Mouthing Off

Millennials’ love of casual dining revives food courts – but of the hip, artisanal, and pricey kind

Hong Kong’s newest food court, BaseHall in Jardine House, has a cool design and hip culinary talent, but do you really want to pay HK$128 for a laksa?

Hawker food stalls and cooked food centres are enjoyable to eat at because they are authentic and appeal to all

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BaseHall, in the basement of Jardine House, is a trendy new food court in Hong Kong, but will it ever replace the satisfaction of eating at a local dai pai dong? Photo: BaseHall

Andrew Sun has dabbled in many shades of the media spectrum for 25 years, from college radio, TV, print and online columnist to starting film festivals, managing music labels and authoring food books.

Published: 10:45am, 10 Jul 2020Updated: 11:18am, 10 Jul 2020

Here’s another sign of Covid-19’s devastating effect on the Hong Kong restaurant scene: the hottest new opening this summer is a food court.

That’s right. In the basement of Jardine House is BaseHall, a buzzy new destination featuring an arcade of some of the town’s hippest culinary talents. The venue plays cool music and has a snazzy lighting scheme. But ultimately, it’s still a food court.

The thing is, that’s not a term most retail operators want to use. It’s far too down-market for any shopping development that aims to project prestige and luxury.

The trend among malls in Hong Kong business districts to eliminate fast and cheap meal counters began a little more than 10 years ago. Pacific Place turfed out their popular food court for a Lane Crawford Home store. IFC and Elements deliberately didn’t leave space for multi-vendor dining areas.

A section of BaseHall food court’s interior in the basement of Jardine House. Photo: BaseHall

Not even McDonald’s is really welcome any more. Their outlets have been relegated from prime high-traffic locations to remote back lots. Think about where you have to go for McNuggets now if you’re at Elements, IFC or Pacific Place. Even a classier concept like Food Republic has retreated from Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing.