https://www.scmp.com/rss/520987/feed Hei Kiu is a Hong Kong-born food writer, photographer and budding historian who loves to uncover extraordinary tales within ordinary bowls of noodles. With a blend of Chinese-Portuguese roots, her work on European-Asian culinary heritage has been featured in a number of lifestyle publications, such as Tatler and Michelin Guide, as well as in research work at Oxford and Yale-NUS. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Walk into almost any Italian restaurant in Hong Kong and you will find the same greatest hits: burrata, carbonara and tiramisu. You probably won’t find pasta scraps – except at Dieci, the newly opened pasta concept on Gough Street where executive chef and founder Paolo Olivieri has made them his signature. Olivieri grew up in Villa San Giovanni in Tuscia, a small village in Lazio, in central Italy, nestled among rolling hills and farmland. His grandparents were farmers. “I grew up in my... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3353448/dish-focus-pasta-mista-dieci?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3353448/dish-focus-pasta-mista-dieci?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 May 2026 04:00:11 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au If and when Donald Trump touches down in Beijing this week for his long-anticipated state visit, the chefs who will feed him and his entourage – probably at least once in the Great Hall of the People – will already have run the scenarios for his meals. The last time he came, in 2017, the state banquet menu reportedly included Kung Pao chicken, coconut chicken soup, tomato beef and poached star grouper. It was a diplomatic tightrope walk: how do you honour a guest whose culinary preferences,... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3353112/if-trump-didnt-eat-just-burgers-what-might-he-be-served-his-beijing-visit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3353112/if-trump-didnt-eat-just-burgers-what-might-he-be-served-his-beijing-visit?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:10 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au For generations, the perfect partner for a Chinese feast was a given: a big pot of tea, or perhaps a bottle of cognac or rice wine for celebratory occasions. But today, a new scene is unfolding at Hong Kong’s top tables. A guest at Duddell’s savours a piece of crispy salted yellow chicken, then reaches not for a teacup, but a crystal glass. The Water cocktail inside – a blend of grassy agricole rum, floral osmanthus and clarified citrus with a hint of saline – doesn’t challenge the dish.... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3352888/how-hong-kong-bartenders-and-chinese-chefs-create-liquid-yin-and-yang-harmony?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3352888/how-hong-kong-bartenders-and-chinese-chefs-create-liquid-yin-and-yang-harmony?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 May 2026 03:00:13 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Walk into any serious steakhouse in Hong Kong today and you’ll find dry-aged beef on the menu, often for double the price of regular steak. What was an age-old practice has, in the past decade, made a comeback as chefs seek to unlock a deeper dimension of flavour. But here’s what most diners don’t realise: the technique has moved beyond beef. Across the city, chefs are dry-ageing fish, lamb, chicken and pigeon. Can the same process that transforms a slab of beef do the same for other... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3351650/beyond-steak-how-dry-age-fish-lamb-and-poultry-according-3-hong-kong-chefs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3351650/beyond-steak-how-dry-age-fish-lamb-and-poultry-according-3-hong-kong-chefs?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Apr 2026 05:00:08 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au The meaning of “farm-to-table” has changed in Hong Kong in recent years. The practice used to be more common in down-to-earth places, but has come to be associated with overpriced produce and Michelin-star restaurants. However, a weekend gathering at Blue Girl Organic Farm in Tai Tong, in Hong Kong’s New Territories, showed that the true concept of farm-to-table is still alive and well. The farm, which has been run by Flora Wong Wah-fong for the past 13 years, hosted more than 30 guests for an... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3350153/authentic-farm-table-experience-hong-kong-reconnects-diners-nature?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3350153/authentic-farm-table-experience-hong-kong-reconnects-diners-nature?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:45:07 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Growing up in Zimbabwe, Innocent Mutanga harboured a childhood love for Hong Kong films starring the likes of Jackie Chan and Stephen Chow Sing-chi. They painted a picture of a city buzzing with energy – “the place to be” for anyone wanting to make it big – but little did he expect that he would call this city home one day. Today, he is fully embedded in the fabric of Hong Kong, juggling a career in investment banking, founding and running the Africa Centre, an NGO that fosters cross-cultural... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350068/cross-cultural-love-story-forms-heart-africa-centre?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/passions/article/3350068/cross-cultural-love-story-forms-heart-africa-centre?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Apr 2026 00:00:24 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Marco Polo once wrote that for every shipload of pepper reaching Alexandria, a hundred docked in Quanzhou. Centuries later, that pepper still lingers – sprinkled over bowls of beef soup, simmered with seafood, woven into the city’s kitchens. It is a taste of the maritime trade routes that once made Quanzhou the “emporium of the world”. In 2021, Quanzhou received Unesco World Heritage status for its role as the eastern terminus of the Maritime Silk Road. Four years later, in October 2025, it... https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/100-top-tables/topics/100-top-tables-cities-gastronomy/article/3348506/quanzhou-maritime-silk-road-unesco-creative-city-gastronomy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/native/lifestyle/100-top-tables/topics/100-top-tables-cities-gastronomy/article/3348506/quanzhou-maritime-silk-road-unesco-creative-city-gastronomy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 Mar 2026 07:18:48 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au In a corner of Hong Kong’s Tsuen Wan Market, a bustling indoor market where the floor is permanently damp and the air smells of wet fabric and drying fish, a sign reads Fu Kam Organic Farm. Below it, a cluster of grapes hangs from a metal pole – plump, luminous and impossibly glossy. There is no premium packaging, no branded box, no chilled display case, just bunches of shine muscat – the darling of Japanese fruit fanatics – and the woman who grew them. “Come buy our local, organic shine muscat... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3345345/shine-muscat-grapes-grown-hong-kong-farmer-doing-it-using-baby-milk-formula?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3345345/shine-muscat-grapes-grown-hong-kong-farmer-doing-it-using-baby-milk-formula?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Mar 2026 03:15:07 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au When Hong Kong-born chef Louis Tam Wah-hin of Chowa won the Young Chef Award and his restaurant’s first Michelin star at the 2025 Michelin Guide ceremony in Guangzhou, it was a pointed triumph. The win, when Tam was 31, paid off a two-year gamble – one that started in July 2023 when he opened his Japanese-French restaurant Chowa in Guangzhou’s Tianhe district. It was a deliberate provocation in a city often dismissed as a “fine dining desert”, where pride in a home-grown culinary tradition... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3342619/chowas-hong-kong-chef-saw-guangzhou-challenge-he-reveals-how-he-won-city-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3342619/chowas-hong-kong-chef-saw-guangzhou-challenge-he-reveals-how-he-won-city-over?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Feb 2026 04:45:08 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Would you be willing to eat a fish you raised? This was the question that faced 25 young Hongkongers one December afternoon on Lamma Island, who had gathered to share a simple meal of steamed fish that they had nurtured over nine months. This “simple” meal defied a citywide norm. Dinner tables in Hong Kong will almost always include at least one classic seafood dish – from typhoon shelter crab to steamed grouper – but most of the time, that seafood did not come from the city’s waters. This is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3340639/hong-kong-aquaculture-scheme-nurtures-young-fish-farmers-revive-citys-seafood-industry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3340639/hong-kong-aquaculture-scheme-nurtures-young-fish-farmers-revive-citys-seafood-industry?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jan 2026 09:15:10 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au While Hongkongers scout remote destinations for their first holiday in 2026, a journey of discovery for the palate is now on offer closer to home. Yurt, newly opened on SoHo’s Elgin Street, is bringing the hitherto unexplored flavours of Central Asia to the heart of the city, proving you don’t need a boarding pass to be an adventurous gourmand. In a dining scene that prides itself on diversity, Central Asia has remained conspicuously absent from the many menus on offer in Hong Kong. For the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3339140/first-look-yurt-hong-kongs-first-modern-central-asian-restaurant?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3339140/first-look-yurt-hong-kongs-first-modern-central-asian-restaurant?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jan 2026 06:02:25 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au It is 6am. I am usually still in bed at this hour, but today I am at Xianxiang Market, one of the best places in the Chinese port city of Ningbo for fresh seafood, according to Liu Zhen, my companion and a native of the city, who is also executive chef of Yong Fu Hong Kong, a one-Michelin-star restaurant focused on Ningbo cuisine in Hong Kong. “We’re already late,” Liu says, amused. Unlike us, he is wide awake. “In Ningbo, fishermen typically go out by midnight, depending on the tide,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3338855/how-ningbo-cuisines-umami-salty-and-stinky-flavours-reveal-rich-culinary-heritage?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3338855/how-ningbo-cuisines-umami-salty-and-stinky-flavours-reveal-rich-culinary-heritage?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Jan 2026 04:15:08 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Chinatowns are often portrayed as gritty underworlds riddled with prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking. Some of this is rooted in truth, but that unfair depiction is largely the result of rampant xenophobia and cultural ignorance, especially in the West. In a series of articles, the Post explores the historical and social significance of major Chinatowns around the world and the communities that shape them. For decades, Boston Chinatown’s 150-year story of immigration, survival and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3335878/how-boston-chinatown-overcame-constant-threats-win-its-place-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/chinese-culture/article/3335878/how-boston-chinatown-overcame-constant-threats-win-its-place-history?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:15:11 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au When you have a signature three-yellow-chicken dish as successful as chef Aven Lau’s at Épure, it’s usually a tough act to follow. And as Hong Kong’s chicken craze finally begins to plateau, the man who helped kick-start the trend has elegantly pivoted, turning his focus to a new muse: the Guangdong rice duck. “I’m not French, so why force French ingredients?” Lau quips, a philosophy that crystallised early in his career. Though trained in French techniques, his culinary imagination remained... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3332652/dish-focus-aged-rice-duck-lorange-epure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3332652/dish-focus-aged-rice-duck-lorange-epure?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Nov 2025 10:09:54 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Shunde, a district of the city of Foshan in China’s Guangdong province, is one of those places where you can eat good food, but you can eat great food if you know an insider. One such person is Silas Li, the executive chef of Hong Kong Cuisine 1983, in Hong Kong’s Happy Valley neighbourhood, who calls the district his second home. Shunde, known as the “cradle of Cantonese cuisine”, is a three- to four-hour drive from Hong Kong, but the high-speed train to Guangzhounan station – which takes just... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3329876/best-things-eat-shunde-chinas-cradle-cantonese-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3329876/best-things-eat-shunde-chinas-cradle-cantonese-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Oct 2025 04:15:08 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Step into a Hong Kong supermarket today and you’ll find few limits on what you can buy. Want mangoes in winter or cruciferous vegetables in summer? No problem, thanks to globalisation and advances in refrigeration and greenhouse technology. With everything available year-round, the traditional concept of seasonality has lost much of its original meaning, often reduced to a cliché in the marketing of new restaurants. One restaurant dedicated to restoring the true meaning of seasonal eating is... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3328972/seasonal-eating-guide-according-macau-michelin-star-chef-essential-ingredients-all-24-solar-terms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3328972/seasonal-eating-guide-according-macau-michelin-star-chef-essential-ingredients-all-24-solar-terms?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Oct 2025 04:45:09 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au What comes to mind when you think of Lu cuisine from northern China’s Shandong province? For many, it conjures images of hearty flavours, substantial portions and perhaps dishes that are less refined than the country’s southern counterparts. But here to challenge that assumption is Wang Haoquan, the executive chef of Beijing’s Lu Shang Lu restaurant. Born in Yantai, a port city in Shandong, Wang was recently in Hong Kong for a four-hands collaboration with Tsang Chiu-king of Ming Court in Wan... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3328111/what-shandong-cuisine-chinese-chefs-hong-kong-dinners-bring-out-foods-best?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/food-drink/article/3328111/what-shandong-cuisine-chinese-chefs-hong-kong-dinners-bring-out-foods-best?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 07 Oct 2025 10:11:33 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au It’s a familiar scene: diners clinking glasses at one of Hong Kong’s top restaurants to celebrate a special occasion, or simply the arrival of the weekend. But these days, rather than the usual cocktail or wine, the vessels may be holding something unexpected – zero-proof creations selected especially for the meal. As wellness-focused lifestyles gain popularity, three leading “sober sommeliers” – Priscilla Tam of Roganic, Dino Hui of Whey, and Alexis Boisseau of Cristal Room by Anne-Sophie Pic –... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3324842/meet-sober-sommeliers-shaking-hong-kongs-fine-dining-scene-roganic-whey-and-others?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3324842/meet-sober-sommeliers-shaking-hong-kongs-fine-dining-scene-roganic-whey-and-others?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Sep 2025 10:00:18 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au With Lima’s Maido hitting top spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list, Nikkei cuisine, a fusion of Peruvian and Japanese born from Peru’s significant immigrant Japanese community, is enjoying its time in the limelight. But the Peruvian capital is actually home to more chifas (Chinese-Peruvian restaurants) than cevicherías (those serving Peru’s national dish, ceviche). Peru is also the only Spanish-speaking country to call soy sauce sillao and ginger kion, pronounced much like the... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3324460/meet-chinese-peruvian-families-behind-south-american-countrys-chifa-restaurants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/culture/article/3324460/meet-chinese-peruvian-families-behind-south-american-countrys-chifa-restaurants?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Sep 2025 10:57:15 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au Being seasonal has long been a trend, a goal, a flex of the foodie world. But in Japan, it’s called shun (旬), what chef Ryuta Iizuka, of Tokyo’s two-Michelin-starred Ryuzu, says “refers to the period when ingredients are at their most delicious, most nutritious and most reasonably priced. It stems from Japan’s traditional way of living in harmony with nature and appreciating the transitions of the four seasons”. We turned to Iizuka, who brings the centuries-old shun philosophy to French fusion... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3322170/our-calendar-ingredients-their-seasonal-best?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3322170/our-calendar-ingredients-their-seasonal-best?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Aug 2025 04:45:07 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au In Hong Kong, the highest praise for a dessert is to say it’s “not too sweet”. So it seems fitting that the city is witnessing the rise of savoury desserts across its fine dining scene. Savoury desserts emphasise herbs, spices, or umami and fermented flavours – often using ingredients typically found in main courses. As Mono’s chef-owner Ricardo Chaneton observes: “The term ‘savoury dessert’ might sound challenging, but many ingredients we consider savoury are technically fruits or berries, like... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3319796/9-savoury-desserts-hong-kong-restaurants-hansik-goo-noi-paulo-airaudo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/100-top-tables/article/3319796/9-savoury-desserts-hong-kong-restaurants-hansik-goo-noi-paulo-airaudo?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:00:07 +0000 Hei Kiu Au Hei Kiu Au In the grand arena of Chinese cuisines, some that have achieved fame on the global stage include Cantonese, Sichuan and even Xinjiang. But seafood-centric Taizhou cuisine, which is centred on the coastal city of Taizhou, in Zhejiang province, and is championed by the legendary Xin Rong Ji restaurant, still remains obscure, and some would say criminally under­rated – even within China. This obscurity, however, is being challenged by young chefs such as Hangzhou-based Lin Zihan, whose self-styled... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3310431/wild-yeast-michelin-starred-restaurant-redefining-taizhou-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3310431/wild-yeast-michelin-starred-restaurant-redefining-taizhou-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 May 2025 00:00:09 +0000 What comes to mind when you think of Spanish cuisine? For many, it’s paella, sangria, or for the more discerning diner, culinary legend Ferran Adrià, of the now-closed El Bulli, on Catalonia’s Costa Brava. But today’s diners are no longer satisfied with the familiar. They’re seeking authentic experiences that reflect what locals eat, dishes that move beyond the stereotype to connect with traditions. Rafa Gil, executive chef at La Rambla by Catalunya in Central’s IFC Mall – who you might... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3303743/cantonese-meets-catalan-spanish-cuisine-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/food-drink/article/3303743/cantonese-meets-catalan-spanish-cuisine-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Mar 2025 10:15:07 +0000