https://www.scmp.com/rss/330687/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Take a bite out of history with our exclusive series on the delicious ingredients, dishes and techniques behind the unique tastes of Hong Kong. Snow skin, durian, ice cream, even Chinese ham – no matter what your preference, there is likely a mooncake out there for you. For ancient China’s agrarian society, the Mid-Autumn Festival was a celebration of a successful harvest. Today, it is a day where families gather and mooncakes are given to one’s nearest and dearest – as well as to business... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3278737/bakers-keeping-traditional-mooncake-making-alive-hong-kong-mid-autumn-festival?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3278737/bakers-keeping-traditional-mooncake-making-alive-hong-kong-mid-autumn-festival?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Sep 2024 04:45:08 +0000 Speedboat Bar, named after the turbocharged long-tail boats that race along Bangkok’s rivers and canals, aims to bring a taste of the Thai capital’s Yaowarat Road to London’s Chinatown. Bright red stools are lined up for dining outside, while inside there’s a clash of colours and prints; the menu is Thai-Chinese. Smiling young staff wear Hawaiian shirts or soccer jerseys, and the upstairs bar has TV screens showing Muay Thai bouts – and boat races. This is one of several newly opened venues in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3273411/new-restaurants-londons-chinatown-celebrate-east-asian-and-southeast-asian-cuisines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3273411/new-restaurants-londons-chinatown-celebrate-east-asian-and-southeast-asian-cuisines?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Aug 2024 11:15:10 +0000 Wilson Lau Wilson Lau Macau is a flourishing city of contrasts, with a rich legacy as a global entrepot. Buddhist temples coexist with Portuguese churches, while ancient buildings sit comfortably beside modern landmarks like the Macau Tower. The city’s historic centre, a Unesco World Heritage site, stands as a testament to over 450 years of Chinese and European cultures intermingling. From here, visitors are a short taxi ride away from one of the world’s largest conglomerations of integrated resorts – destinations... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3266545/macaus-culinary-heritage-celebrated-international-cities-gastronomy-fest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3266545/macaus-culinary-heritage-celebrated-international-cities-gastronomy-fest?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Jun 2024 23:00:12 +0000 “You know what they all said behind my back? That it would be impossible to do this in four months,” laughs David Yip. “I proved them wrong.” We’re sitting in the dining room of Ming Pavilion at the Island Shangri-La hotel in Admiralty, Hong Kong, a world away from the concrete sprawl of the city several floors below. Yip is sitting comfortably on one of the pale-jade-coloured sofas that curve around the edges of the sunlit space, which has a tropical aesthetic; rattan chairs and plush carpets... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3261825/hong-kong-hokkien-restaurant-ming-pavilion-was-his-idea-david-yip-shining-light-food-he-once-looked?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3261825/hong-kong-hokkien-restaurant-ming-pavilion-was-his-idea-david-yip-shining-light-food-he-once-looked?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 May 2024 04:45:18 +0000 In his kitchen, Craig Wong combines soy sauce, spring onions, ginger, thyme, pimento, pineapple, nutmeg, scotch bonnets and rum in a blender to make his signature fragrant Caribbean jerk paste, which he uses as a marinade for roasted jerk chicken. Wong, 42, is the chef-owner of Patois, a restaurant serving Jamaican-Chinese cuisine in Toronto’s Little Italy. One of his signature dishes, jerk chicken chow mein, involves jerk paste mixed with oyster sauce in a stir-fry of onions, garlic, shiitake... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3252947/jamaican-chinese-chef-craig-wong-talks-about-patois-his-asian-caribbean-fusion-restaurant-toronto?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3252947/jamaican-chinese-chef-craig-wong-talks-about-patois-his-asian-caribbean-fusion-restaurant-toronto?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2024 11:45:15 +0000 Ivy Wong is chief executive of VS Media, organiser of the VS Lounge at the Central Waterfront Event Space that will feature children’s activities and games featuring Baby Shark, live-band karaoke and a food booth until February 25. She spoke to Andrew Sun. My mum and dad used to run a Chiu Chow daa laang eatery [daa laang refers to cooked and marinated meats]. It was very local, so I became very familiar with the ingredients and dishes, the cold appetisers and mains. That’s why I love local... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3251827/where-hong-kong-events-organiser-goes-hainan-chicken-michelin-star-sushi-and-fun-seafood-experience?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3251827/where-hong-kong-events-organiser-goes-hainan-chicken-michelin-star-sushi-and-fun-seafood-experience?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Feb 2024 03:15:20 +0000 Sweet and sour pork is the most entry-level of Chinese dishes. Few people, young or old, can resist the combination of deep-fried cuts of meat cloaked with that enticingly tangy sauce. The origins of this dish, however, are a bit murky because there are several lines of evolution. But one thing is for sure and that is that the dish originated in China, took a journey around the world and came back to Hong Kong stronger than ever. “It actually evolved from a dish made with spare ribs braised in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3247388/how-chinese-sweet-and-sour-pork-evolved-british-takeaways-become-dish-everyone-just-likes-and-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3247388/how-chinese-sweet-and-sour-pork-evolved-british-takeaways-become-dish-everyone-just-likes-and-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jan 2024 10:15:09 +0000 After almost three years of Covid-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns and dining restrictions, Shanghai’s food scene is buzzing again. Numerous dining institutions closed during the pandemic, but Shanghai’s status as a global trade hub is slowly but surely returning. Proof of this is the volume and calibre of restaurants that have opened in the city recently. “Shanghai is an international metropolis,” says chef Wu Rong, who opened his first Fujian restaurant, Meet the Bund, in Shanghai in... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3243910/5-best-new-restaurants-shanghai-2-michelin-star-cantonese-place-branch-tokyos-narisawa-and-more?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3243910/5-best-new-restaurants-shanghai-2-michelin-star-cantonese-place-branch-tokyos-narisawa-and-more?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Dec 2023 23:15:16 +0000 The germination of A Very Chinese Cookbook started back in 2012, when retiree Jeffrey Pang made an amateur video of his wife’s hands demonstrating how to make scallion pancakes, and sent the YouTube link to his son, Kevin. “I didn’t open his email at first; most kids don’t pay attention to emails their parents send,” says Kevin Pang, 42. “I don’t think I watched it for a few months. “And then later, when my mum told me about it, I finally clicked on it – and realised a lot of people were... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3235413/father-son-duo-sharing-their-passion-authentic-chinese-food-first-youtube-hunger-pangs-and-now-very?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/food-drink/article/3235413/father-son-duo-sharing-their-passion-authentic-chinese-food-first-youtube-hunger-pangs-and-now-very?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Sep 2023 05:15:16 +0000 The famed Earl Grey Caviar Martini at Quinary – one of Hong Kong’s pioneering modern cocktail bars – has been a staple since its launch in 2012. I’d say it’s one of my favourite drinks; there’s something about the combination of bergamot in the Earl Grey tea “caviar” and the light grippiness of the tea’s tannins that works well with the addition of citrus and elderflower. It’s so much of a signature drink that in 2022, on its 10th anniversary, the bar dubbed May 24 Earl Grey Caviar Martini... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3224055/forget-highballs-and-beers-tea-cocktails-are-my-drink-summer-hong-kong-2023?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3224055/forget-highballs-and-beers-tea-cocktails-are-my-drink-summer-hong-kong-2023?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Jun 2023 10:30:11 +0000 “I’ve wanted to be a chef since day one, and I have never thought about going into another career path.” With more than two decades in the industry and two restaurants on the name-making 50 Best list, Vicky Cheng’s career speaks for itself. “As a young chef, the moment Vea was recognised as one-Michelin-starred, that was one of my biggest career milestones,” says Cheng. Today, the 37-year-old chef helms Michelin-starred Vea, along with Wing, a more recent addition to Hong Kong’s fine dining... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3195547/inside-michelin-starred-chef-vicky-chengs-cooking-secrets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3195547/inside-michelin-starred-chef-vicky-chengs-cooking-secrets?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Oct 2022 07:27:30 +0000 In the run-up to Lunar New Year in 2020, Eva Chin was working as the chef de cuisine at Momofuku Kojin in Toronto, Canada, and wanted to create a special takeaway menu to celebrate the Year of the Tiger – one that was different from other restaurants’ offerings. Up until then, her training had been skewed towards Western cuisine – despite having worked in Hong Kong and Japan (as well as Australia, Norway and Canada), and having been born to a Samoan-Shanghainese mother and Singaporean Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3192348/how-chinese-cuisine-evolving-canada-young-chefs-look-preserve?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3192348/how-chinese-cuisine-evolving-canada-young-chefs-look-preserve?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Sep 2022 03:15:24 +0000 Technically, Hong Kong Cuisine in Happy Valley is veteran chef Silas Li’s first job cooking at a Chinese restaurant. The Britain-born chef has over a quarter of a century of experience but mostly in Western fine dining and as a private chef. He helped launch the exclusive One-ThirtyOne restaurant, in a remote part of Hong Kong’s Sai Kung peninsula, in 2000, which quickly became popular with high-society darlings and tycoons. That’s where Dickson Poon, a luxury magnate whose company owns London’s... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3189206/hong-kong-cuisines-silas-li-being-private-chef-dickson-poon?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3189206/hong-kong-cuisines-silas-li-being-private-chef-dickson-poon?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Aug 2022 10:15:21 +0000 “There are only so many ways you can cook a bean,” says chef Andrew Wong at his London hotspot A. Wong, the first Chinese restaurant outside Asia to earn two Michelin stars. Because the often unique and highly specialised techniques in Chinese cooking – not only of beans, of course, but everything from making dim sum to double boiling soups – are largely unknown to non-Chinese chefs, they are ripe for discovery. Setting the stage for that discovery is China itself, which has left behind its... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3186488/chinese-food-being-taken-exciting-new-directions-europe-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3186488/chinese-food-being-taken-exciting-new-directions-europe-and-us?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Jul 2022 10:17:58 +0000 If you had asked Hongkongers 30 years ago where the best Chinese food could be found, the answer would no doubt have been large banquet halls and chain restaurants. Vast kitchens boasted dozens of cooks, all with their own specialities such as steamed dishes, dim sum or those prestigious wok-fried centrepieces, so diners were guaranteed to get a demonstration of the best skill set on their plates. However, the game changed in 2009 when the Michelin guide entered Hong Kong. Lung King Heen, the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3179849/inside-hong-kongs-new-wave-chinese-fine-dining-restaurants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/leisure/article/3179849/inside-hong-kongs-new-wave-chinese-fine-dining-restaurants?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 May 2022 08:01:17 +0000 Chef Vicky Lau has collected several awards for her avant-garde cuisine at Tate since it opened in 2012. Her dinner menu uses Chinese ingredients executed with French flair, and has a delicacy in presentation and flavours on the palate. To illustrate, the recent Ode to Seaweed menu included seaweed sourdough cracker, sea snail with celtuce, smoked eel mousse tartlet, and squid egg custard with seaweed. The first course used kombu, or Japanese kelp, most famous for its use in dashi. Made into a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/100-top-tables/article/3172692/tate-dining-room-restaurant-review?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/100-top-tables/article/3172692/tate-dining-room-restaurant-review?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Apr 2022 06:00:19 +0000 Fast food chain Pizza Hut has created a limited-edition pizza for Hong Kong diners. Just in time for Lunar New Year, it has teamed up with a Hong Kong dried-seafood brand to present the famous soup “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall” in pizza form. Dating back to China’s Ming dynasty, the soup gets its name from a monk who walked by a home where someone was making a fragrant soup that smelled so good, he couldn’t resist and jumped over the wall to eat it. The pizza features similar ingredients to the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3164947/pizza-abalone-shiitake-mushrooms-and-mozzarella-taste-test?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3164947/pizza-abalone-shiitake-mushrooms-and-mozzarella-taste-test?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Jan 2022 23:15:13 +0000 In the U.S., the ability to afford avocado toast has become a measure of middle-class millennial success. Now, young Chinese are discovering homegrown bougie symbols of their own. At first, it was pricey, imported cherries. Those who were financially successful enough to afford them were said to have achieved “cherry freedom.” But now, it’s “xiangchun freedom”—having enough in the bank to be able to afford the coveted leaf of the mahogany tree. Xiangchun (香椿) are the leaves of the Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/food/chinese-hipsters-are-going-crazy-leaf/article/3002913?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/chinese-hipsters-are-going-crazy-leaf/article/3002913?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Mar 2019 11:36:35 +0000 Dragon Well Manor, or Longjing Manor, is an exquisite fine-dining restaurant nestled in a private garden in Hangzhou. But what really sets it apart is its rigorous sourcing. The owner, Dai Jianjun, insists on a completely transparent process. Employees have to log where every single ingredient comes from and when it was harvested. https://www.scmp.com/videos/owner-hangzhous-best-restaurant-obsessed-ingredient-quality/article/3000304?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/videos/owner-hangzhous-best-restaurant-obsessed-ingredient-quality/article/3000304?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Dec 2018 09:41:56 +0000 Flour, water, and salt—these three simple ingredients mixed together produce an endless variety of dishes in Chinese cuisine. From perfectly formed strands of lamian 拉面 (noodles) to the tender skin of jiaozi 饺子 (dumplings), these doughy delights owe their versatility to wheat. Over millennia, Chinese cooks have tamed this tough, hard-to-process grain into beloved delicacies. Here is a brief history of how wheat kneaded its way into Chinese cuisine. Ancient roots Wheat reached China around 8,000... https://www.scmp.com/food/how-wheat-became-staple-china/article/3000289?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/how-wheat-became-staple-china/article/3000289?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Dec 2018 11:37:38 +0000 The menu of Tusheng Shiguan (土生食馆), an organic restaurant in China, comes with a warning. “There are holes in the vegetables,” it says, pointing out that organic produce often comes less aesthetically perfect as commercial varieties. That the restaurant has to warn its customers probably explains why it’s struggling to get by. Tusheng has been around for six years in Kunming, a second-tier city in Yunnan. The city has a thriving population of over six million people, but Tusheng’s owner, Cui... https://www.scmp.com/food/can-organic-restaurant-survive-countryside/article/2160676?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/can-organic-restaurant-survive-countryside/article/2160676?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Aug 2018 09:00:45 +0000 Yunnan is one of China’s most biodiverse provinces. This Chinese craft brewery is all about that and uses the local flora to make their beer. Written by: Clarissa Wei Voiceover: Clarissa Wei Featuring: Yun Brewery Produced by: Clarissa Wei Shot by: Lui Chen Edited by: Mario Chui Mastered by: Victor Peña https://www.scmp.com/food/craft-beer-local-chinese-ingredients/article/2160026?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/craft-beer-local-chinese-ingredients/article/2160026?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Aug 2018 09:00:30 +0000 Corn is a pretty common sight in China, where sweet corn is often used in dishes, and maize supplies go to everything from livestock feed, to biofuel. But corn isn’t natively from China. For that, China has the Philippines and Macau to thank, when the former was a Spanish colony, and Macau was under the Portuguese. Maize, which originated in Central America, was one of the first crops traded by European colonialists in the east. From their other mesoamerican territories, the Spanish and... https://www.scmp.com/food/how-corn-ended-china-americas/article/2158689?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/how-corn-ended-china-americas/article/2158689?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Aug 2018 12:00:30 +0000 One of the markers of Sichuan cuisine is how varied and complex the flavor profiles are. It’s not just “mala”—spicy and numbing; officially, there are more than two dozen, stretching to include what the Sichuanese term “strange flavor”, an intriguing balance of sweet, savoury, spicy, nutty and numbing. It speaks to the ingenuity of Sichuan chefs that almost all of these flavor profiles can be achieved with just a few simple ingredients. For the past two years, I’ve been incorporating these... https://www.scmp.com/food/inside-spice-rack-chinese-chef/article/2157670?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/food/inside-spice-rack-chinese-chef/article/2157670?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Jul 2018 11:00:15 +0000 This family-owned business in Yangshuo, near Guilin, Guangxi makes Guilin rice noodles, a dish that is made unique by each shop’s gravy recipe. The shop owner, Rong Jinghua, runs the business with her kids, serving the community piping hot rice noodles that are topped with local ingredients such as pickled radishes, peanuts, and kelp. Voiceover by: Dolly Li Produced and written by: Dolly Li and Timmy Shen Shot by: Timmy Shen Edited and mastered by: Victor Peña Special Thanks: Joanna Chiu https://www.scmp.com/videos/20-ingredient-bowl-bone-broth-rice-noodles/article/2155405?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/videos/20-ingredient-bowl-bone-broth-rice-noodles/article/2155405?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jul 2018 03:45:45 +0000