Hong Kong’s food culture celebrated in new festival all about ‘bing sutt’ cafes
Running until October 5, the festival involves four ‘bing sutt’ cafes in Hong Kong and London and aims to spread Hong Kong food culture
Many years ago, while he was studying in the English city of Nottingham, Hogan Cheng Ho-hang was stumped when a British friend asked him how he would describe the culture of his home city, Hong Kong.
“I couldn’t say anything. I said, ‘Well, we have some really famous milk tea,’” says the 28-year-old sheepishly.
“I was a bit lost because no one had ever asked me that question before. I’d spent 20-some years living in Hong Kong and I had never thought about it.”
Cheng, who has since moved back to his hometown, has a better idea of how to answer that question now, having co-founded the lifestyle and culture platform Kongcept in 2020 with two of his secondary-school friends, Christopher Chu Man-fung and Don Hong Ching-wah (both of whom have since moved to the UK).
Kongcept was initially envisioned as a simple platform where people could explore the many facets of Hong Kong culture (the Cantonese name of the platform, ngo gong, can mean both “I speak” and “My [Hong] Kong”). Their deep dives on topics such as the city’s neon lights and architectural details quickly garnered a loyal following.
