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Joanne Yau

Pairing tea with food is a delicate balancing act that, when executed by experts, can make a dining experience extra special.
Expect that when Vicky Lau, chef-owner of two-Michelin-star Tate Dining Room in Sheung Wan on Hong Kong Island, hosts “Ode to Tea”, a tea-pairing lunch experience and Puer tea workshop offered in partnership with Hong Kong-based tea experts Being & Tea.
The four-course lunch will be served on Fridays and Saturdays until July 27 at Tate Dining Room, where guests will be treated to French-Chinese cuisine juxtaposed with rare teas, emblematic of Lau’s East-West culinary vision.
Lau and Being & Tea founder Wing Yeung have carefully matched every drink’s profile – colour, aroma, taste and form – to the composition of each dish.

While tea-pairing menus are not new at Tate Dining Room, a stand-out feature of this experience is that Yeung will be brewing the teas there.
The inspiration for the menu stems from Lau’s fascination with the core philosophy of a Chinese tea ceremony, she says.

“The fundamental idea is to use tea as a means to bring people closer to nature and cultivate a sense of balance and harmony,” she says. “I wanted to capture that essence of connecting diners with the natural world through a thoughtful tea pairing.”
Lau’s dish of turnip blancmange with sweet shrimp and seaweed sauce, for example, is paired with Being & Tea’s Yunnan green tea. The tea’s umami and oceanic flavours, with notes of kombu, seaweed, herbs, bamboo, jasmine and marshmallow, is the perfect way to enhance the dish’s savoury elements, Lau says.
Meanwhile, Lau’s roasted duck with five-spice hibiscus strawberry and plum compote will be paired with Wu Yuan Jian Rou Gui tea, a mellow, smooth and refined blend with a strong woody aroma, complementing the duck’s richness and the sweetness of the compote.

According to Lau, each pairing can “balance the flavours, add colour, reduce greasiness and enhance the fragrance of every dish”.
Much like wine and other traditional Chinese tea pairings, Lau says her fusion interpretation aims to celebrate “the natural balance and intrinsic connection between food, tea and the environment”.
Tea drinkers seeking a deeper understanding of premium aged Puer tea can attend the Tate x Being & Tea workshop on July 26.

“Puer is also known for its health benefits and the way the tea can evolve in flavour through continued fermentation and ageing,” Lau says. “Understanding these processes and how they impact the tea’s taste is a fascinating topic to explore in depth.”
A highlight of the workshop will be the tasting of a rare, old Puer valued at HK$480,000 (US$61,500) per brick, reflective of the time and expertise required to create it.
The lunch with tea pairing costs HK$1,580 per guest (HK$1,180 without), while the Puer workshop is HK$2,880 per person and is limited to eight participants.
For details visit tate.com.hk.


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East meets West in tea-pairing lunch at 2-Michelin-star Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong

In conjunction with Being & Tea, Tate Dining Room in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, is serving a lunch that pairs tea with its French-Chinese cuisine – and hosting a tea workshop. Photo: Tate Dining Room

Wing Yeung (pictured) of Being & Tea and Vicky Lau of Tate Dining Room have created a tea pairing culinary experience. Photo: Being & Tea

Vicky Lau is the chef and owner of Hong Kong’s Tate Dining Room. Photo: Tate Dining Room

Lau’s dish of turnip blancmange with sweet shrimp and seaweed sauce is paired with Being & Tea’s Yunnan green tea. Photo: Tate Dining Room

Lau’s roasted duck with five-spice hibiscus strawberry and plum compote will be paired with Wu Yuan Jian Rou Gui tea. Photo: Tate Dining Room

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Wong during week eight of MasterChef Australia series 16. Photo: Endemol Shine Australia, Kelly Gardner

MasterChef Australia series 16 contest Mimi Wong spent her teenage years in Hong Kong, where she learned to cook from her mother and grandmother. Photo: Endemol Shine Australia, Kelly Gardner 

A young Mimi Wong with her mother and grandmother. Photo: courtesy of Mimi Wong

Wong first learned how to cook in her grandmother’s kitchen in Hong Kong. Photo: Mimi Wong

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Wong with her fellow MasterChef Australia competitors. Photo: Endemol Shine Australia, Kelly Gardner

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Cardinal Point, at Forty-Five, in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Cardinal Point

Hong Kong hospitality group Leading Nation’s co-founder Gerald Li at Cardinal Point, in Central, Hong Kong. The former nightclub event organiser talks about the ups and downs on his journey to the top of the city’s fine-dining scene. Photo: Jonathan Wong

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A section of the interior of Cardinal Point. Photo: Cardinal Point

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Lemon tea from Lam Heung Ling. Photo: Riva Hiranand

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Onodera enjoys a bowl of noodles in Kam Tin, Hong Kong. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

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Onodera’s illustrations have also been printed on handkerchiefs. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

A trio of paintings featuring Hong Kong wet market stalls on display at Onodera’s previous exhibition in Tokyo. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

Onodera with some of her work in Causeway Bay. She also likes to draw Hong Kong’s many shop cats. Photo: Jonathan Wong

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Steamed har gao, or shrimp dumplings, are one of Onodera’s favourite dim sum. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

Dim sum such as siu mai features often in Onodera’s works. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

Adding salt to tea? Tibetans and Hakka in China do it, Indians do it – so ignore the recent social media stir about it

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Chef Vicky Lau, of Tate Dining Room, and tea experts Being & Tea offer a lunch to ‘bring people closer to nature’ and a Puer tea workshop


Hungry and love tea? Try a lunch at Tate Dining Room in Hong Kong that pairs tea with French-Chinese cuisine – and attend a workshop to try a rare Puer tea valued at US$61,500 per brick.


Chinese cuisine

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