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

Vegetarian Fish and Chips at Chip In

Recently Chip In a local social conscious fish and chip chain sent bc an invite to try their new vegetarian fish and chips. Intrigued, a Saturday afternoon visit to their branch in The Vantage at Hung Hom was arranged.

In all honesty, we weren’t expecting much, if you want to eat fish (or meat) then, at the moment, nothing matches the real thing for flavour or texture.
And the same is true with ‘vegetarian’ fish, in a direct comparison – really there is no comparison – to cod the beautiful flaky white pieces of cod are delicious. And ‘fish and chips’ is really cod and chips, nothing else is better battered and deep-fried to a golden hue.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220514-Vegetarian-Fish-Chips-Chip-In/i-TGRrx9D

That said if you don’t try to compare it to the real thing, the vegetarian soy product is not that bad. It has a reasonable texture and flavour, if a little salty, and it holds the batter well.

And for dessert, there are Chip In’s unique deep-fried Oreo cookies, sweet chewy and delicious!

If your vegetarian friends have been keeping you away from your local fish and chip shop, then invite them along to Chip In in Sai Kung or Hung Hom and everyone will be happy.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2022/20220514-Vegetarian-Fish-Chips-Chip-In/i-FfZLKf5

Chip In: Sai Kung
Shop 11, G/F, 9 King Man Street,
Sai Kung, Hong Kong.
Tel: 6418 6575
Opening Hours: 11am – 7:30pm

Chip In: Hung Hom
Unit 28, G/F The Vantage, 63 Ma Tau Wai Road,
Hung Hom, Hong Kong.
Tel: 9452 3373
Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm

Great Food Hall ReOpens to Intoxicate Your Taste Buds

The Cheese room is open again! After an extensive cosmetic makeover, Great Food Hall in the basement of Pacific Place has reopened. The new upmarket concrete with hints of bronze design fits with Pacific Place’s attempt to position itself a premium location, despite the resultant drop in foot traffic.

The renovated store features a lot more ready to eat options, there’s salads, cooked meats, sushi, Korean etc all with portion sizes and prices surprisingly competitive compared to other options. You can also preorder your salad (sadly not any of the other lunch options, maybe that’ll come in the future) on the new Great-to-Go app that hopefully will make getting lunch a quicker and less stressful experience.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Great-Food-hall-ReOpens-15-October-2019/i-dBRMDWK

Thankfully the cheese room remains, stocked full of tasty fromage from across the globe including France’s Mons Comte and Italy’s Artigiana. There’s sustainable Italian caviar from Calvisius at the ‘Luxury’ counter. As well as a range of fresh smoked salmon from H Forman & Son, the UK oldest salmon curlers. Meat lovers will find the beef, lamb and pork from across the globe including US Brandt Beef from California, Tasmanian Cape Grim Beef and English Yellow Longhorn from The Ginger Pig. This wide selection offers you the chance to buy the same cut from different producers, cook them together and compare the flavours and textures. All are delicious – but also quite unique.

At a US Beef organised meat tasting in the old Great, an artisan butcher from California offered this advice on buying meat – and it’s worth repeating again. “Decide how you are going to cook your meat first, then ask your butcher which cuts are best suited for that cooking method.” Great also still offers a dry-aging and a cooked to order service.

Also along the back wall next to the meat counters, Cosro Italia offers freshly made pasta, pizza and ready to eat meals. For vegetarians, there’s a wide range of salads and many products on the shelves. While Tai Pan Pies offers sweet and savoury options.

Triple O’s remains and there’s a new coffee counter One Shot offering freshly made coffees. Sadly while there’s lots of tea on the shelves we didn’t find a nice cup to ‘lai cha’ to enjoy with our lunch.

The remodelled store looks a lot ‘fancier’, but also feels as though it’s more expensive to shop there. Take a look, there’s a lot to intoxicate and excite your taste buds.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Great-Food-hall-ReOpens-15-October-2019/i-sGr2vmv

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Great-Food-hall-ReOpens-15-October-2019/i-fwbQMTm

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Great-Food-hall-ReOpens-15-October-2019/i-vWz6Lpk

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Great-Food-hall-ReOpens-15-October-2019/i-GTKFpw8

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Great-Food-hall-ReOpens-15-October-2019/i-rpCjHgJ

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)

PizzaExpress x JUST Egg Vegan Pizza

The assorted healthy / diet fads that are sweeping the web and restaurants both locally and internationally often obscures the fact that some people really cannot eat gluten, dairy, eggs etc. And it can be really difficult for those with dietary restrictions to safely enjoy a meal out with friends.

PizzaExpress has teamed up with JUST Egg to expand it’s vegan and vegetarian menu offerings with new pizza and pasta dishes. JUST Egg is a new mung bean based plant alternative to egg that is high in protein and cholesterol free. Like real eggs Just Egg scrambles nicely to create a light fluffy texture and it also works well in cooking as both a binding and emulsifying agent.

The two new vegan dishes are currently only available at the recently opened Pizza Express Lee Tung in Wanchai. The JUST Pizza ($138) is dressed with tomato sauce and topped with scrambled JUST Egg, crumbled vegan sausage, button mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, vegan mozzarella and fresh rosemary.

The JUST Spaghetti ($128) is made with a JUST Egg, mushroom, liquid smoke puree and tossed with chopped peppadew and parsley.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Pizza-Express-Just-Egg-Vegan-Pizza-Launch-14-August-2018/i-SFPLcCQ

Pizza Express Lee Tung

Shop G31, Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai
Tel: 3164 1303
www.pizzaexpress.com.hk

Note: JUST Egg was previously known as JUST Scramble

Confusion Plant Based Kitchen

After a few hiccups during construction Confusion Plant Based Kitchen is open in Sheung Wan and hopes to show that “Plant based cuisine is more than just salads and raw fruit. It can be an adventure in variety, a dance upon your taste buds.”

Confusion Plant Based Kitchen

103, Jervois Street, Sheung Wan

Hong Kong

Tel: 2563 3699
Open: 9am-9pm