The 2022 edition of the Michelin Guide for Hong Kong and Macau was launched yesterday.
Sadly the Michelin Guide continues to award ‘stars’ and endorse and promote restaurants that sell sharks fin.
bc magazine refuses to knowingly support any restaurant or organisation that sells or promotes eating sharks fin!
From 9 December usage of the ‘LeaveHomeSafe‘ mobile app will be strictly enforced for entering all restaurants.
The Government has announced the updated arrangements for using the “LeaveHomeSafe” (LHS) mobile application that will take effect on 9 December 2021.
Scanning of the venue QR code will be required for entry to all premises regulated under the Prevention and Control of Disease (Requirements and Directions) (Business and Premises) Regulation (Cap. 599F). The modes of operation of catering business will also be adjusted accordingly…
Cap 599F covers all catering business premises that offer dine-in services, bars or pubs, bathhouses, party rooms, clubs or nightclubs, karaoke establishments, mahjong-tin kau premises, cruise ships, amusement game centres, fitness centres, places of amusement, places of public entertainment, beauty parlours and massage establishments, clubhouses, sports premises, swimming pools, hotel and guesthouses, and event premises.
If you are not sure there is more information www.coronavirus.gov.hk
Food delivery platform Uber Eats will shut down on 31 December 2021.
Launched in 2016, Uber Eats was a late arrival to Hong Kong’s food delivery sector where Foodpanda and Deliveroo had a head start and have since become the two dominant platforms.
According to data analysis site Measurable AI, Uber Eats has barely 5% local market share compared to market leaders Foodpanda’s 51 percent and Deliveroo’s 44 percent.
Angry delivery staff at Foodpanda are staging a two-day strike over the company’s unreasonable cuts in delivery fees.
Protesting staff, carrying banners including “Stop unreasonable pay cuts” and “Foodpanda treats us like slaves!”, gathered outside the firm’s Pandamart warehouse in Kwun Tong where a spokesman Mr Cheng said the company had been cutting fees since the beginning of the year.
The fee for motorcyclists has dropped to $40 per order and for cyclists and on-foot delivery staff to $20-odd. Cheng added, “We have finally reached the bottom of the barrel this time, so we have finally broken out and started a strike!”
According to delivery staff, Foodpanda has reduced the minimum delivery fee several times since January this year on the grounds that it was “for the long-term development of the company” and “to increase the bonus during peak hours”, reducing the fee by at least $10 per order.
Cheng said they would need to work 10% more orders than in January to earn the same salary. Staff are demanded a pay rise, increasing the delivery fee to $50 per order for motorcyclists and $35 for cyclists and on-foot deliverers.
When Foodpanda was first established in Hong Kong, delivery staff were employed on a contract basis. Now they are self-employed, which means no benefits such as sick leave, work injury insurance and MPF. Cheng also said that the delivery staff could be involved in traffic accidents or have their orders cancelled due to “theft of food”. They strongly demanded a pay rise, increasing the delivery fee to $50 per order for motorcyclists and $35 for cyclists and on-foot deliverers.
When Foodpanda was first established in Hong Kong, delivery staff were employed on a contract basis, but now they are self-employed. As a result, delivery workers now lack benefits such as sick leave, work injury insurance and MPF.
Cheng said that delivery staff could be involved in traffic accidents or have their orders cancelled due to “theft of food.” If an order is cancelled two to three times, their account will be suspended for 7 days and they will not be able to work. He added that the company often does not check the reason for an order cancellation, leaving deliverers with no job security and seriously affecting their livelihood.
Apparently, employees can express their opinions through the company’s mobile phone software if they have any complaints. Cheng said, “Bullshit, that’s impossible.” If Foodpanda doesn’t address their concern Cheng said the strike action might escalate.
image: inmediahk
After almost 23 years and too many frozen margaritas and shots of tequila to count Coyote Wanchai shut its doors last night for the final time.
Another ‘victim’ of greedy landlords who have destroyed so many businesses in Hong Kong. Sadly, there are now more empty/closed former bars/restaurants on Wanchai’s Lockhart Road than open ones.
Surely in the middle of a global pandemic, with no tourists likely for at least another six months – as a landlord it’s better to have some money coming in than to have your place sit empty for months…
Anyway, Coyote is gone like so many others over the years. There were a surprising number of people having a last drink who were also there on opening night…
A final few bcene photos…
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-MVZ85j7
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-9fmPfxC
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-zTd36GR
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-4p7RT9x
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-8NXNjj4
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-VsNXQK4
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-6mhR5SK
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-WBkS2fw
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-LdBvq8C
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20211111-Coyote-Wanchai-Adios/i-mSFHHKP
Shoppers in and around Kowloon Bay have somewhere new to spend their consumption vouchers with the opening of Taste x Fresh, a new supermarket partnership on the first floor of Amoy Plaza.
How does it differ from a ‘traditional’ Park’n’Shop Taste… The store is split into sixteen zones with the Taste areas pretty much as you’d expect; full (too full) of a wide range of products from across the globe, with multiple product promotion areas to encourage you to taste, try and buy.
Fresh have turned the regular fruit and vegetable section into an air-con premium version of a Hong Kong market. Instead of regular fruit and veg, there are Korean and Japanese versions. Instead of local meat, it’s tasty American, Australian, Japanese beef, pork and chicken imported and served chilled and sliced.
Something a little different to many supermarkets is that you can, as it was explained to bc, buy your meat or seafood and then have it cooked how you like it at one of the surrounding cooked food ‘stalls’. Unfortunately, the store was a little packed on opening day to test this process – but the theory is sound. And having it in a shopping centre is nice if you’re feeling a little peckish and/or lazy.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210818-Taste-x-Fresh-Opening-Kowloon-Bay/i-zkhFsx6
The store is an interesting experiment/collaboration and probably offers people in the area access to products and tastes that perhaps they haven’t been exposed to before.
But, and there’s sadly a massive BUT to give all this overseas food a premium look and to keep it fresh it’s bundled and covered in tons of plastic and packaging with not a mention of recycling to be seen.
Sadly it’s not something limited to Taste x Fresh, it’s a problem that’s been slowly smothering Hong Kong supermarkets for a few years. It’s just disappointing for a brand new partnership to see that so little thought appears to have gone into reuse and recycle. There are shops in Hong Kong where you can for example bring your own containers for dried goods.
Park’n’Shop and Uni-China Group have looked to offer something new, and if you live close you’ll find an expanded range of products – sadly they’ll be smothered in multiple layers of plastic…
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210818-Taste-x-Fresh-Opening-Kowloon-Bay/i-FL2Frf5
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210818-Taste-x-Fresh-Opening-Kowloon-Bay/i-g75Bw54
Taste x Fresh
1/F, Phase 1, Amoy Plaza, 77 Ngau Tau Kok Road, Kowloon Bay.
Opening hours: 8 am to 10:30 pm.
Registration for the Consumption Voucher Scheme will close this Saturday, 14 August.
Each eligible person can only register once and duplicate registrations will not be processed.
Octopus Card users will first receive HK$2,000, another HK$2,000 two months later, and then HK$1,000 several weeks after that.
People who receive the vouchers via their AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK digital wallets will first get HK$2,000 and then HK$3,000 two months later.
People who completed their registration on or after 18 July, and those who submitted paper registration forms, will receive the first $2,000 tranche of consumption vouchers on 1 September.
If you have not applied, registration closes on 14 August www.consumptionvoucher.gov.hk
The first $2,000 tranche of consumption vouchers were distributed today to the roughly 5.5 million people who had completed the electronic registration by 17 July. Notifications of disbursement were sent by SMS or mobile app push.
For people who used AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK, the $2,000 vouchers have been directly injected into your account, separate from your existing e-wallet. When making a payment, just choose whether to use the vouchers or other payment.
People using Octopus cards can collect the $2,000 voucher by tapping the card at the Subsidy Collection Points of the Public Transport Fare Subsidy Scheme at MTR stations; Light Rail Customer Service Centres; piers; public transport interchanges; convenience stores; supermarkets; Octopus Service Points; or via Octopus app within three months from today.
Octopus Card users will first receive HK$2,000, another HK$2,000 two months later, and then HK$1,000 several weeks after that.
People who receive the vouchers via their AlipayHK, Tap & Go or WeChat Pay HK digital wallets will first get HK$2,000 and then HK$3,000 two months later.
People who completed their registration on or after 18 July, and those who submitted paper registration forms, will receive the first $2,000 tranche of consumption vouchers on 1 September.
If you have not applied, registration closes on 14 August www.consumptionvoucher.gov.hk
