Artisan butchers a cut above the rest

Hong Kong, the word "butcher" brings to mind a wet market counter with a man wielding a large cleaver, or for the more tech savvy, the online shops selling imported meats.

But another kind of butcher's shop is emerging - the kind that makes its own meat products, such as sausages, terrines, sauces and hamburgers, and will help you with your purchase in almost every way imaginable, from dry-ageing, to roasting it for your dinner party, and even teaching you how to make your own sausages.

Chef David Lai recently opened boutique butchery, Bistronomique Boucherie, complementing his other projects - restaurants On Lot 10 and Bistronomique, and cafe-bakery Boulangerie Bistronomique.

"Our kitchens are too small to make breads and desserts, so we have a bakery. The butcher's shop is a logical extension," says Lai.

"It's a two-way street. When we have a butcher shop, we carry more kinds of meat, and our restaurants benefit in that we can start using a wider variety of cuts and products," Lai says.

Previously, the cuts delivered to his restaurant were already broken down into individual components, such as tenderloin and short ribs. Lai says, "I think our goal is to get as big as we can handle. Eventually, we hope to be able to get half a side of the animal, but [at the moment] we are definitely getting a full leg and shoulder, to figure out how we can turn it into something better."