bc magazine

Wanchai Belles

After 21 year it’s last orders at Delaney’s Wanchai and bc spoke to two of Wanchai’s loveliest ladies Clare and Jeanette, as well as David “No problem, i’ll fix it” the bar’s longest serving employee about their memories and experiences over that time.

Clare: I started in 1997 the same time as Jeanette as a waitress on the 2nd floor. I left in 1999 only to rejoin Delaney’s in 2003 as Duty Manager, I have been the GM for around 8 years.

Jeanette: What is there to say about my years in Delaney’s Wanchai? Although, I have only been back at the Wanchai branch for just over 4 years, the company has played a major role in my 18 years here in Hong Kong. From a waitress up on the second floor in 1997, progressing to Floor Head. I left to go to the original Dublin Jack, on Cochrane Street in March 1999.

David: I started in December 1997 as a bartender on the 2nd floor, it was a very busy bar when I started. How I’m the man who fixes things and keeps the bar running smoothly.

Is there a single night at Delaneys that stands out as your favourite night?
Clare: I think for me personally one of the highlights in my time at Delaneys was the Spurs Legends night ,this fell on my birthday so was an added bonus & was just something totally different to our normal nights!!
Jeanette: One evening that will always be remembered, for me personally, will be the night we had our “Meet The Barbarians Event”. That was a lot of fun, and a chance to meet some great rugby players. Although I am not a great fan of football, the Spurs Legends night was also fantastic. To see the bar packed to the rafters with such dedicated Spurs fans from all over the region was actually very emotional!
David: I’ve worked through 17th St.Paddy days and 17 Rugby 7’s here which was unforgettable.

Best moment/memory?
Clare: The other great nights that stick in mind are St Patrick’s Day each year with the Dargle band flying over from Ireland, & the Rugby 7’s weekends were always hard work but a lot of fun.
Jeanette: Highs? Rugby 7’s weekends are always fun, if not very hard work. St. Patrick’s Day always sticks in my mind, although I’m not sure that it has always been fun! As a rugby fan, the last world cup in 2011 was one of my most fun times.
David: My great nights was always on the weekends with all the footy and rugby games it’s hard to make every customer happy, but good when I can.

Worst moment/memory at Delaneys?
Clare: I think some of the worst nights I have had have been during the football World Cups especially when they have been at silly o clock times & people are at their worst & the hours we have worked have been incredibly long.
Jeanette: Lows? Any time that involves football! Ha Ha!
Gary: The worst times were the 2002 World Cup coz the kick-off time in HK (noon/day time) and when England are playing football, the doors are always shut 2 hours before kick-off and people get angry when we can’t let them in.

What will you miss most/least about Dalaneys Wanchai?
Clare: I think in the 12yrs I have been here the one thing I will miss are the amazing people I have worked with & all the customers that have gone on to become good friends over the years.
Jeanette: Things I will miss? The wonderful customers we have here, some of which I have known since the my early days here in 1997. Some are now close friends, and many hold a place in my heart.
Things I won’t miss? Wanchai. The area is changing, and I don’t think for the better.
David: I will miss all of the people I’ve met here, I’ve made so many friends.

What memories will you take away?
Clare: It has always been a family at Delaney’s Wanchai & that is one of the biggest things I will miss….although I am happy to leave the Wanchai area as that has gone downhill in my opinion over the past few years!
Jeanette: Delaney’s as a company are a very close knit bunch, from the Directors at the top down to all the front-of-house and back-of-house staff. We have been through some wonderful times together. We have laughed and cried, we have had our ups and downs, but we have always been together. I will take those memories away with me and hold them for ever close.
David: Working here for 18 years, Delaney’s is just like my 2nd home, a home has so many memories.

What next?
Clare: I am looking forward to a rest for a little while & then I will see what happens next!
Jeanette: I will be having a well earned rest, and taking a look at what I would like to do next. At the moment, no plans are in place so i’m open to interesting offers.
David: The next step, I will look for a new job. If they open a new Delaneys, I am happy to come back stick everything back together.

Delaney’s Wanchai shuts it’s doors for the final time on 13 August, should be a bit of a craic!

Grand Opening @ Townhouse – 5 June 2015

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Townhouse celebrated it’s opening with a party on the 5 June, 2015
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Burger Joys – Opening Day

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Burger Joys – Opening Day, 5 June 2015
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Megabites: Food News, 15 April, 2015

Fast Food Pizza
Napoli’s Pizza & Caffe which opened at 40-46 Carnarvon Road in Tsim Sha Tsui last week, see’s Italy’s traditional staple re-worked Japanese style as fast food. In a traditional pizza restaurant the pie often takes about 20-30 minutes to arrive. Using a 400+ degree oven the pizza at Napoli’s is cooked in 90 seconds! Yes, we found that hard to believe as well but it’s true. From order to table/ take-away was around 5 minutes.

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Is it any good? Surprisingly so, and not expensive. The basic 25cm Margherita is just $35 and there’s a wide range of flavours available including prosciutto rucola ($78). Quattro Formaggi ($58), this four cheese classic, is given a Japanese twist with the addition of a side of maple syrup which adds little sweetness to a savoury dish – and very popular with Japanese women. One the most popular topping’s in Japan, and sure to be here too, is the cheese less Cicinielli ($68, baby sardines, clams,). A pizza with no cheese, as a cheese lover the idea seemed sacrilege. But it’s very tasty, add a splash of Tabasco to make the flavours sing

For those with a sweet tooth Napoli’s has some very tasty desserts including panzerotti (pizza dough deep fried and coated in sugar and other flavours $8-15) and chocolate banana pizza ($35)

Fresh Pizza as a ‘fast food’ is something different, but it tastes good at a price that’s hard to beat. Does it survive the cold pizza next day reheat test? Definitely – not that’s there’s much chance it’ll make the fridge, unless you buy and extra pie.

Waitrose @ Great Food Hall
Through the end of April, Great Food Hall in the basement of Pacific Place is featuring British supermarket chain Waitrose’s own brand basic food products including the Love Life ‘Quick Cook’ grains range which features various combinations of whole grains, beans and pulses that only requiresa ten-minute boil before using. There’s also the Duchy Originals’ (produced in partnership with Prince Charles) range of organic products.

Free Sandwiches
Free give-aways seem to be the promo-de-jour as Caribbean themed bar Rummin’ Tings (G/F, 28 Hollywood Road, 2523 7070) picks up where a sexually discriminating burger joint left-off when on Saturday 18 April between 2-5pm they’re looking give away 500 sandwiches.

There’s three types to choose from Jerk Chicken, Grilled BBQ Beef & The Cubano. There’s also cold slushies and beer to enjoy with your sandwich while getting your grooves on as DJ Noel spins the tunes.

Advertising v Reality
Pizza Hut recently launched a ‘new’ pizza the Golden Lava Pizza and it looks gorgeous on the posters and on the front of the menus… The reality is somewhat different, so different that we cheese lovers decided to pass and order from another pizza outlet.

Megabites: Food News, 31 March, 2015

America’s Culinary Bounty
In the basement of Pacific Place, through April 7, Great is showcasing America’s Bounty as it introduces and features many new American products. From seafood: East Coast Clams and Pacific Northwest Oysters, to fresh produce: meats to superfoods and grains – there’s lots to explore an savour. In Great’s wonderful cheese room there a selection of artisan cheeses from California. A wonderful firm and tasty Fiscalini Bandage Wrapped Cheddar is a delight, while the Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor is truly a gorgeous soft-ripened goat’s cheese. Among the other new products is Tolerant Foods range of bean based pastas which are wheat and gluten free, non-GMO, vegan and organic. For those who love grains and ‘superfoods’ there’s organic grains including quinoa from Arrowhead Mills and chia from Bob’s Red Mill. Many of the products will remain on-sale after the promotion period.

During the promotion Great’s hot food counter is introducing a range of take-away Tex-Mex dishes including nachos, quesadillas, fajitas and tacos

Free Milk @ Circle K
As the price of milk continues to increase, up almost 25% from last year as the regular price of a 946ml carton of milk surges past the $25 mark. It’s not often that you’ll find convenience store prices are lower than supermarkets but currently Circle K is running a long term fresh milk promotion buy 5 cartons of Nestle milk and get the 6^th free. Simply pick up the chop card at any shop and chop away.

Buffet ala Hung Hom
Newly opened in Hung Hom is Sav, one of these new modern hotels looking to be your trendy home from home and full of bubbly friendly staff. Located on the first floor adjacent to reception is Palatte the hotels industrial looking dining space. With raw concrete floors, clear perspex chairs, the look is very modern and bright – but for all the staff buzzing around it’s strangely cold and functional with everyone trying that bit too hard to be nice.

The dinner buffet is prettily displayed, with a table of enticing desserts looking to draw you into the main dining area where cold and hot dishes stretch the length of one wall. Two cooking stations offer fresh pasta and noodles. There’s lots of seafood – lobster, oysters, yabbies, muscles – some sushi and sashimi, various western, Indian and Chinese hot dishes and the obligatory range of salads. Organic greens grown in the New Territories and a cheese board round out the offerings. It’s a reasonable sized dinner buffet, but… at $588 it’s not cheap. The extensive seafood offerings may be a factor in the price – as this was a special media tasting it’s impossible to know if on a regular night when the place is full, it seats 100, these will be constantly replenished.

It’s a very pretty looking spread, sadly though the food is very bland – the hot dishes lacked flavour, the salads identity and the quality of meat wasn’t all that you’d expect. There are a lot of very good buffets available in Hong Kong these days and Palatte’s at the moment isn’t good enough to make it worth the trek to Hung Hom. If you’re in the area though, the high tea sets look good at $288/two people and the lunch offerings of a hot dish, salad buffet and tea/coffee range from $68-$138 are very good value.

In-n-Out Burger
Family owned burger chain In-n-Out returned to Hong Kong for their third pop-up burger event, this time in Causeway Bay. 250 lucky customers got to sample In-n-Out’s burgers – at American prices: a double double ($25) hamburger ($15) and cheeseburger ($20). Cooked either ‘animal’ or ‘protein’ style, the tasty fresh ingredients were a big hit and well worth queuing for. Sadly Brian Nakao the organiser of In-n-Out’s foreign events confirmed that the burger chain has no immediate plans to open a store or three in Hong Kong.

Red Bulls**t

Would you confuse beer and an energy drink? Red Bull seems to think it’s customers are that stupid or maybe they’ll be confused that Red Bull has entered the beer market, if they came in contact with Virginia’s Old Ox Brewery?

Attorneys for the extreme drink certainly think so, and have filed a complaint in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In it, attorneys – always looking to increase their billable hours – for the energy drink assert some consumers might confuse the brands because “An ‘ox’ and a ‘bull’ both fall within the same class of ‘bovine’ animals and are virtually indistinguishable to most consumers. In addition, an ox is a castrated bull.”

In reply the Old Ox Brewery released a public letter asking the company that makes Red Bull energy drinks to drop its complaint.

Hey Red Bull –

You seem pretty cool. You sponsor snowboarders, adventure racers, rock climbers and motocross bikers. You launch people into space so that they can skydive back down to earth. That’s all really darn cool. For all I know, you’re reading this while strapping yourself into a Formula One racecar that is about to be lit on fire and jumped over a large chasm of some sort. How cool would that be? Feel free to give it a try.

Here’s the thing, though. You are being extremely uncool to us at Old Ox Brewery. We are a small startup brewery in Ashburn, Virginia. We’re family-run, we love beer, and we love our community. For reasons that we cannot understand, you have attempted to strong arm us into changing our identity for the last 10 months because you believe folks might mistake Old Ox beer for Red Bull energy drinks. We respectfully disagree. The only similarity between our two products is that they are both liquids. You make non-alcoholic (but very extreme) energy drinks. We make delicious (but laid-back) beer. Our consumers are looking for two distinctly different experiences from our respective products.

Basically you are holding us hostage with a list of demands that, if agreed to, would severely limit our ability to use our brand. Demands like, never use the colour red, silver or blue; never use red with any bovine term or image; and never produce soft drinks. Do you own the colour red? What about fuchsia, scarlet, crimson, or mauve? Are you planting your flag in the colour wheel and claiming those shades for Red Bull? Do you claim exclusive rights to all things bovine? Do you plan to herd all heifers, cows, yaks, buffalo, bison, and steer into your intellectual property corral, too?

When we refused to succumb to your demands, you responded by filing a formal opposition to not just our trademark but to the very name Old Ox Brewery. Way to step on our American dream. You say you are protecting your intellectual property rights, but your claim, in our opinion, is Red Bulls**t.

We can only interpret your actions as one thing—bullying. You are a big Red Bully. Just like that mean kid from grade school pushing everyone down on the playground and giving us post-gym class wedgies. You are giving us one hell of a corporate wedgie. We don’t appreciate it and we sure as hell don’t deserve it.

Is this really what you’re about? Are you a bully? Your extensive marketing campaigns (your glitzy advertising, your sponsored sports events, your death defying stunt shows, etc.) certainly don’t project that image. Take a hard look at your “case.” Can you honestly look at our brand and say, “this is a threat to my image?” We don’t think you can. Given that, we repeat our offer: We agree NEVER to produce energy drinks. In exchange, we are asking for one simple thing: Leave us alone. Drop this trademark dispute. The only people benefiting are the lawyers.

Sincerely and Uninfringingly Yours,

Chris Burns
President – Old Ox Brewery

As Shelly commented it’s easy to get confused
“I’m just a silly girl. Sometimes I really need an energy drink and I get confused why I’m in a brewery. Wait, why are they carding me for an energy drink? This is weird. Oh wait…. I’m getting drunk from this energy drink from my tulip glass.
And sometimes I’m in 7-11 thinking I can get a great craft beer, but this can is only making me hyper…
Why is life so hard?
I need a beer.”

The Joy of Beef

American beef is very popular locally, in fact by value Hong Kong is the world’s 4th largest importer of American beef. Recently the US Meat Export Federation and the Texas Beef Council were in town to promote US beef and raise awareness among supermarkets and butchers about how to best cut, trim and prepare raw beef for their customers. As well as an effort to encourage shops to help advise and inform customers on the best way to cook different cuts and to buy their meat based on how they’re planning to cook it.

While they were in Hong Kong bc spoke to Tom McDonald (Chairman, Texas Cattle Feeders Association; VP of Environmental Affairs, JBS Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC), Ross Wilson (President & CEO, Texas Cattle Feeders Association), Austin Brown III (Vice Chairman, Texas Beef Council; Vice Chairman, Beef Promotion and Research Council of Texas), Jason Bagley (Sr. Manager, Beef Resources at Texas Beef Council).

With the concerns locally about counterfeit meat, what should Hong Kong customers look for when buying American Beef to know that it’s authentic and the real thing?
Hong Kong requires country of origin labelling for meat sold at retail. We would assume most follow that. The US Meat Export Federation also supports importers and distributors for promoting US red meat and their stickers often appear on packages of US beef.

Texas is renowned for it’s BBQ, for non-Americans what is it that makes Texas BBQ so special?
It takes the right cut of beef, time and a low cooking temperature. It can be done on the smoker/grill or even in the oven. Texas BBQ uses mainly salt and pepper as a dry rub and then cooks the beef at a low temperature, about 120C.

What are good cuts of beef to use when BBQing, and what should customers look for in their meat when shopping?
Some good cuts are steaks from the ribeye or loin, or thicker roasts like the strip, sirloin cap, brisket or shoulder. It’s best to look for a little fat on the outside to protect from the heat while cooking, but more importantly to look for marbling in the steak or roast.

HK flats tend to the small size with limited ovens – are there ways to Texas BBQ at home?
Absolutely, the same cuts Texans cook on a BBQ pit can be cooked in the oven with the same spices. For a little smoke flavour you can even include some liquid smoke if it’s available. Use the same salt and pepper seasoning.

We love our outdoor BBQs, can HongKonger’s get a Texas flavour from these open pit style BBQs?
Yes, choose wood or charcoal that will enhance the flavour and season as usual. It’s best to BBQ with indirect heat so move the meat away from the coals to decrease the temp and slow the cooking process.

‘Organic’ and ‘Natural’ are increasingly popular words locally, what is the Texas beef industry doing to improve sustainability?
The beef industry has done many things to improve the sustainability over the years. One of the things cattle ranchers in Texas and across the US have done is to use the best genetics when selecting bulls and cows to use in their herd. This can ensure that cattle have higher quality meat, at the same time as decreasing the amount of water, food and resources needed to grow an animal to a given weight. In short, they breed efficient growing cattle that produce a quality product.

The drought has driven US beef prices to an all time high, and made beef from other countries attractive on a price point. What does the future hold for the price of US beef?
I think the future will continue to see US beef prices stay high. Until the cattle herd is able to rebuild and supply increases. However, we continue to see demand stay at high levels due to the high quality meat being produced compared and the great eating experience that you get each time. The “value” is still very good.

Many people think of Texas and cowboys + big cattle drives. How has the life of the cowboy changed? What impact is technology having on our romantic movie driven view of the cowboy?
The days of cattle drives are long gone. Although today’s cowboys still wear the same hats and boots, they also use lots of technology, from the smart phones used to check emails and weather from horseback, to the computer software and RFID ear tags that are used to track cattle birth, growth and sales. Another example would be the computer programming and technology that ensures cattle are getting the exact food ration needed to meet their nutritional needs. As with many businesses, technology has become a major part of being successful and creating a high quality product.

If you don’t fancy or aren’t able to cook your own beef, head down to Great in the basement of Pacifc Place and have your prime US Beef cooked for you.

Katrina Sutherland – New Zealand Winemaker

Katrina Sutherland has spent seventeen years making wine and is currently Production Winemaker and Quality Manager at Kim Crawford Wines in New Zealand. Katrina was in Hong Kong recently to promote her wines and bc asked her about the life of a winemaker.

I’m sure most of our readers think they know what / who a winemaker is, but how would you describe your job?
You need to be a little bit of a scientist, a little bit of an artist, be a little bit of a mechanic and have a little clown in you as no single day is the same!

What are the most challenging aspects for you of being a winemaker?
Working with a product that is subject to a variety of conditions is challenging; no matter how hard you work or prepare, nature will always send a curve ball. But for me that is also half the fun!

What gives you most pleasure (in winemaking terms)?
After all the hard work seeing someone at a restaurant or bottle shop buying your wine – in New Zealand, Shanghai and Hong Kong! There is a lot choice out there so that always gives me a buzz.

Working for a global wine producer, do you have much flexibility in what you produce and the changing flavours – or is more produce x of this, y of that with this flavour?
Working for a global producer allows me to make wines in a wide range of styles for markets all around the world and for people who are wine savvy as well as those who are just starting on their wine journey. We are able to make wines that may only make up 500 cases but can also able experiment a little with new product development and testing new concepts.

In Asia beyond the problems of fake wines there’s a lot of “love of a pretty bottle”, “It’s expensive, so it must be good”. As a winemaker what can you do to change these perceptions?
It is all about getting out and talking to people and challenging those concepts. Wine is a very individual thing and by giving people the confidence to make their own choices – by taking them first hand on my adventure and explaining what goes into the bottle, and how it came about is the best way to do that.

What does the future hold for New Zealand wine?
Continuing to develop the fantastic flavours that make our Sauvignon Blanc so exciting, and introducing people to other varieties that we make in New Zealand and that are as equally as distinctive as our Sauvignon Blancs such as Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Riesling.

What trends would you personally like to see evolve within the wine industry over the next decade?
Getting rid of the pomp and circumstance, the snobbery and flowery language and breaking down the perception that you need to know a lot about wine to enjoy it. Wine should be accessible to everyone to enjoy without those barriers. Winemakers can help this by contributing to the rapid growth in practical wine education around the world.