Hong Kong celebrity Amanda Strang on the city’s dining scene: her ‘Ooonut’ creation sold out across town in 2020 – now the pastry chef is working with Kronenbourg
- At Mandarin Oriental’s Michelin-starred Man Wah, we sampled lobster, abalone, scallop and pork belly with the former actress and model
- It’s been years since Strang’s stint on TVB’s Market Trotter with food critic Chua Lam, but plenty of fans still queued up at her Flakes & Layers pop-ups
For anyone who loves food and Hong Kong, Amanda Strang needs no introduction. The model-turned-food extraordinaire proved her chops as a pastry chef when she graduated from the esteemed French culinary school Le Cordon Bleu in 2010. She then apprenticed at the famous Ladurée bakery and the three-Michelin-starred Caprice at the Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong. And who can forget the delicious cronuts at her bakery, Petite Amanda?
With the pandemic, and subsequent social restrictions and border closures, 2020 was a tough year for everyone across the globe. But last year, Strang launched a series of pop-ups around town under the brand Flakes & Layers, featuring a unique creation called the Ooonut. The pastry was a cross between a doughnut and millefeuille that was so popular, lines were circling around the shops. It sold out almost every day.
“Flakes & Layers was really a passion project of mine. The mood around the world was so miserable and I, myself, was also struggling with the passing of my father and a break-up at the same time,” Strang recalls. “I needed to do something positive, and doughnuts are just the kind of product that makes everyone happy. It could be someone who is four or 80 years old and I love seeing their eyes light up at the sight of pastries.”
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Taiwanese-French Strang brightens with excitement again after taking a bite of our first course of deep-fried matsutake mushroom pudding: “In Taiwan, we say QQ to describe this bouncy texture and I love it.”
The love of QQ texture also carries over to our next dish, chilled marinated abalone. The coveted shellfish was braised in a sweet Shanghai-style spiced marinade with the addition of dried octopus and pork that rendered a tender and flavourful bite.
“Abalone isn’t usually my favourite food item but I really like what they’ve done here,” she enthuses. “The texture is one of the best I’ve had.”