Local Veggie Dishes

A salad from Haku featuring local greens and flowers handpicked by the chef

Here are pictures of two vegetable dishes from two different restaurants in Hong Kong.

What do they have in common? Everyone on the plate was sourced locally.

Restaurants are keen on lowering their carbon footprint if possible. It's not necessarily about cutting costs as some local veg is priced more expensive than the overseas variety, but chefs say they like the freshness of the ones here that are harvested in the morning and on their doorstep a few hours later.

Local green peans with granite of pea juice at Beet Restaurant

I have heard the strawberries grown here are just as costly as the ones imported from Japan, but the former are praised for tasting absolutely delicious. I have yet to try them.

Nevertheless it's heartening to see more restaurants here keen on going local and it also surprises and impresses guests to hear that what is on their plate was grown a few hundred kilometres away.

It's a far cry from several years ago when I saw some small organic farms in the New Territories that were haphazardly growing whatever they could wherever they had land. Supply was small and of course quality was hardly consistent.

We're glad to see more local vegetables on menus and hope the trend continues because they taste delicious!