bc magazine

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.

Consumption Vouchers Registration Closes 14 August

Registration for the Consumption Voucher Scheme will close this Saturday, 14 August.

Each eligible person can only register once and duplicate registrations will not be processed.

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

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

Ruby Tuesday Tuen Mun Review

Ruby Tuesday are on a tear with the opening of a third new restaurant in less than a year. The success of the new style restaurant in K11 Art Mall saw the opening of a first Ruby Tuesday in what could be considered a very local market: Po Lam – Tseung Kwan O. The new outlet in Tuen Mun builds on those successes while incorporating new Covid protections and innovations to ensure the safety of customers and staff.

The Tuen Mun branch, located on the ground floor of Trend Plaza, is smaller than the other new outlets but incorporates the outdoor seating which has proven very popular among customers. While it may be a little hot (or wet), there are no fans, to sit outside in summer. The outdoor tables will surely be in high demand as the weather cools.

The feel of the new branch is a little darker than the bright openness of K11, the more notable difference though is Ruby Tuesday’s first open kitchen in Hong Kong. It’s not fully open, but offers diners the chance to see the kitchen crew in action and also a chance to see that Covid protocols are being observed in the kitchen and that the staff member tasked with keeping the broad swathes of stainless steel shining clean is on task.

As for the food, a new Express set lunch (available only at TKO, Po Lam and Tuen Mun) offers meals at prices similar to local chain outlets. And the staff were working hard to ensure that diners could enjoy their meal during a lunch hour.

It was steaming hot the day bc visited Ruby’s in Tuen Mun so we sampled Ruby’s range of (delicious) smoothies and iced drinks – the highlight being Ruby’s Passion a mango smoothie topped with passion fruit puree, the tartness of passion fruit reigning in the sweetness of the mango. The coffee frappuccino with ice cream was basically flavourless liquid and a disappointment compared to the rather nice one we enjoyed previously at K11.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210625-11pro-Ruby-Tuesday-Tuen-Mun-/i-7ZdJJw2

On a personal note, I don’t really see the point of trying to create ‘fake’ meat and have always found the results disappointing. Discussing this recently, a friend offered a suggestion, don’t think of Impossible as fake meat, think of it as something like tofu which can be prepared and enjoyed in many different ways. Seen and eaten in that way, it’s an enjoyable and textured alternative to meat. Ruby’s Impossible quesadilla was tasty and filling, while the newly added Butcher’s Steak offered a meaty and flavourful reminder that there really is nothing like meat.

bc hadn’t noticed it on the menus in previous visits, so we can’t say if it’s new, but several menu items had a Keto symbol to help those on that food plan.

One of the many small changes in recent years that have re-energised the brand locally and made it an enjoyable place for lunch and dinner where the food tastes as good as it looks.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210625-11pro-Ruby-Tuesday-Tuen-Mun-/i-7qGnSjF

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210625-11pro-Ruby-Tuesday-Tuen-Mun-/i-JSJJ2cn

Ruby Tuesday Tuen Mun

Location: Shop 39-40, Level 1, North Wing, Trend Plaza, Tuen Mun
Tel: 3598 3098

$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

InTaste a New Food Stand in Tuen Mun

Newly opened in Orchid Court, Tuen Mun is 燃味棧 InTaste a small takeaway food stand serving burritos, hotdogs and other tasty snacks.

This is the third iteration of InTaste for owner Kelvin Chui and features an expanded menu with the addition of hot dogs and assorted snacks to the menu. Portion sizes are good and served in as environmentally friendly packaging as possible.

Delivery is coming soon.

燃味棧 InTaste
Shop 5, Orchid Court, 14 Yan Oi Tong Circuit, Tuen Mun
Tel: 9303 6665
Open: 11:30am – 9:30pm

$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.

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

Ruby Tuesday Opens in Tuen Mun

Ruby Tuesday have a new outlet in Trend Plaza, Tuen Mun. It’s the chain’s seventh restaurant and the third new location opened in the last year.

Commenting about the new outlet Ruby Tuesday Managing Director Leslie Bailey said “We have taken every lesson that the COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us and incorporated it into our new restaurant design. In addition to the standard water and air-filters, we’ve also taken the extra precaution of adding a state-of-the-art Philips UV Disinfection System to filter and clean the air circulating in the restaurant.”

Ruby Tuesday Tuen Mun

Location: Shop 39-40, Level 1, North Wing, Trend Plaza, Tuen Mun
Tel: 3598 3098