This sauce is deeply rich, packed with umami – and created in Hong Kong
A Hong Kong restaurateur transformed his burger shop with Exotica Umami – Ex M for short. Now, he is elevating luxury dining with it
Four years ago, Dan Gan was a restaurateur running Exotica Gelatea, a 200 sq ft (19-square-metre) Italy-inspired burger-and-gelato shop on Sharp Street in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay neighbourhood. The location was brutal.
“Every person that stopped by or passed would say, ‘You’re dead. You chose the wrong location,’” Gan recalls. “There were about eight burger restaurants within five minutes’ distance all around us, and they had much better traffic because some of them were global brands.”
With no other staff and a business he feared would fail, he threw himself into the kitchen in an attempt to create a signature burger sauce that might keep him alive.
After reinventing it to suit modern palates, what emerged was a savoury, complex marinade he eventually named Exotica Umami – Ex M for short.
Created in small batches, the marinade has a base made with premium pork, herbs and spices left to ferment for around 80 days.