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
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Over a thousand wine lovers descended on the Grand Hyatt for the James Suckling Great Wines of the World tasting event on the 31 October.
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‘American cheese’ was for many years synonymous with tasteless slices of plastic cheese… Things though have changed in the last decade as the world’s largest milk producer and a myriad of small and big cheese companies across the fifty states now produce some of the tastiest cheese in the world.
Unconstrained by the tight regulations that define a type of cheese in France / Italy / UK, cheese manufacturers in America have experimented with milks and production processes to create delicious traditional hard and soft cheeses but also many with new flavours and textures. The US Dairy Export Council is working hard to raise awareness of locally and slowly we are beginning to see these American artisan cheeses in Hong Kong shops.
Click on any photo for the full gallery.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/American-Artisan-Cheese-US-Consuls-Residence-8-November-2018/i-K6L3sqm
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‘American cheese’ was for many years a dirty word synonymous with tasteless slices of plastic cheese… Things though have changed in the last decade or so as the world’s largest milk producer and a myriad of small and big cheese companies across the fifty states now produce some of the best cheese in the world.
Unconstrained by the tight regulations that define a type of cheese in France / Italy / UK, cheese manufacturers in America have experimented with milks and production processes to create delicious traditional hard and soft cheeses but also many new flavours, textures and types.
The US Dairy Export Council is working hard to raise awareness locally and slowly we are beginning to see these American artisan cheeses in Hong Kong shops. Brands such as Beechers who make a stunning aged cheddar and Sartori who have a range of flavoured cheese to tease your taste-buds. bc will have more information on where to buy when distribution deals are confirmed.
Click on any photo for the full gallery.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/US-Artisan-Cheese-Tasting-29-November-2017/i-xnCVSVT
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The biannual Hofex descended on Hong Kong last week and bc went for a look see, here’s some of what we found. There’s a lot of food at Hofex but the majority of the suppliers, from across the globe, are food service orientated. That’s the provision of the food we enjoy in restaurants, cafes and hotels, from the raw ingredients to machines to technology.
In many smaller places, restaurant groups, but also even in hotel buffets, much of what you eat is outsourced and prepared in a factory or communal kitchens and reheated or finished just before you consume it.
The technology and cooking techniques in the food production area have improved massively in recent years – a simple local example would be the improved quality and options in the bread basket, where very few restaurants have the space/time to make their own – to the extent that with most dishes you shouldn’t be aware of the difference.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/HOFEX-HKCEC-11-May-2017/i-mFrFHHQ
Pizza is now a Hong Kong diet staple, with a plethora of different choices from low end to high end. As the big ‘specialist chains have expanded though the quality of many has noticeably dropped. You can even find frozen Tesco’s pizza in some supermarkets. At Hofex though Cypriot importer and online store www.greekdeli.com.hk was showcasing a frozen Greek pizza from Elliniki Nostimia. It’s tasty, full of flavour, loaded with cheese and available with a range of toppings and an estimated retail price of between $40-60. It should be available soon from outlets around town and also from their online store. And while you’re shopping there try out the various flavours of Greek yoghurts.
One of the big local food factories is Sims and among the many tasty things they were showcasing was a delicious chocolate dome comprising a hard chocolate outer shell, filled with soft moist chocolate sponge and then a liquid chocolate center. A difficult combination to execute successfully on a small scale let alone on a production line. Yet it was delicious. Not too sweet, the sponge moist, and so good we went back for a second later in the week.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hofex-HKCEC-9-May-2017/i-DrH4nwv
Brand extensions have been all the range among marketeers for a long time with many hoping to replicate, even on a small scale the phenomenal succe$$ of Hello Kitty. You’ll soon find on your supermarket shelves Jack Daniels BBQ sauces and Guinness Beer Brats and meatballs (Park n Shop, Jusco).
From Lativa comes Nelleulla chocolate flavoured with freeze dried fruit and lovely truffles coated with gold and filled with a range of flavours. The Taiwanese know how gold can help sell, and a company created a hand made nougat with a gold topping. Also from Taiwan for coffee lovers is a range of indigenous coffee with unusual flavours including sea salt coffee.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hofex-HKCEC-9-May-2017/i-69VfnDC
Melbourne cheese makers That’s Amore Cheese showcased several cheeses including Drunken Buffalo (a matured Buffalo milk cheese encased in Nebbiolo grape skins and lees and matured for six months) and Secrets of the Forest (a handcrafted Buffalo milk cheese mixed with winter truffles and matured in wild hay for six months) both are wonderful cheeses with unique flavours and we hope to see both available locally soon.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/HOFEX-HKCEC-11-May-2017/i-b8hfrGB
Not all of these are available now, but many should be in a retail or online store near you in the next few months.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2017/Hofex-HKCEC-10-May-2017/i-cV3qt4C
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/American-Cheese-and-Wine/i-W2NrTL6
An evening of sublime flavours as the US Consul General hosted an evening of American wine and US cheese.
America is well known for it’s wine, but it might surprise you to know that the US is now the world’s biggest cheese exporter. And we’re not talking those synonymous processed cheese slices. A thriving quality artisanal cheese industry offers everything from award wining cheddars to sublime blue cheeses, ‘Parmesan’ wheels and ‘French’ bries and much more – there’s something for everyone to enjoy and explore. And soon to be, if the US Dairy Export Council and Schuman Cheese are successful, available in a shop near you.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.
https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/American-Cheese-and-Wine/i-tBsRXLr
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The third big food Expo of the year, Restaurant & Bar, again saw the HKCEC thronged with food and wine producers and distributors from across the globe. Amidst the plethora of coffee and craft beer distributors some of the more interesting products we saw and tasted were Vasterbottensosn cheese from Sweden made with cow’s milk of herds grazing close to the Arctic circle. Yak meat from Finland. Sweet Potato Butter from the United States, washed down with ‘moonshine’. Lovely Belgian macaroons in a range of wonderful flavours including fig goat cheese thyme, camembert raspberry from Multizen Asia – sadly only available commercially. Add pure blueberry and lingonberry juices fashioned into some lovely cocktails by Swedish bartender Emil Areng and the future’s looking tasty.
Vive la France
There’s lots of great wet and produce markets spread across the SAR – but what about the vegetables they don’t sell… That’s where supermarkets can step in. As part of the Le French GourMay Great in Pacific Place is running a French food promotion through May. As well as some wonderfully tasty new products they’ve signed up with a new fresh produce consolidator to bring an expanded range of fresh seasonal European vegetables. Among those new on the shelf in May are yellow, red and white carrots – yes, you did read that correctly, not all carrots are orange. A fresh multi-coloured carrot salad is easy on the eye, healthy and very tasty. Other vegetables that come in colours you’re not used to seeing include beetroot and tomatoes. Locally we’ve got used to seeing and eating cherry and ‘regular’ tomatoes but there are many different varieties of tomatoes – Great had sixteen different types the day we were exploring. All with different colours, shapes, textures and flavours, mixing a few different varieties can enhance any ‘dull’ tomato salad.
France is renowned for it’s cheese and among the new varieties in the Great cheese room is the delicious Bleu de Severac ($95/100g) which could be confused with a Roquefort cheese as is made from unpasteurised ewes’ milk and follows the identical method of production. The only difference is that it’s not matured in the prestigious cellars of Combalou. The uncooked, unpressed soft cheese with veins of blue mould is firm, creamy and smooth with a sublime tangy, slightly spicy/acidic flavour.
For many years now Hong Kong has gone rouge, blanc et blue in May. Originally Le French May was about raising awareness and appreciation of French music, art and culture, but 8 years ago Le French GourMay was launched to enhance the appreciation of French food and wine – perfect for a city full of hedonists. Check out the website to explore the wide range of promotions and dinging offers www.frenchgourmay.com
CheesebyTom
In Europe cheese is an everyday food item and it’s common to have several types in the fridge all the time. Locally however cheese, like ice-cream, has been and continues to be priced as a luxury item. Architect/Entrepreneur Tom Higgins is looking to change that with his new cheese delivery website www.cheesebytom.com The Lamma based site currently offers Brie, Double Gloucester, Emmental, Cheddar, Gruyere and Manchego and delivers across Lamma and also to Hong Kong island once a week. We ordered the Cheddar ($35/250g) and the Brie ($50/250g) both are good solid very edible cheeses, perfect to be enjoyed at anytime. Yes, you can find finer cheeses around but cheesebytom returns cheese to everyday item it should be – at a price accessible to all HongKongers.
Tsim Sha Tsui East
TST East is one of those areas just off the main arteries that’s thronged with tourists who sleep there and office workers – consequently there’s a lot of restaurants and bars with many places offering outdoor seating and views of across the harbour. Among those is the Italian restaurant Spasso (Empire Centre, 68 Mody Road. Tel: 2730 8027) who celebrate the start of summer with a new promotional menu and the ‘opening’ of their terrace.
Also in the area is the wonderful Middle Eastern restaurant Ra (Wing On Plaza, Tel: 2721 3600) which offers a mix of Moroccan and Egyptian cuisine and for those who like it some of the best shisha in Hong Kong. A perfectly relaxing way to spend an evening.
