https://www.scmp.com/rss/325972/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Liu Guo-zhu is the executive chef of the two-Michelin-star Golden Flower restaurant in Macau, specializing in imperial Tan cuisine, which comes from Beijing and has aristocratic roots. In an interview, he talks about cooking for China’s late paramount leader and why traditions are essential for Chinese chefs. What was it like cooking for Deng Xiaoping? He loved dishes with chili because he was from Sichuan. He liked to enjoy a bit of alcohol as well. Back in 1981, there was a big military... https://www.scmp.com/food/macau-chef-liu-guo-zhu-recalls-cooking-former-chinese-leader-deng-xiaoping/article/3052641?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/macau-chef-liu-guo-zhu-recalls-cooking-former-chinese-leader-deng-xiaoping/article/3052641?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Feb 2020 12:19:31 +0000 A Hong Kong-based new app is hoping to pay people to eat more plant-based meals. Every time users in the city eat a vegan meal and submit the receipt to the app, Pay-a-Vegan, they will receive a $1 credit to be redeemed in the service’s partner restaurants. Eiko Onishi, the founder of the app, said she wants to encourage more restaurants to offer vegan food and make life easier for vegans by giving them restaurant recommendations. “Instead of convincing people to open a new, purely vegan... https://www.scmp.com/society/app-will-soon-pay-customers-eat-vegan-meals/article/3048882?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/app-will-soon-pay-customers-eat-vegan-meals/article/3048882?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Feb 2020 10:30:49 +0000 Averaging €300 for 100 grams (about $1,350 per pound) – but with the largest specimens selling for substantially more – highly sought-after white truffles from Italy’s northern Piedmont region are commonly called “white gold.” The Chinese love affair with these musky-tasting truffles has given rise to a niche industry of cooks, businessmen and millionaires from Shanghai to Singapore. They have become the main buyers of the expensive delicacy and the major protagonists in the annual truffle drama... https://www.scmp.com/food/why-wealthy-chinese-love-italys-white-truffles/article/3047288?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/why-wealthy-chinese-love-italys-white-truffles/article/3047288?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Jan 2020 11:09:30 +0000 It’s a slow week night and I find myself vegetating in front of the TV, watching another season of MasterChef. As usual, feisty judge Gordon Ramsay is ripping into another contestant for his poor job of cooking a piece of meat and Joe Bastianich is shooting daggers at another for sloppy plating. As an Asian viewer, though, what’s been gnawing at me over so many seasons is how little Asian cuisine they actually feature. As people discover food from Asia, this geographic region has undeniably had... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/most-western-world-still-ignorant-asian-cooking/article/3045314?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/most-western-world-still-ignorant-asian-cooking/article/3045314?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Jan 2020 09:12:22 +0000 If anyone wants to convince Chinese people to eat less pork, the country’s favorite meat, now is a very opportune time.  Over the past four months, pork prices have more than doubled in China, due to an outbreak of African swine fever that has wiped out more than 30% of the country’s pig herd, which experts say will take years to rebuild.  Green Common, a plant-based food company based in Hong Kong, is hoping the pork crisis means more people are in the market for alternatives.  “There is a... https://www.scmp.com/business/will-china-embrace-plant-based-meat-we-are-about-find-out/article/3036749?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/will-china-embrace-plant-based-meat-we-are-about-find-out/article/3036749?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Nov 2019 12:02:38 +0000 The Silicon Valley startup Impossible Foods makes a business out of convincing carnivores that vegan burgers can taste just as beefy as the real deal. But as the company’s founder, Patrick Brown, has set his sight on China, calling the country an “essential” market at a forum on Wednesday, the world’s largest meat consumer has responded with skepticism. Given China’s long history of making and eating faux meat, a Buddhist tradition that is also widely followed by non-believers, some... https://www.scmp.com/food/can-impossible-foods-make-it-home-faux-meat/article/3026045?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/can-impossible-foods-make-it-home-faux-meat/article/3026045?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Sep 2019 10:15:16 +0000 The biggest fast-food chain in China, Kentucky Fried Chicken, has launched its own take on mooncakes, a (usually) sweet treat reserved for the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. This year, that’s on September 13. Meat-filled mooncakes aren’t uncommon – we’ve debated them before – but can you put chicken in mooncakes?  We brought in a bucket of KFC’s take on the festival staple to find out. https://www.scmp.com/food/trying-out-kentucky-fried-chickens-new-chicken-filled-mooncakes/article/3021899?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/trying-out-kentucky-fried-chickens-new-chicken-filled-mooncakes/article/3021899?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Aug 2019 11:03:20 +0000 Double-boiled pig’s stomach stuffed with chicken and bird’s nest. Wok-seared crab cake with bird’s nest and egg white. Wok-fried thinly sliced giant sea conch “snow flakes” with chicken fillet and crispy ham medallions. These are just some of the dishes that wealthy customers used to order in high-end Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong decades ago. But, they eventually disappeared from menus because they were too laborious or difficult to prepare, or the price charged didn’t make them worth the... https://www.scmp.com/food/lavish-expensive-cantonese-dishes-lost-time/article/3021469?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/lavish-expensive-cantonese-dishes-lost-time/article/3021469?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Aug 2019 10:53:45 +0000 Sushi is pretty ubiquitous: from nigiri, with its slice of raw fish on a pillow of rice, to the maki roll wrapped in nori, or seaweed. But the sushi we know today tastes and looks very different from how it did centuries ago.  First of all, the rice in the original “sushi” was not intended to be eaten. Mixed with salt, it was used to preserve the fish and then thrown out. Sushi’s origins aren’t even Japanese, says Nobu Hong Kong executive sushi chef Kazunari Araki, who has more than 20 years of... https://www.scmp.com/food/history-sushi-long-and-didnt-begin-japan/article/3016785?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/history-sushi-long-and-didnt-begin-japan/article/3016785?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Jul 2019 10:04:14 +0000 With a rooster in the center, surrounded by Chinese and Vietnamese writing, and the bottle topped with its iconic green squeeze cap, Huy Fong Foods’ Sriracha sauce is arguably one of the most recognizable condiments in the world. The sauce is lauded for its spicy kick, vinegary tang and garlicky aftertaste and has developed a cult following since it first tantalized tastebuds in 1980. Heat seekers are known to add it to almost any dish – drizzling it on pizza and sushi; mixing it into bowls of... https://www.scmp.com/food/story-sriracha-how-hot-sauce-started-refugee-vietnam-led-global-food/article/3011646?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/story-sriracha-how-hot-sauce-started-refugee-vietnam-led-global-food/article/3011646?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 May 2019 08:09:11 +0000 Starbucks’ Chinese challenger Luckin Coffee has filed for a US initial public offering, with an ambitious plan to displace the American giant as the largest coffee chain in China. The final size of the IPO was not announced in a Monday regulatory filing. The loss-making company was valued at $2.9 billion in an earlier funding round this month. An expanding, 400-million-strong middle class and a growing coffee culture have made China a sweet spot for global coffee chains. And with the fund raised... https://www.scmp.com/business/luckin-coffee-files-ipo-vows-overtake-starbucks-china-store-numbers/article/3007290?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/luckin-coffee-files-ipo-vows-overtake-starbucks-china-store-numbers/article/3007290?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Apr 2019 10:40:58 +0000 Nineteen-year-old Martin Kuok admits it’s hard to describe why he likes to watch and hear people eat. “It’s a feeling,” is about all he can say. For years, he’s been falling asleep to videos of people eating, productions which emphasize sounds that can create what’s become knowns as autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR. Last year, he decided to start creating his own ASMR videos from his home in Hong Kong, which give some people “the tingles” as they watch and listen to him eat. https://www.scmp.com/food/hong-kong-youtuber-eating-his-way-asmr-fame/article/3002488?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/hong-kong-youtuber-eating-his-way-asmr-fame/article/3002488?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Mar 2019 09:03:57 +0000 Chinese coffee lovers have been waiting in line for hours to get a taste of Tim Hortons in Shanghai, after the Canadian chain opened its first ever shop in China. On the menu: the brand’s fabled Double Double (two creams, two sugars), macchiatos made with Canadian maple syrup, and ciabatta topped with “Montreal beef.” There are even coldwater shrimp that the menu boasts go “winter-swimming all year around” – winter swimming being seen as a health-giving activity. But there are also concessions... https://www.scmp.com/food/canadian-coffee-chain-tim-hortons-opens-first-chinese-store-shanghai/article/3000978?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/canadian-coffee-chain-tim-hortons-opens-first-chinese-store-shanghai/article/3000978?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Feb 2019 09:44:51 +0000 A clip showing the process of making spicy broth for hotpot has gone viral on Chinese social media. The clip, which was posted by hotpot chain Lishuji, runs through the process – on an industrial scale. Check out our video, above, for more. https://www.scmp.com/food/last-wonton-how-hotpot-soup-made/article/3000956?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/last-wonton-how-hotpot-soup-made/article/3000956?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Feb 2019 07:29:18 +0000 Dumplings are easy to make badly, and hard to make well. Wrapping a proper dumpling requires skill and dexterity to get the right amount of filling, folded with the right number of pleats into a delicate, perfect package. But a 20-year-old chef named Yang from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong is taking this skill and transforming it into a creative art. Videos of his unique dumpling creations have gone viral on the Chinese internet. https://www.scmp.com/food/last-wonton-chinese-chef-wraps-creative-dumplings/article/3000907?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/last-wonton-chinese-chef-wraps-creative-dumplings/article/3000907?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Feb 2019 10:26:35 +0000 Soy sauce is everywhere in Hong Kong cuisine, but increasingly the city’s heritage makers are going out of business. Rising rents and cost of production are making it harder to stay afloat. For one soy sauce factory in the north of the city near the Chinese border, there’s another threat: a government plan to redevelop the largely rural area into a dense “new town.” But for the workers of the factory, it might just be a graceful way to go. Check out our video, above, for more. https://www.scmp.com/food/hong-kongs-heritage-soy-sauce-makers-squeezed-rising-costs-and-new-territories-redevelopment/article/3000894?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/hong-kongs-heritage-soy-sauce-makers-squeezed-rising-costs-and-new-territories-redevelopment/article/3000894?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Feb 2019 09:45:30 +0000 Pufferfish are legendary – or notorious – in Japanese cuisine.  They’re prized for their taste – and more importantly, for the fact that the toxins they contain are deadly to humans. It takes years of training for a chef to understand how to serve the fish without killing the diner. But in China, one fishery farms non-toxic blowfish, which has led to the delicacy being taken off the banned list in the country.  Now restaurants and diners in China are chowing down on the once-toxic delicacy.... https://www.scmp.com/food/china-farms-non-toxic-pufferfish/article/3000889?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/china-farms-non-toxic-pufferfish/article/3000889?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Feb 2019 09:45:29 +0000 Chinese New Year is a time of feasting. Here's eight dishes that you'll see a lot during this period. https://www.scmp.com/story/8-lucky-things-eat-during-chinese-new-year/article/3000721?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/story/8-lucky-things-eat-during-chinese-new-year/article/3000721?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Feb 2019 16:29:26 +0000 Welcome to the birthplace of the soup dumpling. Once upon a time, Nanxiang was a town on the northwestern outskirts of Shanghai, famed for its 1500s classical Chinese garden. Nanxiang has long since been swallowed up by the city. But its garden lives on, as does the foodstuff that was invented here: the xiaolongbao, a thin-skinned pork dumpling made unforgettable thanks to its rich broth filling. The xiaolongbao is now an icon of Shanghainese cuisine, so popular it’s inspired an exhaustive... https://www.scmp.com/food/xiaolongbao-guyi-yuan-restaurant/article/3000687?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/xiaolongbao-guyi-yuan-restaurant/article/3000687?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Feb 2019 08:57:15 +0000 A Chinese hotel in Hangzhou has laid on “human hotpots” for true adherents of the meal. The hotpot-inspired hot spring is covered with fruit and vegetables including lettuce, bananas, chlli peppers and apples. The hotel says it wants to promote a healthier lifestyle in the run-up to the Lunar New Year. Check out the video, above, for more. https://www.scmp.com/china/last-wonton-chinas-human-hotpot/article/3000668?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/china/last-wonton-chinas-human-hotpot/article/3000668?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 31 Jan 2019 10:20:42 +0000 The Chinese aren’t wasteful when it comes to food. There’s barely a part of an animal that won’t be eaten, somehow. In the colder months, many of the more unusual (well, unusual in the West) parts make their way to hotpot – thin slices of meat and vegetables cooked by diners at the table in a variety of simmering broths. Offal, including the stomach, intestines, blood and brains can all end up as hotpot ingredients. Some are prized for their texture, some for their taste… and some are said to be... https://www.scmp.com/food/offal-you-need-order-hotpot/article/2181163?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/offal-you-need-order-hotpot/article/2181163?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jan 2019 09:28:43 +0000 In the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, one Chinese restaurant has pride of place as the ultimate date-night spot. When the show’s socially inept characters want to make an impression, they book a table at P.F. Chang’s. The Asian-themed casual restaurant chain started in Arizona 25 years ago, and has grown to more than 300 outlets in 22 countries and territories, serving up Chinese-American staples such as egg rolls and orange chicken. And now Chinese fans of the show can get a taste of what all the... https://www.scmp.com/food/pf-changs-opens-china/article/2145999?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/pf-changs-opens-china/article/2145999?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 May 2018 10:00:45 +0000 White Rabbit candy is the candy in China. It’s the one everyone grew up with. In fact, for decades it's virtually all there was. The familiar white, red and blue wrappers of White Rabbit candy have been a staple among China’s sweet toothed for close to eight decades. And surprisingly for the only show in town, they're actually quite tasty. With their iconic branding and edible rice paper wrapping, they occupy a special place in every Chinese child’s memory. And they’re still going strong: in... https://www.scmp.com/food/inside-chinas-white-rabbit-candy-factory/article/2144350?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/inside-chinas-white-rabbit-candy-factory/article/2144350?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 May 2018 09:48:06 +0000 The spice shaming must stop. It’s time Hong Kong comes out and admits there’s nothing wrong with liking spicy food. The myth was always that the Cantonese in southern China prefer clean flavours and delicate cooking, as exemplified by the cuisine’s steamed fish and clear soups. Too much spicy food, grandmothers warned, will get you an upset stomach or ulcer. To this day, the most common customer question before ordering at Indian, Mexican and Korean restaurants is, “How hot is this dish?” The... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/opinion-hong-kongs-spice-shaming-must-stop/article/2144269?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/opinion-hong-kongs-spice-shaming-must-stop/article/2144269?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 May 2018 09:23:25 +0000 Tuesday is a public holiday in Hong Kong, and the morning sky was grey. A drizzle of rain had just begun to fall. That didn’t stop hundreds from lining up in the heart of Hong Kong’s business district for the opening of the city’s first Shake Shack. On the menu: the famed American burger joint’s signature fist-sized, no-frills cheeseburger, a Hong Kong-only special “milk tea shake” – and the smell of Chinese money. Like a great many American restaurants that have come before it, Shake Shack is... https://www.scmp.com/business/shake-shack-opens-hong-kong-sets-its-sights-china/article/2144184?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/shake-shack-opens-hong-kong-sets-its-sights-china/article/2144184?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 01 May 2018 09:45:15 +0000 The second thing to know about McDonald’s’ hyped “Szechuan” sauce is that it has precious little to do with Sichuan, the southwestern Chinese province known for its spicy, mouth-watering cuisine. The first thing? The taste is beside the (selling) point. When the fast-food chain began providing the sauce in China on Wednesday – to no particular fanfare – it was promoted as the “viral” sauce, in the metaphorical, internet sense of the word. “The viral sauce is here!” reads a banner on... https://www.scmp.com/food/mcdonalds-overhyped-szechuan-sauce-lands-china-we-give-it-try/article/2139494?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/mcdonalds-overhyped-szechuan-sauce-lands-china-we-give-it-try/article/2139494?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Mar 2018 10:15:00 +0000 Chinese cuisine in America has long been lumped with so-called “ethnic” cuisines, like Mexican or Thai, which are expected to be cheap. Now, chefs are pushing back. In New York, restaurants such as Guan Fu Sichuan – the second favorite restaurant of New York Times critic Pete Wells in 2017 – Hao Noodle and Tea by Madam Zhu’s Kitchen from successful restaurateur Zhu Rong, and Peking duck purveyor DaDong have opened to great fanfare. But no one is pushing quite as hard as George Chen. His new... https://www.scmp.com/food/chinese-food-us-now-haute-and-here-stay/article/2136474?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/chinese-food-us-now-haute-and-here-stay/article/2136474?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 09 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000 When it’s cold outside, you might crave apple pie or a hot chocolate. But how about a bowl of steaming snake soup? You may squirm at the idea, but it's been the winter dish of choice for many in southern China for centuries. Popularized in the province of Guangdong, shredded snake soup is favored in the colder months for more than just its taste. People tuck into the delicacy because they believe it has healing powers. Why snake meat? Snake has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine; it... https://www.scmp.com/food/snakes-plate-do-you-dare-try-chinese-delicacy/article/2132438?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/snakes-plate-do-you-dare-try-chinese-delicacy/article/2132438?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 06 Mar 2018 10:15:15 +0000 For a true taste of Hong Kong, you can't beat dim sum. People across southern China have been enjoying tea with steamed dumplings, buns and other classics for centuries. Some places still serve these bite-sized morsels the traditional way, from trolleys stacked high with bamboo baskets.  One Hong Kong favorite is the Lin Heung Tea House, which arrived in Hong Kong in 1918 from Guangzhou in southern China. It’s one of the few places that still does things the traditional way. Diners share tables... https://www.scmp.com/food/inside-hong-kongs-classic-dim-sum-restaurant-lin-heung-tea-house/article/2129950?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/inside-hong-kongs-classic-dim-sum-restaurant-lin-heung-tea-house/article/2129950?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Jan 2018 07:30:45 +0000 We at Inkstone certainly thought we knew duck, especially Peking duck. The imperial delicacy is a firm favorite of the whole team, though we hail from different parts of China. We watched, in shock, as duck connoisseur Zhang Xin, 37, who runs the renowned Liqun Roast Duck in Beijing, showed us how to eat the dish. Not one of us eats it exactly the way that she recommends. According to Zhang, a discerning diner should first dip a piece of roast duck into the sweet bean sauce and spread it evenly... https://www.scmp.com/food/peking-duck-beijings-liqun-roast-duck/article/2129441?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/peking-duck-beijings-liqun-roast-duck/article/2129441?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jan 2018 08:00:15 +0000