https://www.scmp.com/rss/266913/feed An avid traveller and glutton for the good things in life, Kee has set foot on every continent on the planet, yet is overawed by how little he has seen and how much more there is to explore. While lucky enough to bed down at many of the finest hotels in the world, Kee also believes that there’s no place like home. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Kee Foong Kee Foong On a windswept afternoon on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, I’m standing with arms outstretched on a stone platform beside the sea. A woman circles slowly, swirling a smoking chalice of fragrant copal resin as waves crash onto the shore just feet away from me. Incantations are offered to the four elements of air, water, earth and fire as we turn to face their cardinal directions. A drum beats. A conch shell sounds. Prayers are chanted to Father Sky, Mother Earth and the world in between. This... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/travel-hotels/article/3349461/wellness-retreats-mexicos-yucatan-peninsula-connect-cultural-traditions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/lifestyle/travel-hotels/article/3349461/wellness-retreats-mexicos-yucatan-peninsula-connect-cultural-traditions?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Apr 2026 10:00:08 +0000 Kee Foong Kee Foong I was a kid living in Sydney when I first heard about the Tasmanian wilderness. It was the early 1980s, and a hydroelectricity project that would have destroyed swathes of virgin forest to dam a pristine river system had sparked national outrage. Across Australia, “No Dams” bumper stickers appeared on cars owned by people who had likely never set foot in the state yet passionately demanded preservation of its environmental treasures. News footage showed protesters chaining themselves to trees to... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3333247/tea-dark-waters-and-ancient-stone-quiet-majesty-tasmanias-port-davey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3333247/tea-dark-waters-and-ancient-stone-quiet-majesty-tasmanias-port-davey?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Nov 2025 02:00:15 +0000 When Christopher Columbus set off to discover new lands, he thought he saw mermaids. Records indicate the 15th century Italian explorer was disappointed, thinking them “not half as beautiful as painted”. That is because they were not mermaids at all; they were manatees, large marine mammals found mostly in the warmer coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean. I, on the other hand, am on the lookout for their near-identical cousins – dugongs – found in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Also known as sea... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3257986/coral-reefs-elusive-dugong-and-wealth-other-marine-life-mozambiques-bazaruto-archipelago?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3257986/coral-reefs-elusive-dugong-and-wealth-other-marine-life-mozambiques-bazaruto-archipelago?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Apr 2024 11:15:16 +0000 This year, Central, in Lima, Peru, was crowned No 1 at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, ending a more than two-decade European and American stranglehold on the list. Not that the result was entirely unexpected. The South American winner had hovered tantalisingly close to the top for years. Opened in 2008, Central has become a champion not only of the country’s cuisine, but also its farmers, producers and artisans. At its multipurpose home in the Peruvian capital, chef couple Virgilio... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3241943/cant-book-worlds-best-restaurant-central-mil-also-peru-fascinating-alternative-centrals-chef-couple?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3241943/cant-book-worlds-best-restaurant-central-mil-also-peru-fascinating-alternative-centrals-chef-couple?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Nov 2023 10:15:09 +0000 Barely two years ago, when people talked about who would be the next culinary star in Hong Kong, Aven Lau’s name was often on the list. The then 27-year-old was head chef at Bâtard, one of the hottest restaurants in town. Once he took the reins in the kitchen, the food went from simple bistro fare to edible artworks that wowed the city’s gourmets. Bookings became insanely difficult to secure even for industry insiders, and Lau’s ascendancy seemed unstoppable. But then something started to feel... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3235461/my-one-year-nightmare-hong-kong-chef-aven-lau-his-panic-attacks-gruelling-lifestyle-led-them-and-how?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3235461/my-one-year-nightmare-hong-kong-chef-aven-lau-his-panic-attacks-gruelling-lifestyle-led-them-and-how?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Sep 2023 04:45:21 +0000 To grasp the scale of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, you need to arrive by air. In addition to being quick and convenient, flying provides an un­beatable perspective of this marvel of nature where, for half the year, nearly 20,000 sq km (7,700 square miles) of southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert is transformed into a spectacular inland lagoon that swirls with life … and death. Taking off from the dusty township of Maun, parched earth and tin roofs give way to a carpet of green that meets the blue... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3224151/african-wild-dogs-brief-encounter-botswana-elusive-apex-predators-under-threat-humans-and-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3224151/african-wild-dogs-brief-encounter-botswana-elusive-apex-predators-under-threat-humans-and-their?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Jun 2023 05:15:12 +0000 Wander the streets of Milan on any given evening and you will see people congregating at cafes and bars, on pavements and in piazzas, drink in hand. They are partaking in the ritual of taking an aperitivo, or aperitif, to stimulate one’s appetite before dining. Gathering for post-work, pre-dinner drinks occurs worldwide, of course, but in Italy it’s an intrinsic part of the culture, elevated from drunken happy hours by the addition of food. It’s a pastime that dates to the decadent days of the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3222729/italy-invented-aperitif-pre-dinner-drink-difference-rowdy-happy-hours-begone-milan-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3222729/italy-invented-aperitif-pre-dinner-drink-difference-rowdy-happy-hours-begone-milan-tradition?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Jun 2023 06:00:19 +0000 A year ago, David Toutain was content running his acclaimed two-Michelin-star restaurant in Paris, France. Happily married to “an amazing woman”, with kids and a dog, he had no plans to expand, especially overseas. “Life was good,” he says. Then Elizabeth Chu – founder of Hong Kong’s ZS Hospitality Group, behind restaurants including Hansik Goo, Whey and Ying Jee Club – ate at his eponymous restaurant. Impressed, she invited him to collaborate on a new venture. He flew to Hong Kong to see what... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3221647/i-didnt-expect-it-be-so-good-french-chef-how-hong-kongs-independent-farmers-and-growers-made-his-new?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3221647/i-didnt-expect-it-be-so-good-french-chef-how-hong-kongs-independent-farmers-and-growers-made-his-new?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 May 2023 04:45:09 +0000 Growing up surrounded by food, Shun Sato seemed destined to become a chef. His father owned an izakaya (pub) in the northeastern Japanese city of Sendai. Local workers and businessmen would come for simple fare such as fried or grilled meat and seafood to wash down with beer or sake, and Sato would sometimes help serve customers or do the dishes. But, if anything, it put him off following in his father’s footsteps. “I grew up eating a lot of sashimi,” says Sato. “We would eat it all the time. My... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3213315/i-want-be-seen-more-chef-shun-sato-his-culinary-journey-sendai-japan-soho-hong-kong-australia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3213315/i-want-be-seen-more-chef-shun-sato-his-culinary-journey-sendai-japan-soho-hong-kong-australia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Mar 2023 04:45:08 +0000 Don’t challenge Paulo Airaudo about the authenticity of his cooking unless you are prepared to argue its merits in his native language. The heavily tattooed and bearded chef bristles at questions about whether the food at Noi, his new restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, is Italian or not. “Explain to me in Italian why it’s not Italian,” he will ask of doubters about a style of cooking that defies pigeonholing, bringing the discussion to an end in most cases. In particular, he... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3204077/if-you-dont-eat-shellfish-your-problem-chef-his-us360-no-choice-menu-noi-italian-restaurant-four?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3204077/if-you-dont-eat-shellfish-your-problem-chef-his-us360-no-choice-menu-noi-italian-restaurant-four?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Dec 2022 04:45:10 +0000 For one of Asia’s most experienced architects and interior designers, who has worked on numerous commercial and residential developments, the renovation of a humble weekend getaway should have been a simple affair. But what Steve Leung thought would be a four-month project turned into a two-year labour of love that saw budget blowouts, typhoons, flooding and limited access to utilities. The property’s prize asset, its isolated setting on Lamma Island, in Hong Kong’s south, also became its... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3194072/one-kind-hong-kong-home-was-dads-labour?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3194072/one-kind-hong-kong-home-was-dads-labour?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Sep 2022 04:45:07 +0000 Hong Kong has long been an attractive market for celebrity chefs. Some of their restaurants, such as the late Joël Robuchon’s L’Atelier in Central, on Hong Kong Island, have become mainstays. Others such as Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spoon and Mercato burned brightly and briefly, while the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver lent their names to establishments of questionable quality. And the big names keep coming: Paulo Airaudo, of two-Michelin-star Amelie in Spain, recently opened Noi, a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3193259/unlike-gordon-ramsay-joel-robuchon-and-jamie-oliver-these-top?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3193259/unlike-gordon-ramsay-joel-robuchon-and-jamie-oliver-these-top?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Sep 2022 04:15:11 +0000 When Shane Osborn opened Cornerstone in 2019, its main courses were priced below HK$200. This was excellent value given the restaurant’s location in central Hong Kong and its food quality, with many ingredients sourced from the same suppliers as his lauded refined dining restaurant Arcane. But the sharply rising costs of labour, produce, wine, insurance and utilities – to name a few things – forced him to increase prices, with mains now between HK$250 and HK$300 (US$32 to US$38). However, its... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3188422/affordable-fine-dining-hong-kong-its-possible-restaurants-may?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3188422/affordable-fine-dining-hong-kong-its-possible-restaurants-may?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Aug 2022 04:45:12 +0000 The Dorchester is a stalwart of London’s hotel scene, and now so is Michael Kwan Ho-lam, a Hong Kong-born pastry chef with more than 14 years’ experience in spinning magic out of sugar and flour. In April, he was appointed the historic venue’s new executive pastry chef and now leads a brigade of 25. A childhood surrounded by food “All I have known since I was a very little boy is food. I grew up around food; both my uncles were head chefs, which really inspired me to be at that level one day.... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3185636/jam-or-cream-first-scones-top-pastry-chefs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3185636/jam-or-cream-first-scones-top-pastry-chefs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Jul 2022 04:45:21 +0000 During the early 2000s, El Bulli – Ferran Adrià’s temple to molecular gastronomy – was regularly voted the world’s best restaurant. Adrià, along with the Roca brothers, at El Celler de Can Roca, Andoni Luis Aduriz, at Mugaritz, and Juan Mari and Elena Arzak, at Arzak, to name a few, have established Spain as a global culinary force. Throughout that decade, that influence spurred the rise of contemporary Spanish restaurants in Hong Kong, including The Principal, Catalunya, Vasco, FoFo by el Willy... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3184628/high-end-spanish-cooking-respects-ingredients?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3184628/high-end-spanish-cooking-respects-ingredients?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Jul 2022 03:15:11 +0000 I grew up outside Chicago in the US, in a family that ate at a lot of restaurants. My father would take us to the city of Milwaukee, in the state of Wisconsin, for German food, or to the west side of Chicago for Italian, and we’d dine on dim sum in Chinatown at a time when no one was eating it in Chicago. My first job in the restaurant industry was at a music venue making cheeseburgers and nachos when I was about 14. I began as a cashier working the register. The guys in the kitchen were... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3178004/3-michelin-starred-chef-how-chinese-food?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3178004/3-michelin-starred-chef-how-chinese-food?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 May 2022 04:20:20 +0000 The lead-up to Christmas 2021 was an exciting time for Dan Hong. After enduring four months of lockdown in the Australian city of Sydney, the executive chef at the Merivale hospitality empire, which includes Chinese and Asian restaurants Mr Wong, Ms G’s and Queen Chow, was set to launch another mega eatery, MuMu. Sydney’s residents, starved of restaurants and bars, were cautiously but determinedly heading out again. “We opened with guns blazing, the city was in full swing, and it was the peak... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3168918/best-restaurants-sydney-and-what-eat-them-australias-biggest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3168918/best-restaurants-sydney-and-what-eat-them-australias-biggest?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Mar 2022 23:15:21 +0000 Joanna Yuen feels that pastry-making is her destiny. “I’ve been put on Earth to make desserts,” says the pastry chef at Ando, a Michelin-star restaurant in Hong Kong’s Central district on Hong Kong Island. She is among a crop of young talent wowing patrons with sweet sensations at the city’s most acclaimed dining establishments. Although she can’t imagine doing anything else, a career in the kitchen wasn’t always a given. Yuen knew from age 12 that she wanted to become a pastry chef, but “I was... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3168206/just-desserts-why-four-young-chefs-chose-baking-over-any-other?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3168206/just-desserts-why-four-young-chefs-chose-baking-over-any-other?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 26 Feb 2022 01:20:21 +0000 We know that plant-based diets are good for us, and better for the environment. According to the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), eating meat and dairy products is a significant contributor to global warming. Studies show they account for more than 50 per cent of emissions from food production, with beef the major culprit. The reality, however, is that most diners aren’t ready or willing to become fully vegetarian or vegan. Rather, people are adopting flexitarian... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3163893/flexible-vegetarian-options-hong-kong-four-restaurants-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3163893/flexible-vegetarian-options-hong-kong-four-restaurants-city?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Jan 2022 04:15:16 +0000 You know the most wonderful time of the year is near when certain items appear in bulk in the supermarket: legs of ham, gingerbread men, whole turkeys, chocolate logs – and panettone. The last has many detractors, who find it a dry, tasteless waste of calories best consigned to the scrapheap of tradition. That’s a shame, as many people only try the mass-produced varieties and miss out on the delights of artisanal panettone. At its best, panettone should be a billowing, toffee-hued,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3159747/best-panettone-bakers-reveal-secrets-making-italian-christmas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3159747/best-panettone-bakers-reveal-secrets-making-italian-christmas?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Dec 2021 04:45:13 +0000 Antimo Merone is sitting in the private dining room at his popular restaurant Estro, in Hong Kong’s Central district, trying to explain a seeming contradiction. On the one hand, Italy is a young country – it was formed in 1861 to unite what was previously a collection of fractured states – and there was no national cuisine to speak of. Major differences existed in the food from region to region, and even between households. Dishes such as pasta carbonara and tiramisu (which non-Italians... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3157868/pasta-pizza-and-tiramisu-italian-food-so-much-more-say-four?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3157868/pasta-pizza-and-tiramisu-italian-food-so-much-more-say-four?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Dec 2021 04:45:15 +0000 Unless you live under a rock, you will have seen that street art is everywhere in Hong Kong, from Sai Kung to Wong Chuk Hang to Central – where tourists patiently queue to take selfies with the art on the wall of the Goods of Desire store on Hollywood Road. Well, they did before anti-government protests and the pandemic kept them away. Less obvious is the popularity of murals inside bars and restaurants. In the age of social media, it’s not enough for the food and drink to be photogenic –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3156943/hong-kong-restaurant-interior-design-embraces-wall-art-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3156943/hong-kong-restaurant-interior-design-embraces-wall-art-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Nov 2021 23:15:22 +0000 Is “curry” a racist, colonialist term, and should it be cancelled? In a social media post that was widely reported (including by this newspaper), an Indian-American food blogger stirred up fiery debate on the subject, saying that curry doesn’t exist in the South Asian lexicon, and is an offensive catch-all word that misrepresents the cuisine of an entire subcontinent. Derived from the Tamil kari, which varies in meaning from “blackened” to “spiced sauce”, it was adapted to carel by Portuguese... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3152978/how-curry-spread-across-asia-spawning-local-versions-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3152978/how-curry-spread-across-asia-spawning-local-versions-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Oct 2021 04:15:19 +0000 In the summer of 2019, Him Lau stepped out from lunch at a plant-based restaurant in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. Across the road, a towering residential development caught the banker’s eye, it being unusual in a neighbourhood known for low-rise shophouses and tenement buildings. Curious, he searched online and found that a penthouse flat was up for sale in the block. Not wanting to rush into buying their first home, Lau and his partner, graphic designer Kevin Chan, spent a further year inspecting... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3152059/penthouse-fuses-japanese-design?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3152059/penthouse-fuses-japanese-design?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Oct 2021 01:30:27 +0000 When she was a young girl, Yvonne Kam Kiu-yan would visit Yung Kee, a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong’s Central district famous for its roast goose, on special occasions. Although her family owned the restaurant, it was always a treat for her to dine there. “Before dinner, while the adults played mahjong, we would play on the staircase with our cousins and other customers’ kids,” Kam reminisces. Now Kam spends much of her time in the restaurant or the offices upstairs. Officially, she is the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3148002/heirs-three-hong-kong-heritage-restaurants-talk-about-taking?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3148002/heirs-three-hong-kong-heritage-restaurants-talk-about-taking?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Sep 2021 04:45:11 +0000 Never underestimate the power of a search engine. For Kristina Kang, it was life-changing. In late 2019 she and her husband bought a flat on Old Peak Road that needed overhauling, but they didn’t know where to start. “I just went online and googled: ‘sustainable, eco-friendly interior design, Hong Kong’ and Liquid Interiors came up,” she says. Drawn to what she saw on the firm’s website, Kang, who works in the sustainability sector, contacted Rowena Gonzales, Liquid Interiors’ principal and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3147031/natural-sustainable-materials-and-muted-palette-turn-1520?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/3147031/natural-sustainable-materials-and-muted-palette-turn-1520?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Sep 2021 01:30:19 +0000 “Terrible, really badly designed,” was the blunt assessment of designer Wesley Liu Yik-kuen when he first saw the 313 sq ft microflat in Hong Kong’s Kennedy Town that he had been hired to renovate. “It was much smaller than I thought it would be,” says Liu, the co-founder of Interiors No.3 and founder of PplusP Designers, with the four-room apartment feeling poky and dingy, despite having a balcony and stunning sea views. The owners, a couple in their 30s who still live with their respective... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3143650/tricks-help-maximise-storage-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/design-interiors/article/3143650/tricks-help-maximise-storage-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Aug 2021 01:30:14 +0000 Venezuelan-born chef Ricardo Chaneton tells of the time a compatriot started crying in front of him at Mono, his contemporary Latin American restaurant in Hong Kong. The diner, who had been living in the city for more than 20 years, “took a bite of an arepa, and went ‘wow’, as tears gently rolled down her cheeks”, he recalls. The snack, a traditional stuffed cornmeal patty, had brought back memories of the customer’s childhood in Venezuela. While food can trigger emotional responses, Chaneton is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3142957/why-chefs-love-kitchen-counter-borrowed-sushi-restaurants-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3142957/why-chefs-love-kitchen-counter-borrowed-sushi-restaurants-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Jul 2021 04:51:49 +0000 “A bar is not a good bar unless it serves good food,” proclaims John Nugent. It’s a bold statement, given that many terrific bars focus on drinks, but one that speakeasy-style The Diplomat – where the American mixologist plies his trade in Hong Kong’s Central business and entertainment district – lives up to. Ranked 20th in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list for 2021 and voted best new bar on the list, not only has it won plaudits for its excellent cocktails, but fans declare its wagyu beef burger the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3135758/4-gastropubs-hong-kong-superior-bar-food-creative-cocktails?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3135758/4-gastropubs-hong-kong-superior-bar-food-creative-cocktails?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jun 2021 04:15:07 +0000 The two years Aven Lau spent in Singapore’s compulsory National Service were vital to his development as a chef. It wasn’t the army discipline that shaped him, however, but the plentiful free time he had, when he would voraciously consume cookbooks and watch YouTube clips by the bad boys of Britain’s dining scene – Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White and Tom Aikens – who made French cuisine sexy to an international audience. “I find that generation of chefs inspiring,” says Lau, chef de cuisine... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3127801/four-chinese-chefs-running-french-restaurants-hong-kong-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3127801/four-chinese-chefs-running-french-restaurants-hong-kong-their?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Apr 2021 04:15:13 +0000 Sweet and sour pork, char siu, Peking duck, spring rolls, xiao long bao, wonton, ma po tofu, crispy skin chicken, hot and sour soup, fried rice – and so much more. The list of internationally beloved Chinese dishes, questions of authenticity notwithstanding, is long. Ask people about Chinese desserts, though, and they are likely to draw a blank. As popular as Chinese cuisines are, it’s the savoury dishes that are the stars – sweets languish in the shadows, without an identity of their... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3122014/salted-egg-tarts-horlicks-ice-cream-and-honey-joys-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3122014/salted-egg-tarts-horlicks-ice-cream-and-honey-joys-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Feb 2021 04:15:16 +0000 On a predawn flight from Bangkok to Paro, I discovered Bhutan’s Queen Mother (one of four) and a princess were dozing two rows in front of me. On landing, the red carpet was rolled out for them, and quickly rolled back up again before my commoner’s feet could soil it, but for the next nine days, my partner and I got a princely taste of the high life. View this post on Instagram Eye max. Spectacular panoramas from the grand reception and dining rooms... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3048940/we-review-six-senses-bhutan-4-new-luxury-lodges?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3048940/we-review-six-senses-bhutan-4-new-luxury-lodges?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Feb 2020 18:00:17 +0000 Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state and Mexico’s second largest city, boasts a population of some 4.5 million people and is home to tequila, mariachi, the national sport charrería (think rodeo) and the national dance jarabe tapatío. It’s a major centre for arts and crafts, in particular ceramics, for which Mexico is renowned. But that’s not all. Guadalajara has a delicious and thriving food and drink scene, it’s the birthplace of Mexico’s most famous architect and there is a magnificent... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3048445/mexicos-most-authentic-city-why-you-should-head-guadalajara?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3048445/mexicos-most-authentic-city-why-you-should-head-guadalajara?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Feb 2020 11:00:12 +0000 Ask any gourmand where they would dine if they only had one night in the town of Modena, and nearly all would say Osteria Francescana. Securing a table at Massimo Bottura’s restaurant – awarded three Michelin stars and twice voted number one on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list – is like winning the lottery. So when I cancelled a booking there in order to eat elsewhere, friends thought I’d gone mad. But I had an ace up my sleeve: a reservation instead at Casa Maria Luigia, the new country... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3025086/we-review-casa-maria-luigia-worlds-best-chef-massimo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3025086/we-review-casa-maria-luigia-worlds-best-chef-massimo?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Sep 2019 02:00:10 +0000 What is it? A gem of a resort set in the jewel-like waters of the Indian Ocean. Huvafen Fushi - meaning "dream island" in the local Dhivehi language - is true to its name; white sand leads to dazzling hues of turquoise, aquamarine and azure before a plunge into the deep blue of the sea. More than 10 years after opening, Huvafen remains one of the Maldives' most intimate resorts - it takes less than 10 minutes to stroll across the island. And being just 30 minutes by speedboat from the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1858331/spa-maldives-thats-eight-metres-under-water?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1858331/spa-maldives-thats-eight-metres-under-water?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Sep 2015 14:49:51 +0000