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.
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.
Ruby Tuesday are on a tear with the opening of a third new restaurant in less than a year. The success of the new style restaurant in K11 Art Mall saw the opening of a first Ruby Tuesday in what could be considered a very local market: Po Lam – Tseung Kwan O. The new outlet in Tuen Mun builds on those successes while incorporating new Covid protections and innovations to ensure the safety of customers and staff.
The Tuen Mun branch, located on the ground floor of Trend Plaza, is smaller than the other new outlets but incorporates the outdoor seating which has proven very popular among customers. While it may be a little hot (or wet), there are no fans, to sit outside in summer. The outdoor tables will surely be in high demand as the weather cools.
The feel of the new branch is a little darker than the bright openness of K11, the more notable difference though is Ruby Tuesday’s first open kitchen in Hong Kong. It’s not fully open, but offers diners the chance to see the kitchen crew in action and also a chance to see that Covid protocols are being observed in the kitchen and that the staff member tasked with keeping the broad swathes of stainless steel shining clean is on task.
As for the food, a new Express set lunch (available only at TKO, Po Lam and Tuen Mun) offers meals at prices similar to local chain outlets. And the staff were working hard to ensure that diners could enjoy their meal during a lunch hour.
It was steaming hot the day bc visited Ruby’s in Tuen Mun so we sampled Ruby’s range of (delicious) smoothies and iced drinks – the highlight being Ruby’s Passion a mango smoothie topped with passion fruit puree, the tartness of passion fruit reigning in the sweetness of the mango. The coffee frappuccino with ice cream was basically flavourless liquid and a disappointment compared to the rather nice one we enjoyed previously at K11.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210625-11pro-Ruby-Tuesday-Tuen-Mun-/i-7ZdJJw2
On a personal note, I don’t really see the point of trying to create ‘fake’ meat and have always found the results disappointing. Discussing this recently, a friend offered a suggestion, don’t think of Impossible as fake meat, think of it as something like tofu which can be prepared and enjoyed in many different ways. Seen and eaten in that way, it’s an enjoyable and textured alternative to meat. Ruby’s Impossible quesadilla was tasty and filling, while the newly added Butcher’s Steak offered a meaty and flavourful reminder that there really is nothing like meat.
bc hadn’t noticed it on the menus in previous visits, so we can’t say if it’s new, but several menu items had a Keto symbol to help those on that food plan.
One of the many small changes in recent years that have re-energised the brand locally and made it an enjoyable place for lunch and dinner where the food tastes as good as it looks.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210625-11pro-Ruby-Tuesday-Tuen-Mun-/i-7qGnSjF
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2021/20210625-11pro-Ruby-Tuesday-Tuen-Mun-/i-JSJJ2cn
Location: Shop 39-40, Level 1, North Wing, Trend Plaza, Tuen Mun
Tel: 3598 3098
Ruby Tuesday have a new outlet in Trend Plaza, Tuen Mun. It’s the chain’s seventh restaurant and the third new location opened in the last year.
Commenting about the new outlet Ruby Tuesday Managing Director Leslie Bailey said “We have taken every lesson that the COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us and incorporated it into our new restaurant design. In addition to the standard water and air-filters, we’ve also taken the extra precaution of adding a state-of-the-art Philips UV Disinfection System to filter and clean the air circulating in the restaurant.”
Location: Shop 39-40, Level 1, North Wing, Trend Plaza, Tuen Mun
Tel: 3598 3098
Hong Kong has 11 entries in ‘Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2021‘ with local Cantonese restaurant The Chairman replacing last year’s numero uno Singapore’s Odette in top spot.
The very subjective list is compiled and voted on by over 300 ‘leaders’ in Asia’s culinary field including journalists, food critics, chefs, restaurateurs and culinary experts.
Quite how it can pretend to be remotely objective this year when travel and dining out have been extensively curtailed… But congratulations to the local restaurants listed.
The local restaurants in this year’s ‘Top 50’ are Vea (16), Neighbourhood (17), Belon (25), Caprice (28), Otto e Mezzo Bombana (33), Amber (37), Ta Vie (38), Mono (44), Lung King Heen (47) and Seventh Son (48).
The only Macau entry is Wing Lei Palace in 50th spot.
Just in time for Christmas Ruby Tuesday have opened a new outlet in Metro City, Po Lam.
Ruby Tuesday Managing Director Leslie Bailey talked about the new outlet “Ruby Tuesday, Metro City Plaza, Po Lam is our largest restaurant by size. We’ve made every effort to ensure that the dining experience is first-class and our talented local designer has created a space that evolves throughout the day; whether alone, together, or as a family, we provide you with a [really] comfortable dining experience and our team will provide you with quality food, served with passion, in an environment, we take pride in.”
“We have taken every lesson that the COVID-19 Pandemic has taught us and incorporated it into our new restaurant design,” Bailey continued. “In addition to the standard water and air-filters, we’ve also taken the extra precaution of adding a state-of-the-art Philips UV Disinfection System to filter and clean the air circulating in the restaurant, thus reducing the risk of any secondary infection. You will find two automated handwashing and sanitization stations. With the children’s station at a lower level to encourage children to focus on washing their hands properly.
Over the holidays it’s BYO – Bring your own alcohol – until the liquor licence is approved.
Ruby’s Festive Platter Set( $798) includes: Honey Glazed Ham Hock, Lamb Shank, Boston Lobster, Roast Pumpkin & Chestnut Soup (2), Smoked Salmon and mulled wine (2 glasses)
Location: Shop UG020 – 021, UG/F, MCP Central, Tseung Kwan O
Tel: 2154 1318
On the sliver of O’Brien Road that connects Hennessy Road and Lockhart Road, the tasty Indian hole in the wall Masala Train has reached the end of the track. New at the A2 entrance to Wanchai MTR is Angel’s.
Strangely given the number living in the city, there are not many Filipino restaurants around. As well as a menu that features the classics like tapsilog, adobe, lechon and sisig there are daily blackboard specials. So if you’re looking to tease your tastes buds with something different call an Angel.
Angel’s
146 Lockhart Road
Wanchai
Tel: 3566 2568
French supermarket chain Monoprix joins British counterparts Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s on the shelves of our local stores as it launches it’s eponymous range of products at Marketplace by Jasons.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Monoprix-Launch-Cobo-House-3-December-2019/i-XjjwvFB
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2019/Monoprix-Launch-Cobo-House-3-December-2019/i-XNHQDLP
