Why a cocktail is so much more than a drink, and why a cocktail bar is so...
How did you get interested in bartending? “When I was 17 years old I worked in a bodega – a local small bar that served wine and beer. I was studying medicine at the time, but I was fascinated with...
View ArticleMaking great vintages from montepulciano, grape known for early drinking wines
With two meanings, the name “montepulciano” causes confusion in the wine world. On the one hand, Montepulciano is the name of a town in southern Tuscany whose wine, vino nobile di Montepulciano, is...
View ArticleHow to make Thai fried-shrimp salad, a Hong Kong helper’s speciality
Fresh shrimp are easy to find – they’re available year-round at wet markets and some of the larger supermarkets – and they’re easy to cook. The flavour and texture of fresh shrimp are almost always...
View ArticleWhy Taipei’s only three-Michelin-star restaurant is reason enough to visit...
What is it? A glam restaurant blending Cantonese banquet fare with dinky baskets of dim sum, in the five-star Palais de Chine Hotel, in Taipei. The hotel sits atop Taipei Main Station, where the...
View ArticleSalon du Chocolat: a sweet weekend treat for Hong Kong’s chocolate lovers
“A little bit of sweetness can drown a whole lot of bitterness,” Italian Renaissance scholar Petrarch declared in the 14th century. This week, the Salon du Chocolat – the world’s largest event...
View ArticleEat your way around India’s regional and seasonal vegetarian cuisine with...
Food obviously played a key role in Pushpesh Pant’s childhood. In his introduction to The Indian Vegetarian Cookbook (2018), he writes that he was raised by an extended family in Mukteshwar, “a small,...
View ArticleHong Kong university’s wine club heads to Bordeaux for ultimate taste test
At the Left Bank Bordeaux Cup’s Asia competition, which was held at the Grand Hyatt, in Wan Chai, in February, the coach of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) team asked me to...
View Article‘It was harder than military service’ – French chef on working for Joël Robuchon
How did you get interested in cooking? “I wanted to be a chef when I was eight years old. We lived in a big house in Clam, in the countryside in Poitou-Charentes, between Cognac and Bordeaux. The farm...
View ArticleStuffed pig’s trotter, the Pierre Koffman way – cookbook tells you how to...
One of the dishes I have been longing to try is Pierre Koffmann’s stuffed pig’s trotter. I read about it years ago, but I’m still no closer to eating it. I can’t try it at any of the London-based...
View ArticleHow to make croquettes – comfort food with fun fillings, from Japanese-style...
Croquettes have almost universal appeal, because who doesn’t like starchy fried things? (If you don’t, then skip this week’s column.) The filling can be adapted, which means these recipes are great for...
View ArticleCalifornia winemaker on standing out in a male-dominated industry
Based in California’s Napa Valley, in the United States, Rosemary Cakebread was winemaker at Spottswoode Winery for more than 15 years before launching her own label, Gallica, in 2007. “My goal has...
View ArticleAlbert Adrià-trained chef shares recipes for sweets success in cookbook
It’s not every pastry chef who can get Albert Adrià to write a foreword to their cookbook. The chef behind Tickets and Enigma (both in Barcelona, Spain) and, with his brother, Ferran, of the...
View ArticleMade in Hong Kong: the history of Lee Kum Kee’s oyster sauce – so good it is...
Judging by its ubiquity – from the dark, glossy drizzle against the bright green of blanched vegetables to the deep, funky flavour it adds to marinades and stir-fries – it might seem as though oyster...
View ArticleCarbonara, anyone? Italian favourite gets an Asian makeover
I use the word “Asian” loosely in this recipe because the dish is a mishmash of flavours from a variety countries. The pork belly seasonings can be Chinese or Japanese, the fried shallots are more of a...
View ArticleHow to train your nose for wine – the kit that helps you become an expert taster
The nose is integral to appreciating wine and food, as a sense of smell is essential to our ability to taste. Wine tasters need to train and develop their olfactory senses and also learn the extensive...
View ArticleAll you need to know about Indian breads: naan, roti and beyond
Anyone who has been to an Indian restaurant will be aware of the diversity of breads available. And what they list – the restaurants outside India, anyway – is only a small part of the huge range you...
View ArticleMake Mother’s Day extra special with a delicious, fresh and fruity dessert
Probably the best thing you can do for your mother on Mother’s Day is to give her a day of rest. If you have neglected (through laziness or because you forgot) to reserve a table for dim sum or a hotel...
View ArticleIconic New York bar gives its signature drinks a Hong Kong twist - Big Fan,...
Many of the world’s great bars have a signature drink. The problem, as Jim Meehan, co-founder of the highly successful New York speakeasy PDT points out, is that it is not the bar proprietor’s decision...
View ArticleWorld Whisky Day masterclass to bring a taste of Scotland to Hong Kong
Oddball studies have been published on all kinds of weird and wonderful things through the years, and just this week, researchers from Sweden’s Linnaeus University revealed why adding water or ice to...
View ArticleVegetarian recipes for everyone: even omnivores will love these
Published in 2014, this book is an update of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, which came out in 1997. The new volume is hefty (more than 600 pages) and not for those who want to know what the dishes...
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