Wining & dining in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) recently presented the most anticipated food event in Asia. The “Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival” welcomed about 155,000 locals and visitors with more than a 10-percent increase from the last edition.

Hong Kong is a popular gastronomic destination, attracting tourists from around the world. During the five-day festival, Hong Kong also welcomed three international cruise liners, with the passengers checking out the festival and joining the exclusive wine-tasting and pairing events organized by HKTB.

This year’s festival boasted over 300 booths with food and drink offerings from 35 countries and regions. The F&B head of a participating hotel said that business at the festival was better than what they initially estimated, with business doubling during the weekend.

For an elevated gastronomic journey, the Harbour Lounge presented a selection of exclusive cocktails blended with local flavors especially crafted by mixologists, allowing guests to take sips of unique Hong Kong tastes while enjoying the stunning view of Victoria Harbour.

Guests immersed themselves in premium booths that included CIAK–In the Kitchen, the casual concept of Michelin-starred chef Umberto Bombana of Otto e Mezzo. Also in this area was Fisholic, now part of the Michelin Guide Hong Kong. Chef Hyvan Tong made us try noodles made with fish, french fries made entirely of fish, and his unique Fishotto, where minced fish was shaped like rice grains.

Following the “Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival,” HKTB presented the “Taste Around Town” campaign, in partnership with close to 400 restaurants and bars in town. It runs until the end of this month.

Chef Archan Chan at the dried seafood market.

Participating outlets include high-end restaurants and world-acclaimed bars in the “2024 Asia’s 50 Best Bars,” offering an exciting array of discounts and deals, such as discounts of up to 40 percent, half-priced menus, and hot pot set deals at 61-percent off.

HKTB took me around several local restaurants. Notable, limited-edition dishes to try until November include Chinese wine-marinated foie gras and the fried marble goby at The Praya; dim sum at the father-and-son-run restaurant Old Fung Tea House; the amazing egg tarts of chef Gregoire Michaud at Bake House. Gregoire was the pastry chef of Four Seasons before opening the most popular bakery in Hong Kong right now.

There was also Chorland Cookfood Stall, a restaurant packed with locals yet unfamiliar to tourists. Chorland is actually a dai pai dong, a type of open-air food stall (but this one is air-conditioned). The term originates from Hong Kong, and the official government name for these establishments is “cooked-food stalls.” The huge, colorful, industrial-style restaurant serves delicious Cantonese dishes with homemade craft beer.

Must orders are the sweet and sour pork, salted egg yolk corn, squid paste cake with lotus root and truffles, black pepper beef, and beef noodles.

Old Fung and Young Fung at their dim sum house.

I also had a chance to have a gin-tasting session with Tankyu Distillery and the makers of Hong Kong’s award-winning Perfume Trees Gin. The tasting session was at their shop at The Mills, a former factory mill that was converted into a lifestyle area that houses unique shops, and is a haven for pet lovers. I had a great time playing with a lot of dogs there!

The highlight of this trip was time spent with Ho Lee Fook chef Archan Chan. Anything served from the Michelin Guide restaurant Ho Lee Fook I liked. Memorable dishes included salt and pepper tofu with crispy garlic, jer jer spicy boneless chicken wings pot, Kurobuta pork char siu, and razor clams with glass noodles.

Archan, who prepared all the dishes the night before, gave us a guided neighborhood tour around Hong Kong. She took us to the very interesting dry seafood shops along Des Voeux Road West, a place I have not gone to.

She explained the several uses of various ingredients so I ended up buying a lot. It was also my first time at Sai Ying Pun Market where Archan showed us all the live fresh seafood available. Seafood at a Hong Kong market is actually very reasonably priced — if only I had a place to cook it! It gets expensive when it gets to the restaurants.

The market also had excellent organic vegetable produce of Hong Kong by The Natural Corner. It is interesting to note that Hong Kong hardly grows any vegetables due to limited land, but Natural Corner produces vegetables displayed like a work of art in the market.

Archan also took us to a hidden gem of a restaurant filled with locals. At Wing Hop Sing, which specialized in clay pot dishes, we sampled four excellent variants — chicken and mushroom, Chinese sausage, eel, and beef and egg.

Hong Kong cements itself as a top destination for food lovers with the immense success of this latest Wine & Dine festival. I’m glad I discovered more of “local Hong Kong” and would love to explore more of the countless other restaurants in this city that calls out foodies like myself.

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