Michelin-starred chef offers Hong Kong health kick with cold-pressed juices
Frenchman Akrame Benallal, whose Wan Chai restaurants are a hit with diners, has opened Water Juicery selling 21 fruit and vegetable juices. We tried five of the vitamin-packed offerings
Michelin-starred chef Akrame Benallal’s mini food empire in Hong Kong includes his eponymous fine- dining restaurant in Ship Street, Wan Chai, and his nearby casual steak house Atelier Vivanda. Now the Frenchman is getting into the health game with cold-pressed juices.
At Water Juicery, customers can order ahead online or by phone and then have the juices delivered or ready for pick-up. There are 21 to choose from, each comprising three to seven ingredients, so the juices are not only chock full of nutrients but flavour too. There are also three cold-pressed smoothies.
He uses a Norwalk Juicer, a hydraulic press juicer that is said to extract 50 to 100 per cent more juice and retain three to five times the vitamin and mineral content than other juicers.
The juices come in four colours: red, orange, yellow and green.
Another, La Vie En Rose (HK$58), comprising beetroot, cucumber, apple and strawberry juice, has an underlying beetroot taste, layered with cucumber and with a strawberry aftertaste. The taste is sophisticated, making you think of a glass of wine.
Orange Pour (HK$65) sounded promising, with healthy ingredients like pomegranate, orange, apple and carrot, but it had a watered-down taste.
The one we liked least was the Green-eyed Monster (HK$58). It’s full of spinach, kale, parsley, green bell pepper, lime, apple, lemon and cucumber, but was the most sour of the five we tasted. You’ll make a face like a green-eyed monster after drinking this one.
