Lan Kwai Fong Street Food Festival 2017

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Spicy delights at this year’s LKF Street Food Festival with over 60 booths offering a wide range of spicy food and drinks.

Lan Kwai Fong Street Food Festival 2017 – Spice Market
Date: 29-30 April, 2017
Venue: Lan Kwai Fong
Tickets: Free
More info:
29 April – 1pm – 12am
30 April – 1pm – 10pm

New Zealand Consulate Rugby Sevens Reception 2017

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The New Zealand Consulate hosted it’s annual Rugby Sevens Reception to promote and raise awareness of all things Kiwi, including meats, cheese, wines, juices, superb scenery, wonderful hospitality and of course talented sportswomen and sportsmen.
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Italian Cheese & Beer by The Italian Club @ Nom – 30 March, 2017

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The Italian Club hosted a night of Italian cheese and beer at the now closed Nom, which has been bought and will reopen in April as an Italian pub serving among other things craft beers and cheese…
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Cook Off @ Miramar Pizza Express – 23 March, 2017

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Pizza Express staged the first of it’s Cook Off Challenges at it’s Mirimar branch on the 23 March when Sushi Kuu‘s Mukogawa Satoru took on PE’s Dan Segall. The resulting pizza’s Yamaimo & Chicken’ and ‘Yuzukosho and Clam’ respectively were sampled and voted on by an appreciative audience and will be available for a limited time.
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Frites Tasty Lunchtime Salad Buffet

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There’s a massive range of lunch options in Causeway Bay, new to that choice this month is Frites all you can eat salad buffet for $98. There’s a choice of 15 different salads, with a little something for everyone’s taste from the traditional coleslaw, Caesar and Greek salads right the way through to a modern Super Protein Salad. There’s beetroot, chick peas and pumpkin, tuna quinoise, grilled sweetcorn and for those who need a bit of starch with their salad there’s roasted potato wedges.

For those looking for something a bit more substantial than just salads there’s a choice of the main dish add-ons: Sole Meuniere with brown butter caper sauce and steamed vegetables (add $58), Chicken Piccata with butter, olive oil, lemon, wine and capers served with steam vegetables (add $78) and a USDA 1855 8oz Steak and Frites (add $98).

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The portion sizes for the main supplements are full meals in themselves and the salads were fresh, tasty and regularly refilled to ensure nothing ran out. A sticky date pudding dessert and coffee or tea are an additional $20 each.

Frites healthy and varied salad buffet is only available in the Causeway Bay outlet, Monday to Friday 12-3pm and if you finish before 12:45pm you qualify for the 20% early bird lunch discount. What’s also nice is that for those who need to know the salad buffet menu lists the allergies and intolerances for each salad.

Frites Causeway Bay: Shop 1, G/F, Park Haven, 38 Haven Street, Causeway Bay. Tel: 2142 5233 www.frites.hk

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Taste of Hong Kong @ Central Harbourfront – 16 March, 2017

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Four days of delicious food on the Central Harbourfront, Taste 2017 is a vast improvement on 2016. The restaurants are more prepared, have a better understanding of the event, have prepped more portions (3-500 portions per regular dish/session seemed the average) so it’s unlikely they’ll run out… Purchasing food is quicker and easier. There’s more seating – if a lack of bins.

It’s expensive, dining at these 16 restaurants is anyway, but the food dishes we tasted were good. The portion sizes of some dishes are a little small for the price, the paper plates environmentally friendly but not the best given the quality of the food. And there’s lots of samples from the various shops and market to try.

While all 16 featured outlets are worth taking a look at, Richard Ekkebus Culinary Director at Amber has done something more than a little special – and raised the bar for all participants for next year – he’s set up a special seated dining area and each session the producers and suppliers of the ingredients of each of his dishes are introducing and talking about what you are eating. Fascinating!
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Treating Your Tastebuds

The Taste of Hong Kong festival returns for it’s second year to the Central Harbourfront. This year there are 16 restaurants participating and all will offer four taster portion sized plates: three standard items at prices $50-$200 and one iconic dish that could cost up to $420.

Payment this year is only by credit card, if you don’t have a credit card then you can buy a prepaid ($200, $300, $800) one at the festival or from any bank. The remaining balance can used after the festival at other shops around town.

So the big question is how to enjoy and get the most from Taste and sample all the dishes you want to… There are two main approaches to Taste, the casual wander where you sample and join the queues that take your interest. But really this relaxed approach while enjoyable does not bring the best out of the festival.

To get the most from Taste, you need a little advance planning and it’s best to go with three or more friends. Firstly download and peruse the menu, chose which dishes you want to try and then ‘rank’ them in a rough order. This gives you the restaurants you want to visit, and with around 3,000 people per session, you’ll be queuing, which realistically limits one person to 4-6 restaurants.

But this is where your friends come in. Choose a meeting/eating point and then each of you joins a different restaurant queue and buys 4 (or more depending on your friends orders/preferences) of each dish. Meet-up, eat-up, enjoy and repeat… Remember to bring a tray, or something similar, with you to help you carry all the dishes!

To whet your tastebuds here’s a list of some of the dishes that are available:

Amber: Fukuoka line caught Spanish mackerel cured & torched, Miyazaki Hyuganatsu.
Arcane: Rangers Valley wagyu short rib served with green beans, confit garlic and pepper sauce.
Café Gray Deluxe: Brittany Diver scallop, XO emulsion and Amalfi lemon.
Chino: Uni/ truffle/ spicy lobster tostada.
Duddell’s: Pan fried M9 Australian wagyu wasabi soy sauce.
Kaum: Ikan Belut – Sambal Hijau, pan-fried eel fillet served with char-grilled chilli, shallots, tomatoes and coconut oil relish.
Mercato: Black truffle lobster carbonara
Okra: Sea urchin a la mode – Murasaki uni with smoked jelly and sea water.
Rhoda: slow cooked Hawke’s Bay lamb shoulder, spiced cauliflower and cumin.
Tin Lung Heen: Barbecued Iberian pork with honey.
Tosca: Prime beef in pizzaiola sauce.
Yardbird: Yuzu chilli hot wings with fermented yuzu chilli sauce.
Zuma: Grilled Hakkinton pork skewer with miso and pickled daikon.

As well as these tasty dishes there’s several food shops, importers and a market offering a wide range of products to take home and enjoy. There are also food demonstrations and talks.

A little planning will treat you and your palate to a fine, if teasing, meal.

Taste of Hong Kong
Date: 16-19 March, 2017
Venue: Central Harbourfront
Tickets: $678, $198, $168 from Ticketflap

Edited: The menu card only list 15 restaurants, there are 16 participating. We have updated the article to reflect that.

Goût de France 2017

Goût de France / Good France returns on the 21 March to tease and tantalise tastebuds globally. Orchestrated by chef Alain Ducasse and the French government with the intent to showcase the French way of life, regional produce, and France as a tourist destination. Goût de France is inspired by Auguste Escoffier, who launched a Dîners d’Épicure (Epicurean Dinners) initiative in 1912: the same menu, on the same day, in several world cities, for as many guests as possible.

This year over 2,000 chefs on 5 continents are creating a special menu to celebrate French gastronomy and joie de vivre. Locally 15 restaurants are participating at a wide range of price points, with some menu offerings only available on the 21 March, while others are on offer all week.

The Good France menu should include an aperitif with finger food, a starter, one or two main course(s), a cheese platter and a dessert, accompanied by French wines and champagnes. The outlets taking part locally this year are:

Akrame (Wanchai)
AOC Eat & Drink
(Wanchai)
B.A.M le garde manger (Sheung Wan)
Brasserie on the Eighth (Admiralty)
Chez Raymond de Paris (Sai Kung)
Epure (Tsim Sha Tsui)
Fleur de Sel (Causeway Bay)
La Cabane Wine Bistro (Central)
La Table de Patrick (Central)
Le Bistro Winebeast (Wanchai)
Otto Restaurant & Bar (Causeway Bay)
Petrus (Admiralty)
Privé (Ponte 16, Macau)
Rech by Alain Ducasse (Tsim Sha Tsui)
Stan Café (Stanley)

For more details on the individual menus see each restaurants website and for more on Goût de France see www.goodfrance.com