Getting Closer to Food Trucks in Hong Kong

The 16 winners of the cooking competition with Gregory So (in white)

Food trucks in Hong Kong are one step closer to reality after a cook-off was held yesterday at the Chinese Culinary Institute in Pokfulam.

Fifty-one applicants presented their signature dishes to nine judges, many of whom are celebrity chefs, and from there 16 winners were chosen.

What was strange was that the whole process was opaque -- the media wasn't allowed to watch the actually cooking and taste the food, nor did they taste the winning entries either.

Reporters were only shown pictures of the dishes, photographed against dark backgrounds, as if to make them look cooler, but instead made them look less like food truck food.

So wore a chef jacket, but boasts no culinary skills

At the press conference, Gregory So Kam-leung, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development wore a chef's jacket, even though he professed to not have a sophisticated enough palate to judge the applicants' food...

However, six judges came on stage and commented on the winning dishes, some of them making them sound more delicious than they looked. One example from Tan Sing Cafe was a pineapple bun "hamburger", complete with a patty, lettuce, tomato and fried egg.

Another was a whole grilled squid on a bed of greens. It immediately made me think of "chao yao yu", which means deep-fried squid, or the Cantonese slang for "being sacked".

One winning dish from Mitsu Company featured fried rice (also with a fried egg on top), served on a plate that looked like an artist's palette, and on the edge were small containers to hold several different sauces. How was that dish, called "sakura shrimp umami sauce fried rice" supposed to work in a real food truck situation? Does that mean diners have to eat the dish on the plate near the food truck and then return the dish afterwards?

We also wondered about a fish maw soup -- how much was that going to cost? And isn't fish maw expensive?

When reporters talked to some of the winners, they admitted they didn't expect this food truck venture to make much money; they looked at it as an opportunity to be pioneers in this field in Hong Kong and saw it as a way to gain more experience in the food industry.

One successful applicant, Raymond Chu Wai-man, was a chef in the UK for 17 to 18 years, and when he heard Hong Kong was starting a food truck culture, he specifically came back to his hometown to try to get a food truck license.

He'll be selling a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches and real fruit smoothies to go with them.

Turns out only a few were big players, and they weren't even Maxim's, Cafe de Coral or even Butcher's Club. However a subsidiary of Chee Kei, a famous wonton noodle chain won, as well as Beef & Liberty, best known for its burgers and its winner was the slow-cooked pulled pork burger which is already on its menu.

Winning the food test doesn't mean the 16 successful applicants will automatically get food truck licenses -- they still have to individually apply and comply with the requirements of each of the departments involved.

Seems like a lot of hoop jumping for the applicants, while legislation hasn't caught up with the demand for food trucks in the city.

Isn't that like putting the cart before the horse?

The last thing the government should do is leave these 16 winners in a lurch if laws aren't in place to help foster this fledgling industry. They really have invested a lot of time and effort into this project.

In the meantime, what about also boosting our local food culture of dai pai dongs? They're an even more interesting food attraction than food trucks, no?

Where's the Tourists?

Mickey Mouse must be wondering where all the tourists went...

The Hong Kong government is desperate for tourists.

This is even more evident now with Hong Kong Disneyland (of which the Hong Kong government is a main shareholder) reporting its first loss since 2011, with expectations that visitor numbers will drop even further this year.

This is unfortunately coinciding with the amusement park celebrating its 10th anniversary, as it lost HK$148 million last year, compared to HK$332 million in profits a year earlier.

The park has seen a drop of 23 percent fewer mainland visitors.

"This year will be difficult," said Andrew Kam, Hong Kong Disneyland's managing director. Total visitor numbers to the park were down 9.3 percent to 6.8 million in the fiscal year ending in October 2015 compared to the year before.

Ocean Park is also seeing its profits cut in half. For the fiscal year that ended last June, profit was down 53 percent at HK$45.2 million, and revenue fell slightly to HK$1.97 billion, a drop of HK$600,000 from the previous year.

Competitor Ocean Park has also seen a drop in visitors

Failed chief executive candidate Henry Tang Ying-yen believes the best thing to do is to open the floodgates to allow more mainlanders in Hong Kong. Is this really the solution? This will only get more localists enraged, but really, all those who have been to Disneyland and Ocean Park aren't interested in going again.

And besides, they are probably waiting for Shanghai's Disneyland to open in June, with domestic travel there much cheaper.

Who are we kidding?

Kam is trying to brush off the impending challenge, saying "once you've established your own brands, I think you don't need to worry about the competition", adding there was enough regional demand for both parks.

Really? Surely people will be more interested in Shanghai, as it's brand new and three times bigger.

This is a case of Hong Kong's authorities putting all of its eggs in one basket.

Depending on mainland tourists was naive and hardly prudent. The Hong Kong Tourism Board should have been promoting the city to every other viable market just as aggressively as the Chinese one.

Meanwhile dai pai dongs are a dying breed in the city

And now with the shocking violence that happened last Monday, who wants to go to Hong Kong? Wasn't it supposed to be a safe city?

The HKTB has a lot of work to do to repair the city's image, and also persuade the government that if it wants to bring more tourists in, Hong Kong needs to preserve its cultural heritage and that means street food.

Food is one of the best ways for people to understand a culture and what Hong Kong has to offer cannot be found anywhere else. To kill street food by putting so many restrictions on hawker licenses and dai pai dongs, is killing the city's culture and potential tourism draw.

Hong Kong people are so passionate about their food, why not make this a vital cultural industry? Originally these hawker foods existed to sustain a living, but some are very good and deserve to be encouraged to continue.

Tourists visit Taiwan and Singapore for the food, why not Hong Kong?

It's not all about shopping... and besides, tourism now is about memorable experiences.

Or did the HKTB not get that memo?

Creative Food Carts in Causeway Bay

Gregory So (right) seeing what it's like to operate a food truck in Australia

Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah fantasized about Hong Kong having food trucks in the city, and then his colleague, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Greg So Kam-leung estimated it would take HK$600,000 (US$77,102) in start-up costs, and only 12 of them would be in six tourist spots.

As expected the media and the public ridiculed these government officials for being completely out of touch with the concept of food trucks, how they would be regulated, and that the prohibitive costs would result in only big restaurant groups operating them.

One creative food cart served mini egg waffles to customers

So today some creative designers and hawker groups came out to Causeway Bay to show what they could do -- at a fraction of the cost.

It was their way of sending a message to the government to diversify its food truck offerings and lower start-up costs.

There were 10 small hawker carts, serving snacks like mini egg waffles, Chinese pudding and glutinous rice balls covered in desiccated coconut. The carts were added to old bicycles or small vans, with the construction costs ranging from HK$1,500 to HK$100,000 -- well below So's suggestion of HK$600,000.

"The purpose of the show is to demonstrate that cheaper food trucks could also be unique and artistic, while meeting hygiene requirements," said Chan Ka-hing, who designed some of the food carts.

Another designer, Niles Mak, pointed out the smaller carts would be better because they wouldn't block traffic, compared to a regular food truck.

John Tsang was inspired by the movie Chef to have food trucks

So how about it, Mr So and Mr Tsang? Why not encourage local hawkers to set up shop around town and not necessarily tourist-specific sites, and while we're at it, why not help dai pai dong stalls to flourish in the city?

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...

ABC Spells Delicious

The menu placed on the place setting at ABC Kitchen

I'd heard about a western restaurant called ABC Kitchen in Sheung Wan that was very good but had yet to try it. It's run by ex-M on the Fringe staff who lost their jobs after the restaurant had to close in 2009 after it was pushed out due to new government regulations.

The lamb shank was one of the highlights of the evening

Some of the staff wanted to continue doing similar fine dining but not have to give in to landlords and pay exorbitant rents, so they found a spot in a dai pai dong. Why not?

It's not in the Sheung Wan wet market, but a bit further west at Queen's Terrace, next to Hotel Ibis. On the first floor is a cooked food centre where ABC Kitchen rubs shoulders with restaurants serving Cantonese, Indian and Nepalese, and northern Chinese-style dumplings.

The atmosphere is noisy, with kids running around and the decor isn't much to look at, the area is relatively clean. What sets ABC apart from the others is the red and white checkered table clothes, printed menus at eat place setting and wine glasses.

So was the lobster thermidor, a special dish offered tonight

I finally got to try it out tonight as a pre-birthday dinner with my cousins and it was quite a treat.

For starters the soup of the day was chestnut soup and it was a bit thin with some croutons and a dash of olive oil on top, though it had the chestnut flavour mixed in with a few other ingredients we couldn't quite decipher.

We ordered three mains and as the staff knew we were sharing, each dish came to the table one at a time. First off was the lamb shank with beans and mashed potato. The meat literally fell off the bone and went perfectly with the dry French red wine we were drinking -- with no corkage.

A signature dish here is the roast suckling pig and rightly so

Next came the special of the day, lobster thermidor -- two halves cooked with onions, a light curry sauce and baked with cheese on top. Even better the meat had been extracted, sliced up and then placed back in the shell for easy access. The lobster was cooked perfectly and wasn't too heavy with the cheese. My cousin even mopped up the sauce with some bread.  

Our final main was another favourite -- roast suckling pig. Served with mashed potatoes and red cabbage, it was also a succulent dish, the meat very tender contrasting with the crispy skin and we made sure we finished the plate practically clean.

Perfectly executed souffle

To finish off the meal we had two desserts and the cheese platter. The latter featured three cheeses with some dried apricots, nuts, grapes and crackers. The cheeses were relatively mild and not as interesting as the desserts.

Most impressive was the Grand Marnier souffle. It was quite large and tall, while the inside was cooked through with hardly any wetness. The taste was light and airy with a bit of crunchiness from the sugar at the bottom of the ramekin.

We also loved the pavlova, meringue with a mango sorbet topped with fruits like nectarine, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, peach and kiwi with passionfruit sauce drizzled on top. The meringue itself was quite good, though a tad too sweet, but a refreshing combination with the fresh fruits and tart passionfruit sauce.

The bill came to HK$934 ($120) for the three of us not including the wine.

Sweet and tart pavlova with fresh fruit and passionfruit sauce

I also enjoyed watching a little boy, one of the owners' son, thoroughly enjoying his pavlova. He sat on his own quietly with his small spoon and digging into his dessert, savouring it and then taking another bite. So cute.

A little boy enjoying each bite of his pavlova

ABC Kitchen

Shop 7, Food Market

1 Queen Street
Sheung Wan
9278 8227