langham Place.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220211-Egg-Custard-Buns-in-Mongkok/i-2784S7T

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220211-Egg-Custard-Buns-in-Mongkok/i-n65p7ZX

Say No to Shark Fin Endorsing Michelin Stars

The 2022 edition of the Michelin Guide for Hong Kong and Macau was launched yesterday.

Sadly the Michelin Guide continues to award ‘stars’ and endorse and promote restaurants that sell sharks fin.

bc magazine refuses to knowingly support any restaurant or organisation that sells or promotes eating sharks fin!

Say NO to Sharks Fin!

Uber Eats to Shut Down

Food delivery platform Uber Eats will shut down on 31 December 2021.

Launched in 2016, Uber Eats was a late arrival to Hong Kong’s food delivery sector where Foodpanda and Deliveroo had a head start and have since become the two dominant platforms.

According to data analysis site Measurable AI, Uber Eats has barely 5% local market share compared to market leaders Foodpanda’s 51 percent and Deliveroo’s 44 percent.

Taste x Fresh Opens in Kowloon Bay

Shoppers in and around Kowloon Bay have somewhere new to spend their consumption vouchers with the opening of Taste x Fresh, a new supermarket partnership on the first floor of Amoy Plaza.

How does it differ from a ‘traditional’ Park’n’Shop Taste… The store is split into sixteen zones with the Taste areas pretty much as you’d expect; full (too full) of a wide range of products from across the globe, with multiple product promotion areas to encourage you to taste, try and buy.

Fresh have turned the regular fruit and vegetable section into an air-con premium version of a Hong Kong market. Instead of regular fruit and veg, there are Korean and Japanese versions. Instead of local meat, it’s tasty American, Australian, Japanese beef, pork and chicken imported and served chilled and sliced.

Something a little different to many supermarkets is that you can, as it was explained to bc, buy your meat or seafood and then have it cooked how you like it at one of the surrounding cooked food ‘stalls’. Unfortunately, the store was a little packed on opening day to test this process – but the theory is sound. And having it in a shopping centre is nice if you’re feeling a little peckish and/or lazy.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210818-Taste-x-Fresh-Opening-Kowloon-Bay/i-zkhFsx6

The store is an interesting experiment/collaboration and probably offers people in the area access to products and tastes that perhaps they haven’t been exposed to before.

But, and there’s sadly a massive BUT to give all this overseas food a premium look and to keep it fresh it’s bundled and covered in tons of plastic and packaging with not a mention of recycling to be seen.

Sadly it’s not something limited to Taste x Fresh, it’s a problem that’s been slowly smothering Hong Kong supermarkets for a few years. It’s just disappointing for a brand new partnership to see that so little thought appears to have gone into reuse and recycle. There are shops in Hong Kong where you can for example bring your own containers for dried goods.

Park’n’Shop and Uni-China Group have looked to offer something new, and if you live close you’ll find an expanded range of products – sadly they’ll be smothered in multiple layers of plastic…

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210818-Taste-x-Fresh-Opening-Kowloon-Bay/i-FL2Frf5

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210818-Taste-x-Fresh-Opening-Kowloon-Bay/i-g75Bw54

Taste x Fresh
1/F, Phase 1, Amoy Plaza, 77 Ngau Tau Kok Road, Kowloon Bay.
Opening hours: 8 am to 10:30 pm.