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Charmaine Mok

Not too long ago, the allure of the humble mahjong tile was thrown once again into sharp relief, as decades-old artisanal Hong Kong producer Biu Kee was served an eviction notice.
Angered and indignant, fans flocked to the mahjong tile carver’s tiny Jordan space, eager to get their hands on a piece of history.
At the eleventh hour, the store was given a reprieve and allowed to continue its operation. But the interest in mahjong has been reignited – and the timing couldn’t be more serendipitous.
One of Hong Kong’s most forward-thinking bars is making the age-old game the starting point for a cocktail menu that debuts this week.

“We had this idea a year ago,” explains Simone Rossi, director of bars at Rosewood Hong Kong, the Kowloon hotel where the bar DarkSide is located.
His team’s previous moon-inspired offerings, which reference the bar’s namesake in the Pink Floyd album The Dark Side of the Moon, became an instant classic – and so they knew the next iteration would have to create an equally strong impression.

Taking mahjong as a starting point, the team quickly realised that they could leverage the history and the impact the game had on Hong Kong culture and society, and create a menu that truly highlighted the city’s heritage, Rossi says.
“It is a game of the people and for the people. One of the things that inspired us the most is that there is no specific class or range of people that played mahjong through history. It got people together regardless of their status.
“It is a gathering game – we see this and link it to the bar, a space where people come to socialise and have a good time,” he says.


The team have worked with local mahjong masters Ricky Cheung and Karen Aruba Art Studio to reimagine the hand-carved flower and season tiles present in typical mahjong sets for the menu artwork, and have also worked with a local glass artist to create bespoke glassware to complement the creations.
Naturally, the tiles depicting flowers and icons of the season are chosen for their natural parallels to the botanicals that go nicely in a cocktail – there’s bamboo, plum, chrysanthemum and orchid – while the seasonal tiles are used to underscore the character of the cocktail.
The bamboo and summer tiles represent refreshing whisky cocktails, for example. The Summer is based on the idea of the cha chaan teng favourite, salted lime soda, but replaces the citrus with salted lychee – a classic local summer fruit – and house-made Hong Kong Amaro made with locally grown herbs.

“One of the things that has always been part of our DNA is to find a way to highlight local producers, flavours and markets,” Rossi says. “Sometimes we do not pay enough attention to what is around us.”
Another Italian bartender on the other side of Victoria Harbour shares similar thoughts. Lorenzo Antinori is the beverage manager at Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, on Hong Kong Island, and the face of its award-winning bar Argo.
This week, the team have launched the second “season” of their bar menu, aptly titled The Argo Cookbook – the creations take guests on a journey through the diverse flavours and culinary techniques that characterise the city.
“[The new menu] is very much a result of the two years that we’ve been ‘stuck’ here,” Antinori says, jokingly. “It has been our playground. In this menu, we are writing a love letter to Hong Kong.”

Having arrived in 2019, Antinori has seen Hong Kong through its most challenging era in recent history – and has become deeply connected with the city and its people as a result.
“Since I’ve been here, I really realise how Hongkongers are so connected to their foods,” he says. “They’ve got this, almost like a religious approach towards food. There’s a sense of communion when sharing it and there is an attachment to grandma’s recipes and ingredients.”
After the seriousness of Argo’s debut menu, Here Today Gone Tomorrow – a contemplation of ingredients that may cease to exist in our lifetime, from chocolate to vanilla – the second line-up is no less exacting, but offers more familiar touchpoints.

The menu focuses on six key ingredients and techniques that Antinori and his team have identified as part of the city’s DNA – soybean, apricot kernel, XO sauce, vegan char siu barbecue pork, black vinegar, and aged tea.
As in the previous menu, two different and contrasting cocktails use the same type of ingredient. One iteration of the soybean cocktail is a meeting of two histories, explains Jack Ng, one of Argo’s bartenders.
“It’s about Hong Kong in the ’60s or ’70s, when the less fortunate people who couldn’t afford rice would have soy milk together with some savoury ingredients for breakfast,” he says. “I created a drink with a link to the Western morning drink, which is the Bloody Mary.”

The team uses fresh almond soy milk from Hong Kong chef Vicky Lau’s brand Ān, adding another element of local artisanal effort, combined with warming ingredients such as oregano, wasabi and Mexican chilli. The effect is subtle yet elegant.
Other new creations are more powerful – such as the Hellfire Club cocktail, which takes the idea and flavour profiles of Hong Kong’s famed barbecue pork and applies it to meaty, sweet pineapple.
Antinori explains how, through conversations with Four Seasons chef Guillaume Galliot, he understands the concept of layering flavours in cookery – and sees how it can be applied to mixology.

“It would have been very literal for me to take a piece of pork and shake it,” he laughs. “And I mean, I’ve done worse in my life.”
Instead, the team glaze, roast and smoke chunks of pineapple to achieve a rich and caramelised flavour that is reminiscent of the charred edges of a premium piece of char siu.
“This is actually a drink that I think really showcases what cookery is to me,” Antinori says. “Cooking means understanding the technique. What kind of flavour do you want to achieve in the end?
“This menu is a way for us to celebrate Hong Kong, and celebrate Hong Kong culinary heritage, its flavours and its people.”


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Food and Drinks

Hong Kong bars’ new cocktails pay homage to mahjong, local cafes and barbecue pork, in a ‘love letter’ to city’s traditional culture

Lorenzo Antinori, beverage manager at Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Argo and DarkSide’s new cocktail menus pay tribute to traditional Hong Kong culture. Photo: Argo

Simone Rossi, director of bars at Rosewood Hong Kong. Photo: DarkSide

DarkSide’s interior. Photo: DarkSide

Bamboo, one of the cocktails on DarkSide’s new mahjong-inspired menu. Photo: DarkSide

DarkSide’s new cocktail, Summer, is a twist on salted lime soda, a Hong Kong cha chaan teng favourite. Photo: DarkSide

Rossi says mahjong is ‘a game of the people and for the people’. Photo: DarkSide

Lorenzo Antinori, beverage manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, at Argo. Photo: Argo

The Argo team. Photo: Argo

Magic Bean, one of the cocktails on Argo’s new The Argo Cookbook menu. Photo: ARGO

In Argo’s new cocktail Hellfire Club, chunks of pineapple are smoked to achieve a flavour that emulates that of char siu barbecue pork. Photo: Argo

In the Instagram age, when food presentation is as important as taste, chefs elevate meals to an art form

Chef Richard Ekkebus’ uni, cauliflower, lobster and caviar dish at his Michelin-star restaurant, Amber. In the instagram era, chefs are focusing on the appearance of their dishes as much as the taste. Photo: Amber

Amber’s sea urchin and caviar dish at the Taste of Hong Kong festival, in 2016.

Isil Okcu, senior sous chef at Soho House in Hong Kong. Photo: Isil Okcu

Colourful dishes created by Isil Okcu. Photo: Isil Okcu

Maria Nguyen, founder of The Art of Plating. Photo: Nader Khouri

Roe, cucumber, dill, and horseradish, from The Art of Plating. Photo: Instagram/@theartofplating

Duck jelly, white onion, smoked sturgeon, and caviar, from The Art of Plating. Photo: Instagram/@theartofplating

Leonard Cheung, co-owner and executive chef of Cultivate. Photo: Cultivate

Okcu says food styling is an artistic muscle that can be developed over time. Photo: Isil Okcu

Strawberry gazpacho with kombu and cured hamachi, by Leonard Cheung. Photo: Cultivate

Chocolate tart and wild herbs from The Art of Plating. Photo: Instagram/@theartofplating

‘People love to step outside their comfort zone’: food designer on her edible art and how experiential dining creates talking points

Food designer Alison Tan is the creative force behind many of Hong Kong’s most immersive and thought-provoking culinary projects in recent years. Photo: Jennifer Tang

Tan calls herself an “experimental feeder”. Photo: Gemma Harrad

Tan’s 2019 pop-up, The In Between Palace, at Hong Kong’s Sai Wan waterfront. Photo: Yidi Tsao

Tan was born in Kansas in the United States and raised in Delaware, Shanghai and Singapore. Photo: Gemma Harrad

Tan’s dish of frozen flowers, as served at Otium, the dining club she co-founded to challenge perceptions of food. Photo: Stephanie Teng

Harissa cauliflower with mango, as served at Tan’s dining club, Otium. Photo: Stephanie Teng

Tan’s “Black and White” dish that she made for Chinese National Day. Photo: Alison Tan

Asia’s best young chef winner, Singaporean Ian Goh, on showcasing his Hainanese heritage and the importance of confidence in the kitchen

Ian Goh’ s winning dish, Heritage Lamb. Photo: S. Pellegrino

Singaporean chef Ian Goh won first prize in the S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Awards’ Asian regional competition by cooking a lamb dish inspired by his Hainanese heritage. Photo: S. Pellegrino

Ian Goh (right) with his boss and mentor Louis Han, after winning the Asia region S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Award. Photo: S. Pellegrino

Ian Goh’ s winning heritage lamb dish. Photo: S. Pellegrino

One part of Singaporean Ian Goh’s competition-winning dish. Photo: S. Pellegrino

The S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Award, Asian edition judges panel, including chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn (left) and chef Daniel Calvert (right). Photo: S. Pellegrino

Ian Goh was praised by judges for his cooking techniques while crafting his winning lamb dish at this year’s S. Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Awards, Asian edition. Photo: S. Pellegrino

One of the components of Goh’s winning dish. He is thankful to his mentor, chef Louis Han, for instilling in him the confidence that enabled him to win the competition. Photo: S. Pellegrino

Ian Goh (middle) is congratulated by his mentor Louis Han, the chef-owner of Nae:um, after winning the top prize at S. Pellegrino’s Young Chef Academy Award, Asian edition. Photo: S. Pellegrino

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

DarkSide and Argo’s new cocktail menus give a nod to Hong Kong heritage, through mahjong-themed drinks, and combinations of ingredients synonymous with the city
At DarkSide they see parallels between the social nature of mahjong and visiting a bar; at Argo, the idea of layering flavours from the kitchen is to the fore


Cocktail menus at DarkSide and Argo take inspiration from mahjong, cafe culture and ingredients synonymous with the city.
