Local chefs popularise healthy eating

Hong Kong has more than its fair share of gastronomic meccas, but diners are becoming more health-conscious than ever. The healthy eating craze is eating into many aspects of Hong Kong's food industry, and it's not just restaurant customers who are trying to slim.

Some of Hong Kong's biggest name chefs, Michelin star winners Harlan Goldstein and Alvin Leung, recently took part in a much-publicised battle over who could shed the most weight. Even influential food blogger Peter Chang, of Diary of a Growing Boy, has begun a series he calls Diary of a Shrinking Boy, detailing his new healthy lifestyle.

The craze for health-conscious dining is also an opportunity for restaurateurs to cash in, and many have been adding special healthy eating options to their menus.

The Great Vision Group - which runs restaurants such as Q-Deck in Wan Chai, Bulldog branches across town and most recently Forbes 36 in Kennedy Town - has gone a step further, enlisting muay Thai world champion Alain Ngalani to design a special healthy menu to his exacting standards.

You would be hard-pressed to find a better poster child for healthy living than the rippling mass of muscle that is Ngalani. He has a personal stake in the proliferation of healthy menus, too. "I don't really cook," he says over a thick mozzarella and spinach stuffed chicken breast from Q-Deck's Impakt Your Life menu (Ngalani represents Impakt gym).

"Eating out healthily in Hong Kong is not easy. There are now a few places with healthy stuff, but you're generally better off cooking for yourself," he adds.

Ngalani hopes to change that situation. Those who still picture healthy food as a pile of steamed spinach or cottage cheese and half a grapefruit will be pleasantly surprised by the Impakt Your Life menu. Aside from the chicken breast, there is also a large portion of salmon, a 12-ounce Australian rib-eye, and seafood linguini, all served in big, pub-style portions.