A Guide to Coffee in Hong Kong - Where to Drink, Buy and Read about Coffee

Cafe Deadend's "Dirty Double"

Hong Kong is no longer the coffee desert I came back to 6 years ago. It has gotten to the stage where I can get a good to excellent beverage whichever district I might be in - well, almost - there are none near my home in Tseung Kwan O, which is why I've also decided to list where you can also buy coffee beans and equipment to brew at home.

(Edit Oct 2013: Just so you know, this was written in Dec 2012. Since then, good coffee places have continued to open. I guess I'll start a 'living' list one of these days, but for the time being, please keep in mind that this is now old).

Grassroots Pantry - Feel-Good Food

Dessert at Grassroots Pantry - fig napoleon with pistachio and cashew cream

Eating well has been something of a challenge recently. It seems particularly ironic because I have access to fresh organic local vegetables every Sunday, however there is no irony in it at all when you realise that the time spent making sure that there are vegetables at Island East Markets every Sunday is exactly why I haven't been eating them.

The first time I went to Grassroots Pantry, it was with Table for Two, for our very fun food crawl. The second time, it was to invite them to come set up a stall at Island East Markets. This time, the third time, I was finally able to go in for a proper meal (after having seen the lovely GP girls almost weekly at the market! Needless to say, they knew I was going in for dinner - end disclaimer).

Shiraz heaven - Fox Creek McLaren Vale Reserve Shiraz 2004

I'm one of those lucky people who has quite a few wine lovers around her, who, seeing how miserable she looks without a drink, hand her a carefully-chosen bottle now and then.

This Fox Creek Reserve Shiraz is one such bottle. The thing is, I'm not usually a fan of Aussie Shiraz. Too much of the time it's got too much vanilla, it's jammy and stewed in an overripe way, and almost too luscious, so full-bodied it's just like thick, raisiny lead on your tongue. Or it goes the other extreme of being way too fickle, spicy and peppery.

I don't know what the Fox Creek was like younger, but after 8 years, this 2004 is beautiful. (Ok, come on Aussies, let's say it together: BEE-YOU-DE-FOOL!). It's got everything on the Shiraz spectrum, and it comes through in layers. On the nose it's pretty typical - dark red fruits, chocolate. On the palate, you get a bit of vanilla, but it's quickly offset by some green herbs - rosemary, perhaps - and a fruity freshness, like fresh cranberry juice. That freshness and seemingly lighter body is what I love most about this (but it manages to be 14.5%, I guess the fresh fruit is what does it). There's a teeny bit of black pepper too, and yes, some raisins but not too much, and lots of dark chocolate, especially if you're having meat with it. And such a long, velvety finish. Mmm...

If only all Aussie Shirazes were as sophisticated as this, then they wouldn't have such a dodgy reputation!

Interview: Fuchsia Dunlop at Hong Kong Literary Festival

Fuchsia Dunlop

I was fortunate enough to get a last-minute press pass to one of the talks that Fuchsia Dunlop was giving at this year's Hong Kong International Literary Festival.

Entitled Hot and Sour, it was a Q&A session about Fuchsia's (mostly food) experiences in China, mostly related to her memoir, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper (which, by the way, has been translated into Traditional Chinese, and perhaps soon into simplified for the Mainland Chinese market, a prospect that Fuchsia looked forward to with "trepidation").

Fuchsia Dunlop at "Hot and Sour", moderated by Chengdu native, Jennifer Zhu-Scott

After a bit of a wait (that's what you get for being last-minute) I caught Fuchsia for a zippy 10-minute interview in the all-emerald Centurion lounge of the Kee Club, and I shivered all the way through, because the aircon was worthy of a mortuary, and I was so nervous and thrilled to be meeting the only non-Chinese author I trust to talk about Chinese food. I have an enormous amount of respect for Fuchsia's efforts in understanding China, its culture and its food. If I could achieve a fraction of what she's done in "communicating" China to the West, I'd be very proud of myself!

Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed recording it, and many thanks, Fuchsia, HK Lit Fest and CatchOn.

Sang Kee, all things battered, fried and delicious

Deep-fried squid

When we think of Cantonese food, we often think about subtly-flavoured dishes like steamed fish, lotus leaf rice and the like, and for a split second it may seem like everything we eat is super mellow. But given our love for lard and pre-deep-frying things (走油) that wouldn't be further from the truth. And if you want to talk "dirty" Cantonese food, Sang Kee is the place. (By "dirty" I don't mean hygiene, I mean how guilty-good you feel after eating it.)

Cook For Family - Leftover Peking duck

It's no secret that I love to eat, and on the blog it appears that I love to eat out more than in. In real life though, I eat at home quite a bit and I do cook, albeit super simple things that can be done in a few minutes - such are the demands of modern life (or that's my excuse...).

When I got an email from Razlan about Daniel's #CookForFamily initiative, I jumped right in. Rather than paraphrase, here's what it's about in Daniel's own words:

The #CookForFamily is a bloggers-for-bloggers initiative. No competition, sponsors, or hidden agenda involved. It is created with a simple objective of getting more bloggers, and hopefully their fans and followers, to start cooking and bonding with their families.

You'll see that most participants are Singaporean food bloggers, but hey, food knows no boundaries, and certainly the internet doesn't.

Peking duck slices

But then came the challenge of what to cook. I was surprised by Daniel's blog post about bloggers telling him that they don't have time to cook or don't know how to. So instead of conjuring up a fancy menu, I thought I'd come clean and just tell you all how lazy I can be, and hopefully communicate that it really isn't hard to cook for your family, even if cooking means getting a little help from leftovers.

Germans can make Champagne (if your name is Krug)

Food and wine writers and sub-editors will know very well that only the sparkling wine from Champagne, the region in France, can be called champagne - everything else is "sparkling wine", or Prosecco, Cava etc. Even amongst Europeans, who all have their own legislation and certification with regards to regional/cultural produce, the French are known to be particularly picky about their appellations. You'd think then, that they were pretty xenophobic, but truth is, like most people, they just like nice things, wherever they're from.

A Char Siu Wine - Eddie McDougall's Little Pig Rose

Eddie McDougall's Little Pig Rose 2010

Wines with non-European cuisines have always been a challenge. I've talked about natural pairings in the world's cuisines before, say, soy sauce and rice, clams and pork - these foods appear in close geographical proximity, and through time, people have found ways to make nature's bounty work with each other. China doesn't really have a history of wines made from grapes, and only with globalisation has Chinese food and grape wines started to come together. Nowadays - well in Hong Kong anyway - there's been a lot of talk about pairing wine with Asian food - I'd say it's still in its infancy, but hey, what do I know, I'm just a drinker.