Food & Drink

Hong Kong-born, Vancouver-based Noelle Lee works with a natural tanning process to transform fish skin (mostly salmon) to leather. Photo: Noelle Lee

The sustainable fashion designers using fish skin leather, onion peel dyes

Hong Kong fashion designers describe how they use sustainable materials such as natural dyes made from foods like onion peel and pomegranates, and leather made from fish skin.

18 Mar 2024 - 12:45PM
Yusheng is a newly popular Chinese dish for prosperity that doesn’t break the bank. It is part of a growing trend of “quiet luxury” in Chinese food that eschews ostentatious ingredients such as abalone and sea cucumber. Photo: Shutterstock

Bye bye, bird’s nest: young Chinese diners pivot to ‘quiet’ luxury food

Chinese epicures are moving away from ‘loud luxury’ ingredients such as abalone, shark fin and bird’s nest, and choosing sophistication over ostentation, while still dining auspiciously.

17 Mar 2024 - 1:15PM
Barry Quek at one-Michelin-star Whey, in Hong Kong’s Central neighbourhood. The chef says American cooking competition show Top Chef had “a really big impact” on his career. Photo: Edmond So

How Top Chef on TV changed the life of a Hong Kong Michelin restaurant chef

Barry Quek, head chef at Hong Kong Michelin-star restaurant Whey, talks about the impact cooking competition TV show Top Chef had on him, from teaching him techniques to the importance of ‘a plan B’.

13 Mar 2024 - 5:15PM
Tora Shokudo in Shirakawa, Fukushima, offers Shirakawa-style noodles. Photo: Brian MacDuckston

Japan’s best ramen? Gourmet guide ranks nation’s top 100 ramen restaurants

Japan’s Hyakumeiten restaurant-ranking system means no one has to go without an excellent serving of their favourite dish. Post Magazine goes in search of the ramen to top all ramen.

11 Mar 2024 - 12:45PM
Liaquat Ali of Shaffi’s Curry at Borneo Lines in Shek Kong, a food stall that served generations of British Army soldiers and Hong Kong residents.  4 Jan 96. Photo: SCMP

Then & Now | How ‘army camp food’ became a staple of Hong Kong cafe menus

Humble roadside food stalls introduced hungry Hongkongers to spicy but affordable South Asian delicacies that originated in the British Army garrisons stationed across the New Territories.

11 Mar 2024 - 7:45AM
Xizang Without Zombie, a baijiu cocktail at Guangdong bar SanYou. China’s “white spirit” used to be seen as uncool by young drinkers, but that’s changing. Photo: SanYou

How Chinese baijiu became cool, and part of a new ‘drinking language’

Baijiu, China’s ‘white spirit’, has long been seen as uncool by its young people, but hip cocktail bars specialising in the spirit, and a change in how it’s marketed, are altering that.

8 Mar 2024 - 8:14AM
Crowds galore on a Saturday at Tai Po Hui Cooked Food Centre, Tai Po, on January 13, 2024. Photo: Sam Evans

How Hong Kong’s cooked-food centres are the heart of city’s culinary scene

Selling high-quality, low-priced food, Hong Kong’s numerous cooked-food centres are the understated masters of the local culinary scene, but we must keep loving them, or risk losing them.

4 Mar 2024 - 9:36AM
Cliff Buddle watched Hong Kong’s wine industry transform over his nearly 30 years there. Now he’s seeing something similar in his new home of Kent, which is becoming known as the Wine Garden of England. Photo: Shutterstock

Home from Home | I watched Hong Kong become a wine hub. Now my UK home is doing similar

Kent is becoming the Wine Garden of England, with more and more vineyards offering tastings and tours. In Cliff Buddle’s early days in Hong Kong, a decent drop was hard to find – but worth the effort.

25 Feb 2024 - 2:15PM
Craig Wong’s signature jerk chicken chow mein is a Jamaican-Chinese fusion with crispy egg noodles, pulled jerk chicken, shiitake, bok choy and oyster sauce. Photo: Patois Toronto

Jerk chicken chow mein? Jamaican-Chinese chef shares his fusion triumphs

Jamaican-Chinese Canadian chef Craig Wong explains the inspiration behind his unusual fusion restaurant, Patois in Toronto, Canada, where jerk chicken chow mein is a signature dish.

27 Feb 2024 - 1:30PM
In Nothing Fancy, a natural wine bar in Singapore, pink neon lights set the tone. Photo: Instagram / @nothingfancy.sg

Simple pleasures: how Asia’s wine bars are shedding their stuffy image

Serving great wines with a food menu to match, these three wine bars in Hong Kong and Singapore show the oh-so-serious business is finally shedding its elitist image and becoming more welcoming.

23 Feb 2024 - 4:15PM
Many Britons pack tea bags when they travel. Photo: Shutterstock

Sauces, tea bags, noodles: the comfort foods travellers can’t live without

Some travellers can’t live without their comfort foods, from instant noodles and beef jerky to soy sauce, fish sauce and chilli flakes, favoured by Asians to liven up food they think of as bland.

18 Feb 2024 - 4:19PM
Juan Martin Bermudez, a researcher who works with chef Ángel León, sniffs a clump of Zostera marina (eelgrass) lifted from the waters of the Balbanera salt pans in the Bay of Cadiz in southern Spain. Photo: Victoria Burrows

Spanish chef champions seagrass grain as world’s most sustainable superfood

It grows in salt water and its grains are packed with protein and vitamins – eelgrass could be the most sustainable supercrop yet, says Ángel León, a chef dedicated to developing novel natural foods.

18 Feb 2024 - 1:15PM
Sisters Stephanie (left) and Tiffany Tse at their bakery Cuít in Sai Kung. Cuít has upped the bakery game in Hong Kong with its flavoured sourdough bread, sandwiches and pastries. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Profile | ‘Bread is the canvas’: sisters behind Hong Kong sourdough bakery cafe Cuít

Cuít in Sai Kung, founded by sisters Stephanie and Tiffany Tse, has upped the bakery game in Hong Kong with its flavoured sourdough bread, sandwiches and pastries.

17 Feb 2024 - 1:15PM
White Rabbit Creamy Candy is commonly eaten in Hong Kong around Lunar New Year. We look at these and other sweet treats popular over the holidays, and their origins. Photo: Shutterstock

7 Lunar New Year candies and cookies Hongkongers love, and their origins

Lunar New Year celebrations in Hong Kong, for many, mean eating Ferrero Rocher, sucking on White Rabbit candy, and other sweet treats. We look at some of the city’s favourites, and their origins.

10 Feb 2024 - 7:35AM
Kumquats, a common sight at Lunar New Year, come in different shapes and shades. Hong Kong-based preserves maker Jacqueline Ng uses round ones (above) from trees planted by her grandmother to make marmalade and jam. Fine-dining chefs incorporate kumquats in dishes too. Photo: Jacqueline Ng

What is a kumquat? Lunar New Year decoration – and fine-dining ingredient

Yes, they are ubiquitous in Hong Kong at Lunar New Year, but there is more to the humble kumquat than mere festive decoration. Chefs explain how they use them in preserves and fine-dining dishes.

8 Feb 2024 - 12:45PM
Blocks of fermented bean curd are deep-fried to make 
stinky tofu at a streetside snack stall in Hong Kong. Fermented tofu is a staple of cuisines across China and the diaspora. Photo: SCMP

Then & Now | Why Chinese around the world love fermented bean curd – even stinky tofu

Cheap but pungent, fermented bean curd has been adding flavour to Chinese rice and congee dishes for generations. Even stinky tofu can become highly addictive to those who come to enjoy it.

30 Jan 2024 - 11:10AM
Braised dried oysters with black moss (ho see fat choy ), a traditional Chinese new year dish. Photo: Shutterstock

Fat choy: ‘lucky’ Chinese New Year food that’s turned land into desert

Considered lucky because of its name in Cantonese, fat choy, black moss is a food eaten at Chinese New Year. However, overharvesting of it has led to desertification where it grows in China.

10 Feb 2024 - 9:27AM
Golden oyster at Chan Cheung Kee oyster farm in Lau Fau Shan. 10JAN24 SCMP/ Jonathan Wong

Golden oysters, a Chinese New Year treat in Hong Kong, face uncertain future

Plump, mild tasting and a symbol of prosperity on Chinese New Year tables, golden oysters have grown in popularity of late. But climate change is affecting farmers of the bivalve in Hong Kong.

10 Feb 2024 - 9:16AM
Cinnamon babka from TonTon in Shanghai, one of six bakeries to sample on an easy bicycle ride.

Babka to ciabatta, 6 Shanghai bakeries to sample on an easy bicycle ride

Sandwiches, ciabatta, babka, ice-cream-filled chouquettes – sample the delights of Shanghai’s best bakeries and burn a few calories as you ride between them by bicycle.

21 Jan 2024 - 1:15PM
Classic Mediterranean dishes at Terracotta, on Lamma. From seafood feasts and pizza to sweet treats and coffee, we explore the rich food and beverage landscape of Hong Kong’s laid-back third-largest island. Photo: Kylie Knott

Where to eat and drink on Lamma Island, Hong Kong’s eclectic food paradise

From seafood feasts and juicy lamb kebabs to Mediterranean fare and sweet treats with coffee, we explore the restaurants, bars and cafes of laid-back Lamma, Hong Kong’s third-largest island.

20 Jan 2024 - 11:14AM