https://www.scmp.com/rss/329941/feed Angela Hui is a London-based freelance journalist who writes about lifestyle, food, and travel. Her work has appeared in Broadly, Eater, Munchies, Refinery29, and Time Out. Follow her on Twitter @Angela_Hui. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Angela Hui Angela Hui Imagine this: a thick slab of golden-brown toast, topped with a perfect knob of butter melting slowly into the middle, finished with a drizzle of sticky golden syrup. For many Hong Kong diners, this variation on French toast is a familiar sight and a staple on menus across many of the city’s cha chaan teng. But don’t expect Cantoast Bakery in London to follow the mould. “A lot of the time, I get questions from customers,” says Haydon Wong, chef-owner of the pop-up bakery, which specialises in an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3349463/how-chinese-takeaway-kid-brought-hong-kong-style-french-toast-london-twist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3349463/how-chinese-takeaway-kid-brought-hong-kong-style-french-toast-london-twist?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Apr 2026 04:45:07 +0000 Angela Hui Angela Hui Sean Warmington-Wan is a man who wears many hats: chef, food anthropologist, entrepreneur. But these days, he is best known as the founder of Fragrant Knives, a small but fast-growing brand built around one simple idea: to spread his love of Chinese knives. Born in Hong Kong but raised in the UK, Warmington-Wan grew up straddling two cultures. During university, he lost his mother, who had been the cook in the family, and felt cut off from his heritage, which reignited his interest in food. He... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3333502/how-hong-kong-born-chefs-chinese-kitchen-knives-are-cutting-through-stigma?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3333502/how-hong-kong-born-chefs-chinese-kitchen-knives-are-cutting-through-stigma?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Nov 2025 23:15:11 +0000 Angela Hui Angela Hui Picture this: slabs of ruby-red char siu (barbecue pork) hanging over glowing charcoal, fat dripping and hissing as the meat blisters into a caramelised crust. In Hong Kong, you will see such siu mei (Cantonese roast meats) on almost every street corner, the air thick with the sweet, smoky aroma of roast duck, goose and crispy pork belly. In Bristol, in the southwest of England, such an experience is harder to come by. But Wangs, a restaurant in the city’s colourful Montpelier neighbourhood, is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3327500/chinese-restaurant-bringing-real-hong-kong-barbecue-uks-west-country?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3327500/chinese-restaurant-bringing-real-hong-kong-barbecue-uks-west-country?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Oct 2025 04:45:07 +0000 For Jenny Lau, a London-based musician, writer and creator of Celestial Peach – a platform dedicated to stories about Chinese identity, food and culture – community is the driving force behind her literary debut. “I’ve never subscribed to a very traditional lifestyle and that’s when I realised how much community has fallen by the wayside in modern society,” she says. “We have our friends, partners, family and colleagues, but true community is rare. When I started volunteering at the East and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3295750/why-british-chinese-author-exploring-chinese-food-and-identity-community-no-1?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3295750/why-british-chinese-author-exploring-chinese-food-and-identity-community-no-1?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2025 10:15:08 +0000 Luk Man Hon is a man who wears many hats. The Hong Kong-born 42-year-old defines himself as a vinyl dealer, DJ, photographer and poker player. But he is also an entrepreneur, as the pitmaster and owner of Uncle Hon’s BBQ, an Asian-style barbecue at the canalside cocktail bar All My Friends in Hackney Wick, East London. There, he serves his take on Southern barbecue with a subtle Chinese twist. But before he turned to grilling meats, Luk was the mastermind behind Vinyl Pimp, a second-hand record... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3287053/records-ribs-hong-kong-migrant-starting-his-london-based-barbecue-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3287053/records-ribs-hong-kong-migrant-starting-his-london-based-barbecue-business?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Nov 2024 04:45:07 +0000 Guirong Wei has been dreaming of noodles since she was six years old. There is the satisfying stretch and biang biang slap of the dough as it is slapped against the table. Then the sizzling crescendo of hot oil as it is poured over the seasonings, filling the air with an intoxicating, fragrant aroma. Noodle making is a process Wei has spent more than 25 years perfecting. The chef, born in the southern part of Shaanxi province in western China, owns a mini-empire of Shaanxi cuisine restaurants... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3281814/netflix-chefs-table-noodles-star-mission-make-xian-noodles-popular-she-can?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3281814/netflix-chefs-table-noodles-star-mission-make-xian-noodles-popular-she-can?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 11 Oct 2024 23:45:08 +0000 Joyeta Ng, who grew up in Hong Kong, has always had a sixth sense for good food. She shared a home in Pok Fu Lam, on Hong Kong Island, with her parents and she loved cooking with her mother. She also spent her summers in Japan with her half-Japanese grandmother and extended family. After studying psychology at university in Scotland, she worked in advertising in London for five years. She fell out of love with the job and, while studying Japanese in Osaka for three months in 2016, she visited... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3272491/after-work-noma-and-chairman-joyeta-ng-wants-be-your-asian-mum-and-cook-you?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3272491/after-work-noma-and-chairman-joyeta-ng-wants-be-your-asian-mum-and-cook-you?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Aug 2024 06:15:10 +0000 The late Stanley Tse Kwai-tsun, founder of See Woo, a pioneering Asian grocer in London’s Chinatown, has been commemorated with a green plaque in the famed district. The British capital’s green plaques, launched by the borough of Westminster in 1991, are used to commemorate the “diverse cultural heritage” of the area and highlight buildings “associated with people of renown who have made lasting contributions to society”. Blue plaques represent figures who have lived or worked in the buildings... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3269699/how-hong-kong-migrant-londons-chinatown-built-asian-supermarket-and-restaurant-empire?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3269699/how-hong-kong-migrant-londons-chinatown-built-asian-supermarket-and-restaurant-empire?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jul 2024 08:15:09 +0000 “Ma’am, this is the wrong Royal China,” the waiter says and points to the left. “You want the Royal China Club that’s next door.” When award-winning writer and cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop invites you to a 15-course dinner to celebrate her new book, Invitation to a Banquet, you better make sure you are at the right restaurant. (To much confusion, there are two Royal China restaurants on the same street in central London.) Despite my mix-up, I cannot help but draw a comparison with how easily... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3236249/fuchsia-dunlop-giving-chinese-food-its-due-very-sophisticated-cuisine-her-latest-book-invitation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3236249/fuchsia-dunlop-giving-chinese-food-its-due-very-sophisticated-cuisine-her-latest-book-invitation?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Oct 2023 08:15:16 +0000 “We’re not modernising or trying to change the cha chaan teng, it’s perfect the way it is,” co-founder of Hoko Cafe, Nicole Ma, tells me over the phone. “To me, Hong Kong diners encapsulate so much of what makes a place like this such a nostalgic, deeply unsubtle joy.” That is the ethos behind Ma’s business. The former floral designer’s newly opened cha chaan teng, in Brick Lane in East London, is a love letter to the simple pleasures of a Hong Kong diner. A place to meet friends – or strangers... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3228439/hong-kong-style-diner-london-hoko-serves-milk-tea-french-toast-and-slice-nostalgia-exiles-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3228439/hong-kong-style-diner-london-hoko-serves-milk-tea-french-toast-and-slice-nostalgia-exiles-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jul 2023 08:15:17 +0000 When I was a child, every year, without fail, my mother would take over my classroom mid-lesson to throw me a birthday party. Part of me was mortified with embarrassment, and part of me loved being the center of attention. She’d go all out with a homemade cake, stir-fried noodles, and fried rice from my parents’ restaurant. There would also be a basket full of red eggs. In Chinese culture, red dyed eggs are often presented at birthdays, weddings, and parties to celebrate one month since a baby’s... https://www.scmp.com/food/why-my-childhood-birthdays-were-full-red-eggs/article/3000730?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/why-my-childhood-birthdays-were-full-red-eggs/article/3000730?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Feb 2019 21:31:04 +0000 “Can we go to Bicester Village?” asks my cousin Cindy Cheung, who’s visiting me in London from Hong Kong. “I want to buy a Burberry scarf, and maybe a designer bag from Prada or Gucci while I’m at it.” Over the years, this small village in Oxfordshire, about an hour outside of London, has become an uncanny shopping destination for foreign tourists. It’s an outlet where shoppers can find many of the world’s biggest designer brands at a steep discount. Since opening in 1995, Bicester Village has... https://www.scmp.com/travel/how-small-english-village-became-shopping-mecca-chinese-tourists/article/3000352?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/travel/how-small-english-village-became-shopping-mecca-chinese-tourists/article/3000352?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Dec 2018 14:57:17 +0000