Eat this ...

Low foh tong, or double-boiled soup, is a traditional Cantonese dish and, in the local lexicon, almost synonymous with 'mum's excellent soup'. Regarded as a natural, hydrating and tasty supplement to solid meals, the soup contains meat and bones, seasonal vegetables and dried Chinese medicinal herbs.

Contrary to logic, double boiling does not mean the soup is boiled twice. Instead, it refers to the cooking method of submerging the ceramic pot of soup in a bigger container of water and placing it over a slow heat for two to four hours - or longer. The result is a subtle yet flavourful broth. Today, thanks to popularisation of pressure cookers and induction stoves, similar results can be achieved more quickly.

'Pressure cooking cuts the time in half,' says Maureen Loh, owner of Soup Cafe in Central's Airport Express Mall.

Hong Kong-born Loh, who studied nutritional science in Canada, was working with a dotcom start-up here when she saw a market for home-style soups delivered to your door.

'I was thinking about how so many young, urban professionals don't have the time, energy or knowledge to make soup. So I started a business in which people could order soups online and have them delivered to the office.'

In 2002, Loh turned the idea into a licensed restaurant. Now Soup Cafe has a large and loyal lunch crowd and the delivery website - which caters to office hubs on Hong Kong Island - is getting lots of hits.