The Perfect Recipe
Anyone who’s been in town long enough will have noticed that the past few years have seen Hong Kong’s dining scene reach unprecedented heights. Take, for example, the humble burger: gone are the days when we’d chow down happily on a charred patty between two average slices of white bread. Today, it’s grass-fed beef on homemade brioche—or nothing. Nowadays, we like our char siu made from cuts of Ibérico pork and our dim sum infused with truffle.
In a word, things have gotten artisanal. We’re faced with more choices than ever before—and that’s saying something, since we Hongkongers are statistically one of the world’s most likely populations to dine out each week. We can’t go a day without some amazing new restaurant opening its doors, it seems.
It was only right, then, that we gathered up all our enthusiasm into our inaugural Food Issue. And when it came to choosing who should grace the cover, the team were unanimous: it could be no other than Hong Kong’s first couple of cuisine, Yenn Wong and Alan Lo. Between them, they own and operate some of our city’s most successful and smart eateries, including The Pawn, 22 Ships, Ham & Sherry and Aberdeen Street Social. Despite their Midas touch, the pair are still driven to push the boundaries even further, with new projects in the pipeline. Yet somehow they manage to do this while running other businesses, raising a family and maintaining a sense of humour—as attested by their firmly tongue-in-cheek cover shoot. Feast your eyes on the story on page 230.
Also in this issue, we present coverage of our recent Tatler Ball. For me, the ball has always been about the Tatler community; it’s a way to celebrate the good work that many of you do. This year’s Diamond Award recipient, Pansy Ho, said it best during her acceptance speech—she pointed out that Tatler’s strength has always been the way we support the many philanthropic endeavours in this city by providing an effective media platform. There were many other wonderful moments that night, most of them completely spontaneous. For a complete look back at the Tatler Ball, turn to Rise and Shine on lucky page 88—I hope these pages in our Faces section will bring back a wealth of happy memories from the night.