Celebrity Life

There's no better way to mark the occasion than with good food — and lots of it. Here's our pick of the best Chinese New Year luxury puddings and treats.

With the start of the new lunar year just around the corner, stock up on the best desserts on offer. Turnip puddings (also called radish cakes) are traditional Chinese dim sum snacks, commonly served in Cantonese yum cha. Don't underestimate the small dish — in Cantonese, its name “leen goh” or “loh bak goh” is a homophone for “year higher”, ushering in new heights of prosperity for the coming year.

And we adore the Chinese New Year chuen hup, or traditional candy box, portion of the holiday. A bright red circular box set enticingly open upon coffee tables, filled with all kinds of sweet and savoury treats — it's a time-honoured custom, along with the coconut and turnip puddings. Each neat little segment houses a treat with an auspicious meaning of its own: lotus seeds are symbolic signs of improved fertility; lotus root, of love; tangerines and kumquats sound phonetically similar to "gold"; melon seeds to money and wealth. Chocolate coins, well, are coins.

To celebrate new beginnings and the new year, we've compiled the best Chinese New Year luxury puddings and treats for you and your loved ones to welcome the Year of the Tiger with.

The Best Chinese New Year Luxury Puddings and Treats

China Tang

China Tang's artisan Chinese New Year puddings are a modern take on the classic recipe, serving up two whole new flavours to welcome the Year of the Tiger: a turnip pudding with dried tiger prawn and local preserved meat and a handmade rice pudding with Taiwanese brown sugar and purple rice. Both are crafted by executive chef Menex Cheung and dim sum chef Mok Wing Kwai, and come in these stunning gift boxes decorated with China Tang’s signature Narcissus pattern — symbolizing grace and fortune. You can order the puddings and pick them up from the restaurant.

China Tang Landmark, Shop 411-413, 4/F, LANDMARK ATRIUM, 15 Queen’s Road Central, Central; +852 2522 2148

Duddell’s

Michelin-starred Duddell's selection of Chinese New Year puddings is a trio of classic favourite flavours: turnip (HK$348), taro (HK$348) and a "New Year" Pudding (HK$298). Pick up one, all three, or a gift set including the restaurant's signature X.O. Sauce. It's all packaged in a specially designed gift box created in collaboration with G.O.D. (Goods of Desire), with an ornate hand-drawn pattern typical of the embellishments found on Chinese teacups and soup bowls, a nod to its Hong Kong heritage. You can purchase at the restaurant or order online for delivery — find out more here.

We also love the look of the "Prosperous New Year Hamper", stocked with six traditional delicacies: a new year pudding; braised South African 5 head abalone with Duddell’s Abalone Sauce; a signature X.O. Sauce; homemade walnut cookies; Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin, Yellow Label Brut, Champagne; and Fook Ming Tong Fuding Jasmine Mao Feng Tea.

Duddell’s, 1 Duddell Street, Central; +852 2525 9191

Godiva

To no one's surprise, it's all about the chocolates at Godiva. The Belgian chocolatier has drawn up a new motif for the Year of the Tiger, auspicious red and gold packaging printed with swimming koi and a tiger portrait set amongst crackling fireworks as a symbolic image of wealth. For the chocolates, the bijou creations feature the same lucky tiger motif over the surface and are packed in three distinct flavours: Raspberry Orange White chocolate, Pecan Praliné Milk chocolate and 85% Dark Ganache chocolate. Order before 31 January to enjoy special offers including free gifts, including a complimentary box of chocolates, or 10% off any purchase of HK$688. Find out more and order here.

Godiva, various locations across Hong Kong

Little Bao

Little Bao is paying tribute to lucky colour red with a beetroot turnip cake, replacing turnip with fresh beetroot for a natural bold red cake. Ingredients include Sam Hing Lung rose wine sausages, Thai dried shrimp and natural seasoning for extra-healthy eating. You can also opt for the taro cake, made with Okinawan sweet potato and fresh taro for an extra soft and pillowy texture, and also to help boost the immune system. You can order them and more here.

Little Bao, 1-3 Shin Hing Street, Central; +852 6794 8414

Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel

Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel is celebrating the new lunar year with traditional Chinese recipes, serving up three classic puddings — a savoury Chinese Turnip Cake with Conpoy made from Chinese sausage and Jinhua ham; a sweet Coconut Pudding with Gold Leaf decorated with golden leaf glutinous rice and coconut milk; and a Water Chestnut Cake filled with crunchy water chestnut pieces. Bottles of homemade XO Chilli Sauce are also available to order. You can find out more here.

Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel, No. 3 Canton Road, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon; +852 2118 7283

Ming Court

Located inside Cordis, Michelin-starred Ming Court is offering an array of festive treats to ring in the Lunar New Year. Executive Chef Li Yuet Faat has prepared three auspicious puddings: a coconut Chinese New Year Pudding; an abalone, conpoy, and air-dried preserved meat and turnip pudding; and a red date and coconut pudding. Go for the deluxe Chinese New Year hamper, with a coconut pudding, homemade XO sauce, South African premium 12 head abalone and more. You can order it here.

Ming Court, Level 6, 555 Shanghai Street, Cordis, Mong Kok, Kowloon; +852 3552 3301 

Rosewood Hong Kong

Rosewood Hong Kong is offering an array of Chinese New Year sets for gifting, featuring everything from traditional puddings to homemade XO sauce, festive candies, afternoon tea sets and more. Don't miss the well-wishes themed hampers: Harvest (HK$9,988), Fortune (HK$3,388), and Joy (HK$2,288) — for every CNY hamper purchased, Rosewood will donate 5% of the proceeds to support ImpactHK and their work to support those experiencing homelessness in Hong Kong. Find out more here.

We also love the clever Chinese New Year advent calendar from Rosewood — rather than counting down, you count on from the first day of the lunar calendar into the new Year of the Tiger. The whole set holds 15 special treats from the hotel, one for each day of the Chinese traditional holiday that lasts for two weeks. Tug open the jewel-toned drawers to discover a selection of delicious snacks from fortune cookies and egg rolls to XO sauce, palmiers, nougats, ginger candies and crunchy peanut bites. Much better than your usual melon seeds. You can order it here.

Rosewood Hong Kong, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, +852 3891 8732

Paul Lafayet

No crème brulée from Paul Lafayet this Chinese New Year. What you can get, though, is the patisserie's Lucky Tiger Gift Box with French illustrator Emilie Sarnel's hand drawing of two dancing tigers. The gift box set pulls open to reveal three different tiers featuring a whole afternoon experience: “Cookirons" — a cookie-based iteration of the brand's famous macaron; jasmine and hojicha tea tins with pots of honey in the second and a special fine bone china porcelain dish at the base to hold it all. The plate is specially tailored to the Year of the Tiger, featuring a sketch of two smiling tigers amongst a flowery meadow filled with macarons. You can order it online here.

Paul Lafayet, various locations across Hong Kong

Saicho

So this might not fit into traditional Chinese candy boxes, but it will still sit very prettily amongst red-adorned decor around the home. For the Year of the Tiger, Saicho has launched a very special creation of only 900 bottles — Eight Immortals — featuring the special Dan Cong Oolong tea grown atop Phoenix Mountain's Tian Liao village in Guangdong. From harvest to roast and rolling, the Dan Cong Oolong leaves are looked after by a qualified tea master. The result is a fragrant blend that adheres to the leaves' distinct complexity: bright notes of ginger mango and tangerine that rounds into a bitterness, then herbal, the likes of anise, fennel and tarragon. With Eight Immortals' earthy savouriness, Saicho recommends pairing with traditional Chinese New Year dishes including Chinese steamed fish and tang yang (glutinous rice dumplings). You can shop Saicho's Chinese New Year selection here.

Smith & Sinclair

Candy box fillings will be extra exciting with the addition of Smith & Sinclair treats, they're made after your favourite tipples! The UK-based brand crafts vegan-friendly gummies — or "Edible Cocktails" — from anything, including classic Gin & Tonic to special concoctions like Passionfruit Mojito. For the Year of the Tiger, the brand has designed a special red, tiger-printed sleeve as a symbol of good luck and fortune. These can be fitted over any of Smith & Sinclair's nine signature sets, from spirit-based "Gin Obsessed" or "Tequila Time" to themed "Love Box" or "Night In". You can order and find out more here.

Sugarfina

Sugarfina's candy cubes are a delight, both to give and receive. For this Chinese New Year, the confectioner has crafted a series of Candy Bento Boxes for easy gifting (and enjoying!) — with anything from a single cube to a lucky set of eight, featuring the brand's sweet creations in fun, auspicious names. There's the Lotus Flowers flavoured with lychee, Tangerine Bears, berried-flavoured Royal Roses and Golden Pearls. If not for the sweets within, get this set for the beautifully artistic packaging: a hand-crafted shadow box of red and gold decor motifs of lanterns, flowers and a temple to mark new beginnings.

Sugarfina, various locations across Hong Kong

The Peninsula Boutique & Café

One of the traditional elements of the Year of the Tiger is the big cat's head, symbolising strength and good health. Inspired by traditional Chinese "tiger head shoes" worn by children, the Peninsula Boutique & Café is celebrating the new year with plenty of tiger head-decorated gift sets — you can hang the box up as a Chinese New Year decoration! Pick up the festive "Robust Tiger Gift Set" (with cookies, candies, chocolate, tea and more), and any of the Chinese New Year puddings. You can find out more here.

The Peninsula Boutique & Café, The Peninsula Arcade, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon; +852 2696 6969

Venchi

You may be spoilt for choice with Venchi's range of Chinese New Year gift boxes, but one thing's for sure: the range of lucky red and gold packaging all feature the Italian brand's signature 140-years, Piedmont Master Chocolatiers-approved sweets. Pick up The Chinese New Year Double Layer Hexagon Gift Box, an extensive collection of the brand's favourite chocolates: Cremini, Chocoviar, Truffles, and Dubledoni. Or consider the Chinese New Year Round Hamper, which features Venchi's latest creation Gianduja N.3 with Hazelnut, and is a close replica of the traditional chuen hup with the rounded exterior and organised sections within.

Venchi, various locations across Hong Kong

Yat Tung Heen

Led by celebrated chef Tam Tung, Michelin-starred Yat Tung Heen is celebrating the new year by bringing back its highly sought-after turnip pudding, classic Chinese New Year pudding and the restaurant's signature gift box (which includes housemade premium XO sauce, candied walnuts and hand-selected Ginseng Oolong tea leaves). And to minimise the environmental impact of the gifting season, each pudding is thoughtfully packaged in a 100% recyclable eco-friendly paper box. You can find out more here.

Yat Tung Heen, Level B2, Eaton HK, 380 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong, +852 2710 1093

Ying Jee Club

Two Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant Ying Jee Club is serving the finest delectable pastry duo, a savoury turnip pudding with conpoy and air-dried meat and a sweet coconut milk pudding with red bean and Ceylon tea. Both are handcrafted daily by executive chef Siu Hin-Chi, who has amassed 20 Michelin stars over the past decade alone — rest assured, the preservative-free puddings epitomise the highest standard of Cantonese cuisine in both texture and flavour. You can order in-person at the restaurant, or by calling 2801 6882 or emailing reservation@yingjeeclub.hk — find out more here.

Ying Jee Club, Shop G05, 107 & 108, Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road Central; +852 2801 6882

(Hero image courtesy of Yat Tung Heen, featured image courtesy of Duddell's, image 1 courtesy of China Tang)

The post 3 Hong Kong Chefs on Their Lunar New Year Food Memories and Favourite Recipes appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

At his newly opened restaurant Estro, Antimo Maria Merone pushes the boundaries of Neapolitan dining. We talk to the chef about his country’s cuisine and its bold evolution beyond the peninsula.

Entering Estro, chef Antimo Maria Merone’s new restaurant in Central’s Duddell’s Street, you’re transported into another dimension. Clearly influenced by art, a millennial aesthetic, auteur movies and, in a very subtle way, the chef’s hometown of Naples, the spacious dining room looks like no other restaurant in Hong Kong.

However, don’t expect to find Amalfi lemons on the tables or pseudo-vintage chairs from traditional trattorias of the 1960s. Instead, Merone worked with celebrated designer André Fu to create a space that takes inspiration from the elegant salotti (living rooms) of the 19th century. Fu reimagined this concept by adding contemporary furniture, eccentric wallpapers and a dash of cosmopolitan elegance, which you’ll also find in Merone’s haute Italian menu.

Merone is part of an avant-garde of Italian chefs who are trying to redefine the meaning and evolution of their cuisine around the world. Although he strongly believes that what he’s doing at Estro isn’t unique, he’s determined to show the diversity, adaptability and fine-dining potential of Italian food. Beyond comfort and simplicity, which made the cuisine from the peninsula one of the most popular and well-known in the world, there’s indeed a lot more to explore.

Merone talks here about Italian cuisine, the meaning of authenticity and the concept behind Estro.

Chef Antimo Maria Merone on Estro

Tell us about your career.

I started cooking professionally when I was 25, which is pretty late. I had a 10-year gap from some of my colleagues because I studied finance first and decided to follow my passion later. Professionally, I started cooking in Berlin. Then, prompted by my family, I went to Alma [cookery school] to study Italian cuisine. After that, I worked for Philippe Léveillé at Miramonti l’altro, and that’s why I moved to Asia because he opened a restaurant in Hong Kong and I came here as his head chef. In 2014, I started working with chef Umberto Bombana and moved to Macau in 2015 to helm Otto e Mezzo Bombana there, where I worked for six years. Estro is my first personal project. My wife, who’s a local fashion designer, was heavily involved in the aesthetics of the restaurant and came up with a lot of details that make the restaurant what it is.

What’s the idea behind Estro and how long did it take you to finalise the concept?

Estro is a dream that has been in my drawer for a long time and that luckily became reality. I’d been thinking of opening my own space for a while but I didn’t even know where to do it. I was in Macau and I couldn’t even visualise my restaurant. Last year I got stuck here in Hong Kong because of Covid and I started thinking that maybe it was the right time to focus on what I wanted to do and to start working on a concept or a business plan. I put down some ideas and I started to visualise what I had in my mind in terms of the aesthetics of the space, the food I wanted to serve and the story behind the restaurant. I also started to talk to potential investors and I created a small deck.

What I wanted from the beginning was a strong sense of heritage. I’m from Naples and even though I’ve spent more than half of my life abroad, it’s still the place that has a special place in my heart and it always will. The idea was to create a restaurant with Naples in its heart and the rest of the world in its mind. I’m proud of my origins and they represent a big source of inspiration, but at the same time, they’re not limiting my creativity of the possibilities of what I can do and explore.

Estro, which means inspiration in Italian, is diverse. Yes, we’re trying to refine some historical dishes but we’re also trying to use ingredients that don’t exist in the South of Italy and, taking it out of context, we approach it in a Neapolitan or completely different way. I want the food to be essential, evocative and it has to represent me. I’m not saying Estro is special or unique, but it’s distinctively mine.

Talk us through the restaurant’s design and aesthetic.

I had several meetings with André Fu, who designed the space and did an amazing job. I basically gave him some references about Napoli, the old town and the aristocratic salottos typical of the 19th century, located in huge apartments with high ceilings. We have some retro-chic elements, wallpaper and other references to that. All these inspirations have been reimagined through the eyes of André, a local designer who translated this for Hong Kong. He said before that the space is inspired by my character, which he considers to be eclectic.

Do you think Estro could work in Italy?

Yes, actually. The approach is contemporary and it could also work in Naples. Of course, the connection between the market, the dishes and the idea behind them is always direct. So, maybe, it could be even easier for me to serve this food there, because some dishes are really a click into your memory. If you’re a kid from the South, you’ll instantly recognise the inspiration behind these reinterpreted dishes in a second. Here, it’s different. I’m telling a story that most people are experiencing for the first time. If I were in Italy, I’d probably use more Asian ingredients and influences, because it’s part of my story and who I am.

Do you think the perception of Italian cuisine as fine dining is changing?

Absolutely. And I’m super happy to be part of this era in which Italian food is kind of evolving. Not the food itself, but the conception of what Italian cuisine is and what can be done with it. Outside of Italy, it’s been extremely difficult for my colleagues who came before me to change the perception most people have of our cuisine. There are very few examples of people who’ve been successful in trying to push the boundaries of Italian cuisine outside of the country.

One is definitely Luca Fantin in Tokyo, who’s been doing it for 10 years. He’s pushing and pushing to change this conception and show how diverse, complicated and interesting Italian food can be. It’s really hard and reductive to summarise our cuisine to, say, 10 comforting dishes that everyone loves. There are so many regional differences and dishes and ramifications inside each region.

What’s even more fascinating is that, while we have an ancient history, Italy is a new country. We’ve been unified for 160 years. Each area has a very different history and therefore culinary tradition and heritage. Nobody has ever written an encyclopaedia of Italian food where everything is categorised and classified. Italian cuisine isn’t codified like French cuisine is, for example. There’s a fascinating micro-diversity that gives countless possibilities. Even the concept of authenticity is very diverse depending on where you’re from and your experience.

How do you find the balance between tradition, innovation and telling a story in each dish?

The line is very thin. What I try to do is to keep the initial flavour of it alive and intensify it, to go into its roots to clean it up. With the first bite you need to experience the original flavour. I think the most important thing is to really push the intensity of the flavour to its full potential.

Can you talk us through one dish that represents your philosophy and Estro?

Our Genovese, which at first I thought was too rustic to put into the menu. It’s a super-traditional recipe from Naples, our ragù. What we do at home is to cook the pasta with the sauce and then use the meat afterwards as another dish. Here at Estro, I don’t cook the meat with the onions. The roasted onions become a jus and then, separately, I cook a short rib. This reminds me of the traditional sequence of eating it in my family, served in a small single bite.

This is the first restaurant you’ve opened as chef-founder. Were you scared before launching Estro?

Yes. A restaurant like this is a big investment. I’m turning 40 and I kept thinking, “This needs to work out.” Then there were all the expectations when we opened the restaurant. I was scared that we weren’t ready, that we weren’t where we needed to be. I think, in the end, I’m very satisfied, I think we opened at a time when we were ready to deliver the concept in the right way, in terms of service and the food we serve. Of course, there are still things we’re working on.

What are some of your favourite restaurants in Hong Kong?

VEA by Vicky Cheng, Caprice and Yardbird.

PHOTOGRAPHY ALISON KWAN

The post Avant-Garde Italian: Chef Antimo Maria Merone on Estro and Neapolitan Dining appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

’Tis the season to reflect on the past, mull over the present and hope for the future, as we find out how four local personalities will be spending the holidays...

4 Hong Kong Personalities on the Festive Season

Jessica Jann, Actress

What’s your Christmas family tradition?

Lots of time together. I always used to go back home to California and be with my parents. We’d have a lot of meals together, spend time together, watch holiday movies and just be with each other.

What’s your favourite Christmas memory?

Years ago, when I was home for the holidays, I remember having a lovely family meal out with everyone. Then my cousins, my sister and I went to Downtown Disney in Anaheim. We ordered hot chocolate, sat by a fireplace, chatted nonstop and then got doughnuts afterwards. This year will be the third Christmas holiday when I won’t be back home.

Which moment from past holidays still makes you laugh?

Once my sister got us all, the entire family, these ugly, ugly Christmas sweaters but we absolutely loved wearing them! We laughed and took so many pictures!

What’s your Christmas wish?

I’m so lucky because my grandma (Abu) is in Hong Kong with all of us. I miss my parents, sister and nephew, but I’ll definitely be calling them. This year, I might still be in the hospital as my due date is really close to Christmas Day. My husband, Kenneth, and I are so excited, anxious and nervous. Christmas has always been my favourite holiday and I really can’t wait to hold my baby girl for the first time. I just wish she’s happy, healthy and I can’t wait to meet her.

Richard Ekkebus, Chef

Which Christmas tradition from your youth do you remember most fondly?

Back home in the Netherlands, my mum put a lot of effort into decorating the house and it was a true collective family effort – dad did the lights and fixed the tree, and my sisters and I would decorate the tree with garlands and hang Christmas baubles. But the most important part was the family reunion – grandparents, uncles and cousins all meeting. Large dinner tables and extended meals. We were allowed to sip our dad’s glass of wine to get a taste. The laughter, the happiness and, of course, the festive decorations and gifts.

What was your most memorable Christmas gift?

When I was 10, I got a concave skateboard to learn to ride in half-pipes. I was super into skateboarding but my skateboard wasn’t great, so my mum ordered one from a skate shop in Amsterdam – the real McCoy.

What’s your Christmas wish and hope this year?

Christmas is always a little awkward for me. I’m super-stressed, as it’s an important day for my guests. So we’re the family that unwraps gifts very early in the morning before I head off to work, to look after other families. With the pandemic, it will be a challenge this year, just as it was last year. We’d normally have our kids in Hong Kong but this year there’s an empty nest and – that’s somewhat sad. I want to make sure they all have a great Christmas, and my wife and I have organised parcels to be sent early so they reach them in time. We’ll probably do a thing on Zoom on Christmas Day.

Nick Buckley Wood, Art Connoisseur

What’s a favourite Christmas memory?

I don’t have many favourite Christmas memories in Hong Kong. I grew up in the city till I was 13 and then was in the UK. We don’t really celebrate Christmas that much in the Wood family. We all get together, and I suppose that’s the best memory – everyone being under the same roof. Otherwise, everyone’s scattered around the globe. I do like tropical Christmases more than snow-capped ones, probably because I’ve had more Christmases in Singapore and Hong Kong than elsewhere. So, sandcastle over snowman any day.

So a favourite Christmas meal for you would be?

Hainan chicken rice – with a giant chicken. And all the trimmings.

What’s the best Christmas present you ever received?

A puppy when I was a boy. A puppy really is the greatest present ever, at any age. I named him Tiffin.

Money no object, if you could bid for any artwork as a Christmas present for yourself, what would it be?

Maybe a Caravaggio. What’s a good Christmas-y painting? Maybe a giant pumpkin by Yayoi Kusama. What’s your end-of-the-year plan? I’ll be in Cambodia this year for Christmas. I bought an apartment and spent most of the year there, I was basically exiled – there’s no Covid where I stayed and I worked remotely. I’m also working on a non-profit project there. So this year I’ll be working on my apartment and the charity.

Elly Lam, Influencer

What’s your Christmas family tradition?

I have a big family, lots of brothers and sisters, and we all sit and watch old Christmas movies while sipping on homemade mulled wine.

What’s your favourite Christmas memory?

Cooking Christmas dinners together with loved ones every year is always a favourite. Oh, and I love Secret Santa!

Which moment from past holidays still makes you laugh?

Serving salty eggnog! It was ridiculous because it’s so easy to make. I was frantically trying to finish making Christmas dinner and, in the rush, I used salt instead of sugar in the mix! My helper served it thinking that’s how it’s supposed to taste. It was slightly embarrassing for me to serve failed eggnog – we still laugh about it.

For 2021, what’s your Christmas wish?

To be able to travel somewhere cold and snowy for Christmas this … well, I guess next year. I miss having a White Christmas.

The post Home for the Holidays: 4 Hong Kong Personalities on the Festive Season appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

We talk to Peruvian chef Edwin Guzman, who’s reshaping Japanese restaurant Zoku with his Nikkei expertise.

Zoku, the elegant Japanese restaurant located on the second floor of The Hari hotel has welcomed Lima-native Edwin Guzman as head chef. With the appointment, the restaurant, which features a recently opened all-day dining terrace, is heading in a new direction.

Guzman has worked with some of the best chefs in Peru, mastering the art of Nikkei when the fusion cuisine was at the height of its popularity in Lima’s most prestigious kitchens and before it became a global sensation. At Zoku, he’s reshaping the traditional Japanese menu by adding dishes and influences that represent his career and the culinary tradition inspired by this marriage of two diverse cultures, which dates to the late 19th century.

We speak to Guzman about his career and his new journey at Zoku.

Chef Edwin Guzman on Zoku at The Hari Hong Kong

Tell us about your career.

I started cooking very young and I’ve always wanted to work for the best chefs. I worked for Gastón Acurio, one of the top chefs in Peru. Then I had the opportunity to work with chef Mitsuharu Tsumura of Maido, which is number seven on this year’s 50 Best Restaurants. I eventually became his number two and met Aldo Shimabukuro, who’s now our sous chef. Together, we were given the mission to open a restaurant in Macau by chef Mitsuharu. We brought the first Nikkei restaurant to Macau at Aji MGM Cotai.

At that time, around two years ago, I was coming to Hong Kong often because it was very good for me to discover new flavours, new techniques and new chefs. Eventually, I decided to join The Hari and work here in Hong Kong, which is one of the food capitals of the world and very challenging for a chef. Compared to Macau standards, this is a small hotel, which is great because we’re like a family and truly work together. At Zoku, I’m not behind Mitsuharu’s name. I’m bringing my experience and my heritage to the restaurant. I’m trying to give my personal Nikkei touch to the dishes.

What percentage of the menu is now Nikkei and what is still traditional Japanese?

Now it’s 25 percent Nikkei, as I joined only recently, but we’re definitely going to introduce more. The most important thing for us is to implement the changes gradually so we can get feedback from guests and see how it goes. I’m also adjusting and slowly bringing my style to the kitchen. It’s quite fun because I’m also learning a lot.

How did you get exposed to Japanese cuisine before joining Zoku?

I learnt a lot by working very closely with chef Mitsuharu, who worked in Japan. But I also went to Osaka to train with other chefs.

What are some of the new dishes that you’ve introduced?

We’re making nigiri sushi that’s pretty different from the traditional variety. We marinate sea bass with miso, which was done with black cod before. We have a new lamb dish as well.

Was it challenging for you to come up with a menu and take charge here at Zoku?

Hong Kong is challenging as a place. Everyone is always running and moving. When I arrived, I had to be ready for a tasting in three days and it was hard to find all the ingredients and organise everything. The restaurant was always open and running, so it was weird at the beginning to send out dishes that were not really mine, but this stimulated me a lot to adapt, to find the right suppliers and teach the staff how to execute the new recipes. It’s important to cook for your staff first so that they can appreciate your food and cook with passion, not just execute it. We changed 50 percent of the menu and we’ll do more.

What do you like the most about Hong Kong?

I like the history behind Hong Kong. I also love how everything is so organised and technological. The markets are amazing in the way they preserve traditions. So, there’s a great mix and balance of innovation and preservation.

What are your favourite ingredients to cook with?

As a Peruvian, definitely chilli. For us, it’s not about the spice, it’s about the taste. Potatoes, of course, as we have more than 4,000 types in our country. The third would be soy sauce.

The post Next Chapter: Chef Edwin Guzmán on Reshaping Zoku at The Hari Hong Kong appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

As Chaumet's CEO Jean-Marc Mansvelt tells us, bringing the house's 240-year heritage into the modern era is an immense task that amounts to a "daily obsession". But if the new pieces in the Chaumet Joséphine collection are anything to go by, the Place Vendôme stalwart is heading in the right direction.

What kind of woman today does the Joséphine collection appeal to?

First, it’s about a woman with a certain character. Because when you choose to wear a tiara on your finger, you’re making a choice of distinction, a choice of character. You’re sending a message to say you’re not like everyone else and you have a certain strength and a certain personality. But also a sense of virtuosity, grace and beauty, because it’s not for women who want to be too provocative.

It’s a way to set your personality. And then of course, there are two major reasons to become a client of Joséphine. On one side, it remains one of the favourite pieces chosen for a bridal purpose. It’s connected to the initial history of Chaumet, the history of the power and love between Napoleon and Joséphine. And Napoleon is known everywhere, that’s incredible. There’s another type of client on the other side of the connection with the pearls, the coloured stones, something a bit easier and more accessible.

This year, Chaumet's creations have also incorporated sleeker, more modern takes on the tiara. Can you tell us a bit about the new high jewellery?

After many creations that were a bit more tiara-like, a bit more decorative, more visible, more baroque in a certain way, we wanted to enrich the collection with new ways to mix and match, and to go for designs that were slicker, with a more minimalist approach, because that’s also the style of today. We have a feeling that clients today are a little more understated, and we have the capacity to create beauty through a fine line, rather than an accumulation. So one of our high- jewellery pieces, which is sort of a V with a stone in suspension, doesn’t shout about its design. It’s all about balance.

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Joséphine collection...

But we don’t mark it that way for two reasons. I always feel that if you start doing anniversaries for everything, then at the end, what’s the meaning in it? Last year, when we did the 240 years of Chaumet, that was slightly different. For Chaumet, our heritage is much longer than a decade, it’s about centuries. Instead, this year, we’re celebrating our connection with the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, which is significant in Europe and in France. We’ve done an exhibition at 12 Place Vendôme that was open to the public which tells the love story of Napoleon and Josephine through 150 different objects, beautiful loans from museums and private owners.

Which piece proved to be the most challenging piece in the collection?

The most discussed and the most debated one was the watch. Because we’re clearly a jeweller, and we’ve focused all our efforts and attention on jewellery. But since a few years ago, we’ve reassessed and repositioned what watches mean for Chaumet. It’s true that with the business of watches within Chaumet, we’ve really tried to be coherent with what the story of watchmaking for Chaumet is as a jeweller. One of our challenges was to look at the market – in the market, 90 percent of watches are round – and nobody’s waiting for Chaumet to create a round watch, because we already have thousands of beautiful options on the market.

We decided on a shaped watch, and it wasn’t very difficult to settle on the pear shape, like an illusion of a diamond. We also faceted the watch’s dial.

How do you balance 240 years of heritage behind a brand and stay relevant at the same time?

That’s really the obsession every single day. How do we continue the narrative, the link to the story? Since the pandemic, we’ve seen clients choose Chaumet because there’s longevity. And so it becomes a daily obsession of ours to convey this message to our clients through different means, including the digital approach, so we can speak to the needs of our audience today. We also go through the traditional channels and have books and exhibitions. I regularly write down on paper in two columns: on one side, how much do we tell the story of Chaumet, and on the other, how do we take a contemporary approach, either through the narrative or through using different tools? I take a step back and ask myself is there a balance? If we’re going too much in one direction, maybe it’s time to rebalance. It’s in everything we do.

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After two successful decades cooking French haute cuisine, Hong Kong native Vicky Cheng recently decided to venture into Chinese cooking. For Cheng, who’s behind the acclaimed French-Chinese one-Michelin-star VEA, opening Wing represents a watershed moment in his career as a Western-trained local chef in the city.

I meet him in one of the stylish private rooms of Wing, which opened in the spring on the 29th floor of a new building in Central, where we discuss the first steps of his career as a young chef who was trying to find his identity, and what prompted him to open Wing.

Tell us about your new restaurant, Wing.

In a nutshell, it’s a contemporary Chinese restaurant. We use modern techniques and luxurious ingredients. What’s special about it, perhaps, is that I’ve never studied or cooked Chinese food before. Over the past few years at VEA, I’ve gained a lot of interest in Chinese cuisine – even though I’ve been cooking for 20 years, it’s always been French. My interest in Chinese cuisine grew to the point where I really wanted to open a Chinese restaurant. The food at Wing is cooked by me and my team. We could say that’s reinterpreted from the point of view
of Western-trained chefs.

Does the name have any particular meaning?

Wing is the middle character of my Chinese name. It means eternity. It’s also the only word that ever meant enough for me to tattoo it on my body.

Does this represent a new phase in your evolution as a chef?

Yes, absolutely. I came back to Hong Kong 10 years ago and I was cooking French food. Soon after, my concept changed to Chinese-French. Specifically Chinese and specifically French, no Japanese or Italian influences. I’d like to say that it was a breakthrough for me, to find
my niche, to find my uniqueness and to be able to identify my own personality and cooking style by incorporating luxurious Chinese ingredients, particularly dried seafood, into French cooking techniques, plating and taste.

What we do at Wing, however, has a lot to do with how we present the food and how you’d like the guests to eat it. It’s very important that it’s done in the most professional and authentic way. Chinese food should look like Chinese food.

Even though both Wing and VEA are my restaurants, you should also be able to tell just by looking at a dish, without the list of ingredients, where it belongs. For me, that’s quite important. At first, when I came back, I wouldn’t dare touch Chinese cuisine. There was no way, if you asked me 11 years ago, that I thought I could open a Chinese restaurant one day. It’s actually funny. Back then, somebody approached me to open a Chinese restaurant and I turned it down. I said, “No way. I don’t have enough knowledge and I don’t have enough experience.” I believe it’s a combination of opportunity, timing and just patience. It takes a lot to be able to cook Chinese food in a city that’s well known – perhaps most well known – for its Chinese cuisine.

In the past 10 years, it’s been all about cooking, learning and researching as much as possible to be able to do the things I’m doing now.

In a contemporary restaurant, how do you find the balance between innovation and honouring the traditions?

For me it’s quite straightforward. If you want to innovate, you must learn the tradition. First, you must understand why it’s been done in a certain way for hundreds of years before you even try to change it. I don’t believe anyone can change something to make it better unless they understand it profoundly. I can think of a million things to do and to change, but I will not, unless I understand how to cook the traditional version of a dish first. This is a rule I live by.

Do you focus on any regional Chinese cuisine?

I don’t focus on any particular region because I was never mentored by a Chinese chef cooking specific dishes. The only thing I can say is that I cook my Chinese food. Things are on the menu because I think they taste good, and because I’m proud of them and want to share them with guests.

My mother is Shanghainese. I was born in Hong Kong and surrounded by Cantonese influences. So perhaps these are the traditions that are a little bit more influential to me. At the same time, I love Sichuan and many other regional cuisines. I don’t want to restrict myself with what I can or cannot do.

Going back to my roots is also very important to me. When I came back to Hong Kong after working and living abroad, I hadn’t been back since I’d left basically, which was when I was very young. It’s meaningful for me to use my new set of skills and incorporate them into Hong Kong’s culinary culture and memories.

Is it an oversimplification to call your food at VEA “fusion’? Chefs often hate this term.

I don’t think fusion is the wrong word. VEA is absolutely fusion. We combine French and Chinese elements – that’s
the definition of fusion. I’m not, not against the term. If you’d asked me or any other chef 10 or 15 years ago, you probably would have offended me. But I can tell you right now that my food is absolutely fusion, in the right way. We use the best ingredients from both cuisines and we elevate them.

Wing, of course, isn’t fusion at all. It is absolutely Chinese. You could say, however, that it’s Chinese fusion in the sense that we’re not restricted to any regional type of cuisine in China.

Did you always want to be a chef?

Yes. I grew up watching cartoons and the Food Network, the only two channels I ever watched. I was just very, very interested in cooking from the beginning. It was a form of entertainment for me, but being a chef wasn’t as glamorous as it is nowadays. My family wasn’t supportive of it and my mom was literally the only person who believed me from the beginning. This actually gave me the motivation to be the best that I could be. When the whole world is saying you shouldn’t do this and the only person supporting you is your mother, you’ve got to prove the whole world wrong to support her decision. And that’s what I did.

The post Chef Vicky Cheng of VEA on his New Chinese Restaurant Wing and Demystifying Fusion Food appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Margo, one of this summer's most anticipated new openings, brings to Hong Kong a new - and fresh - evolution of the ever-popular Modern European formula.

The restaurant, a trendy, urban chic space that elevates the concept of brasserie, offers much more than Insta-worthy corners and plates.

I recently met with head chef Mario Paecke to discuss German food, multicultural inspirations and cooking with passion.

What’s the inspiration behind Margo?

First of all, I'm really that I had the opportunity to open a restaurant, and to bring to Hong Kong my thoughts and my inspirations in a different way. What I want is to showcases dishes with a German twist. There is good German food beyond sausages and pork knuckles.

When I got the opportunity to come to Hong Kong in 2017, my inspiration was mostly a combination of French technique, German flavours and Asian influences, which I have been fascinated by since I started travelling the continent in 2012 and falling in love with it. My first fine dining restaurant was in the mountains, in a five star hotel in Bavaria, where I tried to introduced some Asian influences. Now, I’m doing the opposite. At Margo, the food is not 100% German but there are elements and dishes related to the country’ culinary traditions.

It’s refreshing to see German dishes on a Hong Kong menu. Are we about to witness a renaissance of German cuisine in international food capitals?

Chefs in Germany are not very open minded, there’s a big sense of community in the culinary world, like there in other European countries, like France. Or in Italy and Spain, where governments are really proud of their cuisines. In Germany, maybe because of our history, a new era of fine dining didn’t start until the 90s and 2000s. Not so many people know about the fine dining scene in Germany, or how good our food actually is. There’s a lot of creativity but also a lot of individualism.

Does Margo reflect your journey and career as a Chef?

I’ve started a new journey here. A lot happened before this: My years in Germany as chef de cuisine, one Michelin star, the recognition from 50 Best. When I came here I started afresh cooking French fine dining. I was so inspired from Hong Kong in general as well as products from Japan, which I had never worked with in Germany.

The menu you see now at Margo is a combination of this, but it’s also just a first step. I’m already thinking of what’s next, what I can do. For me it's also very important that the guests like our dishes. I need to see their reactions to see which dishes will become our signature. For each service, I wouldn’t say that I’m nervous, because you need to believe in yourself, but you have to be focus. There are a lot of emotions and passion that go into my food. I’m trying to find a balance here. See what people think by introducing refined German dishes but without restricting my creativity.

Can you talk us through some of menu’s highlights?

The menu starts with a category called “Häppchen,” which means “bite” in Germany. For most Hong Kongers, understanding German cuisine is an education process and, while we don’t call ourself a German restaurant but a Modern European one with influences from the country, guests will be interested in new dishes when there’s an interesting story behind them to get to know the culture.

Why did become a chef?

My passion came from watching my grandma cooking every weekend. I followed my goal and I moved out at 16 to start my career, in a very small business, at a very junior level. You need to progress slowly, building up from the basics and then acquiring new skills.

If you had to choose three ingredients to cook with for the rest of your life, what would they be?

Potatoes, which I also used a lot on this menu, apples, and asparaguses. We are very passionate about them in Germany and I can’t wait for Asparagus season in March. You can do so many things with them.

The post Chef Mario Paecke of Margo Talks German Food and Culinary Inspirations appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The Carlyle hotel-inspired bolthole -- slated to open on the uppermost floors of Rosewood Hong Kong later this year -- will offer a blueprint for the eponymous group's vision of "a new kind of international members' club". We venture north of the harbour to discover just what that entails...

Hitherto, the Hong Kong ecosystem of private members' clubs has been split broadly between two camps: at one end, you have venerable institutions catered to the needs of the city's professionals (the FCC) and those who surround them (the KCC); at the other, a burgeoning array of social haunts meant to profit from the growing number of Silicon Valley types -- hawkers of crypto, CBD cafes, and other speculative investment opportunities -- who reside here.

Call me Debbie Downer, but neither feels like an especially glam place to visit. After all, such clubs justify their patronage by way of mostly pragmatic considerations: a convenient location; access to business networking opportunities; affordable gym membership; and so forth. This, as Rosewood Hotels CEO Sonia Cheng well knows is where Carlyle & Co. can break the mould -- by conjuring a little glamour into Hong Kong's mostly comatose members' club scene.

Best thought of as a kind of pied-à-terre to the Rosewood Hong Kong (spanning the 54th-56th floor of the hotel) Carlyle & Co. is, in effect, Cheng's answer to the boutique members' clubs that have dominated pop culture these last 20 years. In Hong Kong -- where bureaucratic red tape is frequent; and decent-sized real estate scant -- her hotel group's latest venture feels especially impressive -- if for no other reason than the sheer audacity of it all.

In recent weeks, the first details of the club's leviathan 25,000 sq. ft. premises have begun to emerge, inspired in broad strokes by the "intriguing, inimitable and ultimately indefinable" style of The Carlyle in New York (incidentally also a brand owned by Rosewood Hotels). To orchestrate this vision of Hong Kong-via-Manhattan, Rosewood turned to British designer Ilse Crawford, whose approach has imbued the club's many rooms with a light, playful sensibility -- affording each a healthy dose of individual personality.

For fusty decadents like yours truly, the gentlemen's spaces -- including a barber, shoeshine, and capsule store by an award-winning haberdasher -- hold immense charm -- even though they espouse just one of many eclectic visual styles members will enjoy each time they navigate the club. The aforementioned differ significantly from spaces like the Cabaret Bar and Sitting Room, both of which employ the medium of painting (by artists Jean-Philippe Delhomme and Christina Zimpel respectively) to celebrate The Carlyle hotel's legendary Bemelmans murals.

Supper & Supping

In the spirit of its progenitor, the various dining venues at Carlyle & Co. seem to be accompanied by an august sense of occasion. The crux of the action happens at the brasserie, which (like any decent club restaurant in Hong Kong) serves a medley of Western, Chinese, and all-day delicacies. Here, the focus is on simply cooking the freshest produce the club can source -- various of the small plates are smoked, cured, or otherwise preserved in-house -- yet it's hardly the most theatrical outlet. That honour belongs to Café Carlyle, an intimate supper club intended as the local chapter of the eponymous tippling destination in New York. Members can expect this to be the repository of the club's live musical programming, which (consistent with the historic acts that have taken to the stage at the Carlyle hotel) will include an assortment of uniquely American artforms like jazz, funk, and blues.

Members craving a dose of sunshine can also take a selection of food and drink on the club's 55th-floor terrace, which (much like the Rosewood property at large) enjoys the sort of view that's conducive to sonnet writing or spontaneous tears of joy. Flanking one end of that terrace, you'll find the local chapter of Bemelmans Bar. Like its namesake, the menu here is split roughly equally between fine wines, punchbowls and classic cocktails; though, at the weekend, you can expect a certain frenetic atmosphere to take hold, as the space merges with the terrace for live DJ performances against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour.

Cosy quarters, brimming with personality

Though Carlyle & Co. members can easily book themselves into one of the 400-plus rooms at the surrounding Rosewood property, the entire 54th floor of the club is given over to eight themed suites -- all of which celebrate the history of The Carlyle hotel. More or less equal in size, each offers an inviting and distinctive interior personality. If you're retiring following an evening spent drinking (one too many) Martinis for instance, the 'Tommy' seems an apt choice -- named for and inspired by the legendary Bemelmans bartender Mr. Tommy Rowles. Other known personalities include Dorothy Draper, the original 'modern Baroque' decorator of The Carlyle's interiors; and Eartha Kitt, the renowned actress and Broadway musician. For dedicated students of café society, a stay in every single suite would seem like money well-spent.

A variety of membership packages are available at Carlyle & Co., with or without health club membership. To learn more about rates (or inquire about eligibility) visit Carlyle & Co. online.

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Every year the esteemed House of Krug invites a worldwide Ambassade Chef collective to highlight a single ingredient and craft interesting pairings with Krug Champagne in their cookbook series. This year, thirteen top chefs have been enlisted to highlight the pepper. Playfully named 'Rock Pepper Scissors', this marks the fifth book which features Chef Guillaume Galliot of Hong Kong's three-Michelin-starred Caprice, and is the follow up to the popular potato, egg, mushroom and fish series in previous years.

But what of this new and rather unexpected pairing with the pepper? Well, much like Krug, the pepper is incredibly versatile and comes in various forms; long, round, small, sweet, spicy, red, yellow and even numbing -- the list goes on, and I haven't even got to the multitude of raw or cooked preparations and presentations it can come in. All of which make it quite the intriguing match with Krug Champagne.

Interpreting the pepper in Hong Kong, six Krug Ambassade Chefs including Umberto Bombana of 8 ½ Otto e Mezzo, Guillaume Galliot of Caprice, Vicky Cheng of VEA, Uwe Opocensky of Petrus, Mori Tomoaki of Daigo by Mori Tomoaki, and Robin Zavou from The Krug Room at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, will also be creating imaginative pairings for Krug Grande Cuvée or Krug Rosé.

A blend of over 120 wines from more than 10 different vintages, Krug Grande Cuvée is one of the fullest expressions of Champagne. With toasty notes of bread, hazelnut, and a fresh sweetness of jellied fruits enhanced by elegant bubbles, the Grande Cuvée holds exceptional finesse which matches perfectly with refined gastronomy. Krug Rosé is just as extensive in aromatic palette and harmonises puff pastry with red berries, before developing towards sweet honey and citrus -- a taste experience heightened by the finest of bubbles.

So without further ado, here are the six chefs who have drawn inspiration from their individual cuisines and cultures to create their pepper-inspired Krug pairings, which are now available (for a limited time only) at their respective restaurants:

8 1/2 Otto E Mezzo Bombana: Chef Umberto Bombana

[caption id="attachment_169307" align="alignnone" width="1586"] Sweet pepper risotto with anchovy[/caption]

Starring: pimiento, friggitello, cruschi, senise, red cherry chilli peppers

Pairing: Krug Grande Cuvée 167^ème Édition

Caprice: Chef Guillaume Galliot

[caption id="attachment_169308" align="alignnone" width="1586"] Roasted racan pigeon with piquillo pepper marmalade with hibiscus and cocoa sauce[/caption]

Starring: piquillios pepper

Pairing: Krug Rosé 21^ème Édition

Daigo by Mori Tomoaki: Chef Mori Tomoaki

[caption id="attachment_169309" align="alignnone" width="1586"] Wagyu sushi with manganji tougarashi peppers[/caption]

Starring: red and green manganji tougarashi

Pairing: Krug Rosé 21^ème Édition

The Krug Room, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong: Chef Robin Zavou

[caption id="attachment_169311" align="alignnone" width="1586"] Braised abalone, cuttlefish noodle and shishito pepper tempura[/caption]

Starring: shishito pepper

Pairing: Krug Grande Cuvée 167^ème Édition

Petrus, Island Shangri-La Hong Kong: Chef Uwe Opocensky

[caption id="attachment_169310" align="alignnone" width="1586"] BBQ quail with smoked, aged, pickled, and fermented peppers[/caption]

Starring: Trinidad scorpion, scotch bonnet, habanada, shishito pepper, red sweet Italian pepper

Pairing: Krug Grande Cuvée 167^ème Édition

VEA Restaurant & Lounge: Chef Vicky Cheng

[caption id="attachment_169312" align="alignnone" width="1586"] Chopped chilli pepper fish maw[/caption]

Starring: red jalapeño, red habanero, Italian sweet chilli peppers

Pairing: Krug Rosé 21^ème Édition

For more information on Krug x Pepper and the Rock Pepper Scissors book, view the website here. 

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