Picture of the Day: Christmas is Coming

Christmas-themed squirrel pokes his head out

There are 39 more days until Christmas...

This year will be a busy one in Hong Kong. 

Last year Christmas was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, forcing families to cook at home or order turkeys, hams, gravy and brussel sprouts. It was a strange time.

Most chefs enjoyed Christmas because it was the first time in a long time they didn't have to work on December 25.

Festive afternoon tea at Peninsula Boutique

But this year Christmas is definitely on and the shopping malls have started unveiling their Christmas decorations for photo opportunities. This one from Heritage 1881 in Tsim Sha Tsui has a squirrel theme.

And with most of Hong Kong's population stuck in the city for almost two years, everyone's looking for something fun and interesting to do for the holidays.

Will people shop shop shop and eat eat eat?

We will find out... in 39 days...

Local Celebrity Sighting!

My friend with actor Chow Yun-fat at the Tai Po Cooked Market Centre

This morning I woke up at 6.30am to get to Tsim Sha Tsui East for an assignment. A small group of people and I were accompanying a chef to Tai Po Market in the New Territories as he bought some vegetables and seafood; afterwards he would go back to the restaurant to prepare lunch for us to eat.

For me going to Tai Po has memories -- I spent seven years commuting to the Industrial Estate for work, but hardly ever went to the Tai Po market. I only went once to the area to have the best roast goose I have ever had -- unfortunately that place closed so I never went back there again!

Anyway, we arrived around 9.20am and the Tai Po Market is a giant modern and clean complex near the MTR station. On the top floor is the cooked food centre and that's where we had some breakfast. We ate some pork chop buns, deep-fried fish fillet buns, and dim sum.

Chow having a chat with the chef

While we were eating, a woman we were with had a phone call and walked away to take it. She didn't come back for a long time but when she returned, she excitedly said actor Chow Yun-fat walked right by her and waved!

He seems to be everywhere these days -- people have reported sightings of him at 7am in a cha chaan teng in Kowloon City, in Mui Wo, and on the MTR.

One of the organizers of our field trip excitedly went off on a search for him and we told her to come back with him, but a while later she came back alone! She said he was swarmed by fans and she asked him to come by our table. Would he? Did he know how to find us?

Sure enough a few minutes later, a tall man in all black with a baseball cap, sunglasses, black top, shorts and leggings showed up. We were in the midst of getting up when he motioned to us to sit down, not wanting to cause a commotion.

But onlookers were thrilled to see him and huddled around our table. Chow was introduced to the chef -- the actor didn't seem to believe he was one until a name card was produced. Suitably impressed Chow told us to gather round for a wefie.

He didn't like where I was standing and instructed me to stand to his left and I quickly obeyed. Soon he took three pictures, gave back our smartphone and he left as quickly as he came.

We hadn't even gone grocery shopping yet and already had a massive celebrity sighting!

After I posted the picture on social media, it went wild with lots of comments saying "lucky you!" and "so jealous!"

We really were lucky! And we had a really fun excursion and delicious lunch too!

I'm glad to have a fun memory of Tai Po instead of just that one-and-a-half hour commute there and back everyday for seven years!

Picture of the Day: Michelin Madness

Our view of the photo shoot with all the chefs on stage at the Michelin event

Today was the big day chefs in Hong Kong and Macau have been looking forward to -- the announcement of the Michelin stars.

The event was held at the Grand Hyatt Macau at first it was a pretty tame affair when each restaurant was introduced and the chef came up to receive the guide as an award. Afterwards there would be a group photo of all the chefs who all got one star this year, two stars then three.

However, that's when the mayhem broke out.

People in the audience would start taking pictures with their smartphones, while professional photographers at the back would shout out their frustrations.

"Put your phones down!" they exclaimed in Cantonese, much to our amusement, but some wouldn't listen and the demand was repeated over and over, more exasperated each time.

The climax was when all the chefs were invited on stage and getting that giant group shot is near impossible as you can see from the picture above.

Definitely Michelin Mayhem.

Hawker Stalls to Make Way for Food Trucks

Will we soon see food trucks inspired by the movie Chef in Hong Kong?

A few months ago our ever thoughtful Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah came up with the brilliant idea of Hong Kong having food trucks after watching the comedy Chef starring Jon Favreau and Sofia Vergara.

It's about a down-and-out chef who realizes his dream of making Cuban sandwiches that are a hit in Los Angeles. And during this journey he teaches his son his passion for food and rekindles his love for his ex-wife.

The food truck idea came from official John Tsang

What a perfect ending.

But food trucks in Hong Kong?

We already have local hawker food. Well, we used to have a vibrant hawker food scene until the government decided to clamp down on the stalls for fear of hygiene issues. The authorities stopped issuing dai pai dong licenses and so they are dying out because the next generation isn't interested in such hard work, nor can these licenses be sold either.

And also last month the Michelin guide introduced a list of street food places and now some are reportedly under threat of greedy landlords who want to raise the rent to squeeze more profits out of them.

So why doesn't the government scrap its food truck idea and instead revitalize areas for hawker stalls and be the landlord so that the rent is controlled and everyone -- locals and tourists -- not only get authentic cuisine but at value for money prices!

What a novel concept!

Can you imagine food trucks parked right here in Wan Chai?

Oh wait -- maybe that's too complicated for the government to understand.

So instead we'll be stuck with food trucks in bizarre locations like by the ferry piers in Central, Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, Ocean Park and Disneyland, serving "gourmet" food at expensive prices. That's because the operators need to shell out at least HK$600,000 for a food truck and they need to make a profit too.

Just boggles the mind how our senior officials come up with such ideas. And they are supposed to be working for us, the taxpayers...

Food Truck Fun

Chef stars Jon Favreau (centre) who resorts to making Cubanos in a food truck

Just came back from watching Chef with YTSL at Palace IFC, starring Jon Favreau in a fun comedy with lots of yummy food on film.

OK the food part isn't as mouthwatering as the opening scene of Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, but it also gives an interesting insight into the restaurant industry and why chefs are fanatic about what they give their guests to eat.

Favreau is Carl Casper, the chef who works in a fine dining restaurant owned by Dustin Hoffman's character. When a top food blogger has made reservations to review the restaurant, Carl puts out all the stops ready to present a creative menu.

But this is vetoed by the owner and having lost all interest, it seems Carl's food only gets a two-star review that goes viral.

Carl tries to hit back, but in a very public way that climaxes into a rant that also goes viral.

The El Jefe goes on a road trip from Miami to Los Angeles

He has to start all over again and his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) takes pity on him and invites him to Miami where her other ex-husband (Robert Downey Jr), a wealthy narcissist gives Carl an old dirty food truck.

This gives an opportunity for Carl to bond with his 10-year-old son Percy, who seems to shuttle back and forth between parents. Martin (John Leguizamo) from the restaurant comes by to help out, and the trio go on a road trip driving the food truck back to Los Angeles.

As Carl teaches Percy how to make Cubanos, a type of Cuban sandwich, we also get some cooking tips and watch how they prepare these delicious-looking bites.

The scenes are spiced with lots of humour, physical and verbal. Now we know what chefs do during a hot summer nights...!

However there are a few holes in the story -- what kind of job does Inez have that requires a publicist? And there's not indication of how she grew up in Miami and then has lots of staff tending to her household. She also seems too young to be Carl's wife...

A scene from the movie showing a mouth-watering steak

Also, would an ex-husband help another by giving him a food truck? Seems like there were some favours made behind the scenes that we are not privy too, but are expected to accept.

Nevertheless we enjoyed the foodie road trip and how social media can make or break a restaurant. The posting of messages on the screen, allowing us to read them was fun and entertaining, and Chef is also a lesson in what not to do on Twitter.

I won't be looking at cornstarch the same way again.