bc magazine

Lai Yuen Cha Chaan Teng

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Lai-Yuen-Cha-Chaan-Teng-28-June-2017/i-wGrLBCz

Almost everyone over a certain age remembers Lai Yuen, yet today it’s a brand in search of an identity and a product. The recent carnivals at Central Harbourfront in 2015 and Asiaworld Expo last year were a dose of nostalgia brought to life. But Hong Kong has two amusement parks today and even with 60 million tourists a year there’s not economic room for another. So what now? Earlier this month Lai Yuen open it’s first cha chaan teng style restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. bc went along for a lai cha.

Cha chaan teng’s are such an integral part of Hong Kong life, can they be ‘modernised’ and ‘branded’ – the answer is a qualified yes. Surprisingly the dishes we tasted at Lai Yuen were pretty good. The menu is extensive and full of traditional dishes and drinks.

The lai cha milk tea ($21) has body and flavour and is nicely smooth, as is the ‘yuan yang’ ($21) both strangely are served in plastic mugs. There’s a fun unique twist to the signature Fresh Pineapple Ice ($31) you’re also given the pineapple so you can ‘squeeze’ more juice yourself. Rather clever, especially in today’s selfie taking world.

The portions sizes are good, the signature Lai Yuen chicken drumstick ($48) is massive, a full meal in itself. The Dino curries have a good range of flavours from the mild Japanese, served with a Pork cutlet ($72) to the slow cooked beef brisket ($78) which has a nice ‘bite’ to it without being overpowering.

Dinos instant noodles with bacon, kimchee and cheese sauce ($64) has four good sized slices of bacon, a fairly dense cheese sauce and again is very filling. The addition of kimchee might seem a little odd, but the sharpness cuts through the denseness of the cheese noodles – if you want it to.

One of the signature dishes is Roasted Whole Chicken With Glutinous Rice ($158). It looks good was tasty and filling, although the chicken was a little dry, but not something you’d instantly return to buy unlike some of the other menu items.

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A staple of any cha chaan teng is ‘French toast’ and Lai Yuen’s is pretty good. Offering a variety of options including a caramel version ($30, $36 with soft boiled egg) for those who find the traditional version too sweet. The bread is big, cut reasonably thick but the egg dip and frying lacked that little quality that takes a dish from good to memorable and must return for.

And the place itself… Well that’s where Lai Yeun is a little strange. For a brand so identified with entertainment there’s strangely little atmosphere. Cha chaan teng’s, like amusement parks, are vibrant energetic places but Lai Yuen isn’t – despite the merry-go-round style lighting and horses hanging from the ceiling. It’s hard to say exactly why, but pondering on it I think it was the grey/green walls. It’s such a drab colour and seems to suck the energy and life from place.

A strange colour choice, certainly not a brand building or a colour to establish an identity on. Which is a shame, because the food and drinks are good, portion sizes are filling meal sizes – no eating here and leaving hungry – and prices very reasonable for 2017. There’s not many places in TST where you can get eat better for the price.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Lai-Yuen-Cha-Chaan-Teng-28-June-2017/i-cMfxZVR

Lai Yuen
12-16 Granville Road, TST, Tel: 3598 3088
www.laiyuenrestaurants.com
Opening Hours: 10am-11pm

Pizza Express Cook Off 2

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Pizza-Express-Cook-Off-2-Empire-Centre-6-June-2017/i-7k76tdC

Pizza Express have opened a new outlet at Empire Centre in TST East. The ground floor restaurant is also one the five participating in Pizza Express Cook Off 2. A vegetarian palate buster between Wan Veggie Mom’s Christine Cheng and PE’s Product Development Manager Sophia Cheung using vegetarian ‘fake’ meat.

Christine’s creation Beyond Burger Beef & Fig Pizza ($138) is a beautiful looking vibrant purple as she used beetroot sauce instead of the traditional tomato. Topped with buffalo mozzarella, ricotta cheese and crumbled marinated Beyond burger beef. The beetroot sauce was a little too salty but the combination of fig, beetroot and cheese on a thin crust was good. The fake burger meat added little beyond texture and the pizza would have been just as nice without it.

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Sophia chose a rectangular shape for her Beyond Chicken & Kale Pesto Pizza ($138) which was loaded with fake chicken, ricotta cheese, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, kale chips with a pesto sauce. There was little to no ‘chicken’ taste from the fake meat, but the pizza was full of texture and flavour.

Both chef’s have created interesting visually attractive and tasty pizzas that offer something new and different from Pizza Express’ regular menu. The vegetarian ‘meat’ did little for either pizza, and personally I would love to taste both with real meat. You can try the ladies Cook Off pizzas, and vote for your favourite, from 13 June at these Pizza Express outlets: Empire Centre, Wing Fung Street, Wellington Street, Mira Place and Airport.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Pizza-Express-Cook-Off-2-Empire-Centre-6-June-2017/i-W9ttTM4

Megabites: Food & Restaurant News 8 June, 2017

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Carlo-Riva-Wanchai-1-June-2017/i-pXWLcGh

Carlo Riva

There’s a new steakhouse in Wanchai Carlo Riva. The 5,000+ square foot restaurant with an impressive looking open kitchen is spread over two floors at 1 Heard Street, with the upstairs offering several private rooms.

The menu features steak cuts from across the globe: US, Australian, New Zealand, Argentina, France and some fine US tomahawks. Also on the soft opening menu is a range of pasta and vegetarian dishes. And they’re baking their own bread, the brie chunks in black sesame seed flour is rather good! There’s a separate and extensive lunch menu, from $68 up, with unlimited chips.

Style wise, to quote one of the owners “It’s relaxed fine dining with good sized portions at reasonable prices” and we can’t argue with that. Currently there’s no corkage charge so BYOB and no service charge.

Carlo Riva: 1 Heard Street, Wanchai Tel: 3956 2388
Opening Hours: 12-3pm, 6-11pm www.facebook.com/CarloRivaHK/

Brydock Farm Anti-biotic Free Pork

There’s a burgeoning market among the affluent who want to buy and eat meat only from ‘ethically’ reared and ‘healthy’ animals. Looking to cater to that market in the UK and now available locally is Brydock Farms with their range of anti-biotic free pork. Television adverts want us to continue to think of farms as small family-run places. Those simply aren’t economic today, at Brydock’s Farm for example in Aberdeenshire they have 10,500 outdoor sows and produce 4,600 pigs a week.

What has also changed are the government regulations, these are now very strict in the UK and cover all aspects of food production including animal feed, transportation, welfare, they also track each individual animal from the farm through the slaughterhouse. You can read more about this at www.redtractor.org.uk which looks to ensure promote clearer labeling and ensure food originates from a trustworthy source. Not only are these regulations in-place to prevent disease, they also ensure that if a farm claims for example that it’s pigs are anti-biotic free they can be tracked and tested to confirm it’s true. Brydock Farms anti-biotic free pork can be found in the freezers of your local supermarkets.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Geyre-Grand-Opening-3-June-2017/i-7Vkvsf6

Organic Fusion Bar G.Eyre

Newly opened in Wanchai is Genie Chan’s ‘organic fusion bar’ G.Eyre. All the ingredients are claimed to be organically sourced, principally from Australia, but unlike many other recently opened ‘organic places’ it’s refreshingly very much not vegetarian.

Appertisers include stewed potatoes with black dates ($78), mussels w/cider ($108). Mains feature organic chicken, cod, salmon, prawns and ribs but sides dishes are extra. A range of light meals with quinoa and brown rice cater to the calorie counters among you including teriyaki tofu w/cucumbers (228 calories) and spicy American beef stew (325 calories). Coffees and flower teas range from $20-$42. There’s also various set lunches daily. A 10% service charge is added.

G.eyre: 69 Hennessy Road, Wanchai. Tel: 2818 6992.
Opening hours: 11:30am-10pm
www.g.eyreorganic.com.hk

Opened a new restaurant, running a promotion, launched a new food product. Send the information to [email protected]

Vegetarian Cook Off @ Pizza Express Empire Centre – 6 June, 2017

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Pizza-Express-Cook-Off-2-Empire-Centre-6-June-2017/i-W9ttTM4

Pizza Express have opened a new outlet at Empire Centre in TST East. The ground floor restaurant is also one the five participating in Pizza Express Cook Off 2. A vegetarian palate buster between Wan Veggie Mom Christine Cheng and PE’s Product Development Manager Sophia Cheung using vegetarian ‘fake’ meat.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Pizza-Express-Cook-Off-2-Empire-Centre-6-June-2017/i-hmsMX7d

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Pizza-Express-Cook-Off-2-Empire-Centre-6-June-2017/i-H4NGpnh

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Pizza-Express-Cook-Off-2-Empire-Centre-6-June-2017/i-FbWZb7J

G.eyre Grand Opening – 3 June, 2017

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Organic fusion bar G.eyre in Wanchai celebrated it’s Grand Opening on the 3 June with a party, tasty organic food and some bubbly.
Click on any photo for more images

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Geyre-Grand-Opening-3-June-2017/i-mCDgk42

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New Zealand Food and Wine Connections @ Seafood Room – 25 May, 2017

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New Zealand Food and Wine Connections held at the Seafood room saw a range of Kiwi products showcased including meat, seafood, wines, beer and fruit and vegetables. Some are already available locally including the rather nice Te Mana lamb and the nicely marbled Mt Cook salmon which is tasty as sashimi but melt in your mouth delicious when lightly cooked. Lots of quality NZ produce to enjoy.
Click on any photo for the full gallery.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/New-Zealand-Food-and-Wine-Connections-Seafood-Room-25-May/i-gwhWFG5

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https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/New-Zealand-Food-and-Wine-Connections-Seafood-Room-25-May/i-qb3HMMr

Food Glorious Food @ Hofex 2017

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hofex-HKCEC-9-May-2017/i-L2mjwh9

The biannual Hofex descended on Hong Kong last week and bc went for a look see, here’s some of what we found. There’s a lot of food at Hofex but the majority of the suppliers, from across the globe, are food service orientated. That’s the provision of the food we enjoy in restaurants, cafes and hotels, from the raw ingredients to machines to technology.

In many smaller places, restaurant groups, but also even in hotel buffets, much of what you eat is outsourced and prepared in a factory or communal kitchens and reheated or finished just before you consume it.

The technology and cooking techniques in the food production area have improved massively in recent years – a simple local example would be the improved quality and options in the bread basket, where very few restaurants have the space/time to make their own – to the extent that with most dishes you shouldn’t be aware of the difference.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/HOFEX-HKCEC-11-May-2017/i-mFrFHHQ

Pizza is now a Hong Kong diet staple, with a plethora of different choices from low end to high end. As the big ‘specialist chains have expanded though the quality of many has noticeably dropped. You can even find frozen Tesco’s pizza in some supermarkets. At Hofex though Cypriot importer and online store www.greekdeli.com.hk was showcasing a frozen Greek pizza from Elliniki Nostimia. It’s tasty, full of flavour, loaded with cheese and available with a range of toppings and an estimated retail price of between $40-60. It should be available soon from outlets around town and also from their online store. And while you’re shopping there try out the various flavours of Greek yoghurts.

One of the big local food factories is Sims and among the many tasty things they were showcasing was a delicious chocolate dome comprising a hard chocolate outer shell, filled with soft moist chocolate sponge and then a liquid chocolate center. A difficult combination to execute successfully on a small scale let alone on a production line. Yet it was delicious. Not too sweet, the sponge moist, and so good we went back for a second later in the week.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hofex-HKCEC-9-May-2017/i-DrH4nwv

Brand extensions have been all the range among marketeers for a long time with many hoping to replicate, even on a small scale the phenomenal succe$$ of Hello Kitty. You’ll soon find on your supermarket shelves Jack Daniels BBQ sauces and Guinness Beer Brats and meatballs (Park n Shop, Jusco).

From Lativa comes Nelleulla chocolate flavoured with freeze dried fruit and lovely truffles coated with gold and filled with a range of flavours. The Taiwanese know how gold can help sell, and a company created a hand made nougat with a gold topping. Also from Taiwan for coffee lovers is a range of indigenous coffee with unusual flavours including sea salt coffee.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hofex-HKCEC-9-May-2017/i-69VfnDC

Melbourne cheese makers That’s Amore Cheese showcased several cheeses including Drunken Buffalo (a matured Buffalo milk cheese encased in Nebbiolo grape skins and lees and matured for six months) and Secrets of the Forest (a handcrafted Buffalo milk cheese mixed with winter truffles and matured in wild hay for six months) both are wonderful cheeses with unique flavours and we hope to see both available locally soon.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/HOFEX-HKCEC-11-May-2017/i-b8hfrGB

Not all of these are available now, but many should be in a retail or online store near you in the next few months.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hofex-HKCEC-10-May-2017/i-cV3qt4C

Megabites Food News – 15 May, 2017

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Sainsburys-Launch-in-Hong-Kong-Repulse-Bay-12-May-2017/i-w7gDqc7

Sainsbury’s in Hong Kong

A third British supermarket chain has launched it’s eponymous product ranges locally as Sainsbury’s make it’s first international foray. Waitrose has been available in Great Food Hall/Park n Shop for a couple of years and Tesco‘s own brand products have been available in Vango and Vanguard stores over six months.

Over 200 products from four different Sainsbury’s ranges – ‘by Sainsbury’s’, ‘SO Organic’, ‘Taste the Difference’ and it’s ‘freefrom’ wheat, gluten, milk, egg, nut – will be available primarily at Market Place by Jasons but also in some Wellcome and ThreeSixty stores. If the products prove popular expect the choice of items available to increase.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Cinco-de-Mayo-Basilico-5-May-2017/i-2ZWsZgV

Basilico $68 Set Lunch

Weekday Set Lunch prices have climbed and climbed in recent years and what used to be a value proposition of a reasonable tasting two course meal and non-alcoholic drink is now more often an expensive and not so generous portion with drink and service charge extra.

There are still some good set lunch offers to be found and the recently renovated kitchen at Basilico (9/F, 28 Tang Lung Street, Causeway Bay) is offering a two course lunch and drink for $68. The 7 main course options include wild mushroom risotto, stuffed pork loin, pizza and are accompanied with a soup or salad. For $108 the mains include black truffle linguini carbonara, New Zealand rib-eye steak and seafood linguini. A soft drink, tea or coffee is included with both and there’s no service charge.

Riesling Weeks Hong Kong

The fifth Riesling Weeks in Hong Kong, a month-long celebration of German wine led by its most famous grape Riesling, will take place in June. Over 100 outlets will participate this year. Riesling Weeks will start with a tasting event at the Oasis Room, Renaissance Harbour View Hotel Hong Kong on the 2 June hosted by German Wine Princess 2016 Christina Schneider. According to the press release there will be over 100 German wines to taste. Tickets are $250 (wine only) and $450 (German food and wine).

Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong: 5-7 September, 2017

This year’s Restaurant and Bar Hong Kong will take place from the 5-7 September, 2017 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The hospitality trade show will feature over 300 companies showcasing a wide range of products including food and beverages, tableware, catering equipment, furniture, IT systems, seminars and chef masterclasses. The 2nd RBHK Spirit Awards will take place during the show.

Gourmet Asia 2018

A new high end food exhibition, from the organisers of Hofex, Gourmet Asia will make it’s debut from the 9-11 May, 2018 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Over 400 B2B companies are expected to attend.