Advertisement
Advertisement
Eat Drink Asia Podcast
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Yardbird is a yakitori restaurant in Sheung Wan. The brand plans to expand to the US. Photo: courtesy of Chicken and Charcoal

Eat Drink Asia: Yakitori at Yardbird, the man who makes Cloudy Bay wines, nachos of the world and a durian dessert smorgasboard

In episode four, we speak to Yardbird chef and owner Matt Abergel, who has some big news about the ever popular Sheung Wan restaurant. We also sample Nachos of the World Cup, and talk to the winemaker from Cloudy Bay

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Eat Drink Asia podcast.

In this episode, we head to Yardbird, one of Hong Kong’s most popular restaurants. Having opened in 2011, late last year it moved to bigger premises in Sheung Wan, and in May, worked with Phaidon to publish a high-end cookery book, Chicken and Charcoal.

The menu at Yardbird. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

We talk to Yardbird chef and owner Matt Abergel about how the restaurant was hatched, and he reveals some big news on the expansion front.

Matt Abergel is the executive chef and owner of Yardbird. Photo: courtesy of Chicken and Charcoal
Summer seems to be the season for food-eating contests. We’re still trying to digest the fact that American Joey Chestnut ate a staggering 74 hot dogs – buns included – at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in New York last week.

Chestnut broke the contest record as he downed the dogs in just 10 minutes.

Competitors ate a burger with eight patties at Burger Joys over the weekend. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Here in Hong Kong, my co-host Alkira Reinfrank took part in a burger-eating contest at Burger Joys in Wan Chai at the weekend. She competed in the vegetarian burger category, where she had to eat one as fast as she could. Alkira was beaten by Post colleague Lauren James, who tied for first place.

These five competitive eaters are so good it hurts

The meat category for the true glutton consisted of an eight-patty burger – how could anyone even fit that into their mouth? We don’t want to think about it …

Nachos of the World Cup from Cali-Mex. Here is the South Korean offering. Photo: Bernice Chan

Next up, Alkira and I finally catch World Cup fever, except we’re not worried about the soccer – we’re just after food! We head to Cali-Mex in Lan Kwai Fong to take on their special Nachos of the World Cup menu – because who doesn’t want to dig into nine different styles of nachos inspired by countries competing in Russia?

Cloudy Bay winemaker Jim White. Photo: Dickson Lee

White wines are great for summer. When you drink a Sauvignon Blanc, chances are it’s from the Marlborough region in New Zealand. I talked to winemaker Jim White of Cloudy Bay about why this winery is so successful, and how they are dealing with climate change.

Finally, summer isn’t complete without durian, known as the king of fruit. It’s a very divisive fruit – people either can’t get enough of it, or can’t get away from it fast enough. I get Alkira to try durian, not just in its raw form, but also as three (delicious) desserts at the Regal Hong Kong.

Durian is known as the king of fruit. Photo: Alamy

Follow us on Twitter:

Bernice Chan @beijingcalling
Alkira Reinfrank @alkirareinfrank
Post