Hong Kong Food Expo offers HK$1 bargains as well as expensive Japanese green tea

Hong Kong’s annual Food Expo – one of the largest and most popular in Asia – is set to greet bargain hunters on Thursday with HK$1 offers for items including mooncakes and abalone.

At the other end of the scale, those with cash to spare will be able to flash it on Japanese tea costing HK$22,548 per 50gm on offer at a Japanese food pavilion featuring 331 exhibitors.

Hong Kong Food Expo sellers bait early birds with big discounts

The 28th edition of the expo organised by the Trade Development Council is made up of three areas at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai – a public hall, a trade hall and a gourmet zone.

The public can gain entry to the public hall and gourmet zone from Thursday till next Monday. The trade hall is open on Thursday and Friday only.

The expo, featuring more than 1,500 exhibitors from 26 countries, is expected to draw more than 500,000 people.

Council deputy executive director Benjamin Chau Kai-leung said the expo was larger and more international than in previous years.

“The number of exhibitors has increased 11 per cent, with more countries joining the fair,” Chau said.

Seven out of the 20 pavilions featuring foreign countries are newcomers, including Canada, Thailand and India.

HK Food Expo serves up top selection of tasty treats and a chance to win HK$7,000 of abalone

According to Chau, Hong Kong is a top market for Japanese food, taking 26 per cent of the country’s food exports. He added that some of these items were re-exported to other places.

“Though Hong Kong is a small city, it works as a good food-exchange platform in Asia,” Chau said.

“Japan’s leading position in Hong Kong’s food industry means it is returning to the expo as a partner country for the first time since 2012,” he said.

The Japan pavilion will feature a variety of products, including seafood, wagyu beef and tea.

One of the highlights will be limited-edition Japanese tea which won the tasting championship last year. But it does not come chap – at HK$22,548 for a box containing 50gm of the green tea. Only 10 boxes will be on sale at the expo.

A spokeswoman said she was positive about selling the tea. “We have a branch in Causeway Bay and our products used to be popular among Hong Kong buyers,” she said.

However, not everything will be expensive. Many vendors will bait customers with discounts and some HK$1 bargains for early birds.

For example, food supplier Cougar Hong Kong will offer its first 10 visitors the chance of joining a contest to win a travel token worth HK$3,000. The firm will also sell 20 packs of instant vermicelli worth HK$500 each for HK$1.

Wing Wah, a Hong Kong-based food company famous for its mooncakes and Chinese sausages, will reward its first 20 visitors over the first three days with a chance to grab as many mooncakes as they can in a carry bag for just HK$1.

Visitors can also pay HK$1 to enter a competition organised by another mooncake company, Chui Lau Heung on the first day of the expo.

The first three winners will be awarded a box of mooncakes every year for 30 years.

On Kee Dry Seafood will give the first 10 visitors on Thursday a chance to win a bag of abalone in a throwing game that costs HK$1.

Early visitors can also buy 100 pieces of fish siu mai, some kitchen utensils and other goods for just HK$1.

Hong Kong Food Expo entry tickets cost from HK$10 to HK$40.