Life Style

Pop-ups and seasonal menus, a special supper with a performance – the weather may be heating up as we inch closer to summer, but these Hong Kong restaurants will keep us busy dining indoors this weekend.Friday, May 23Honjo unveils new seasonal lunch menu. Photo: HandoutHonjo’s new lunch menu is here to perk up your weekdays with a reimagined seasonal bento set. Consisting of an appetiser, main course and dessert, guests can build their own bento with dishes such as karaage, flank robata and creamy crème brûlée.Whether you’re seeking a quick escape with colleagues or a refined business lunch, Honjo is here to satisfy any midday Japanese food cravings.Where: 1/F, 77-91 Queen’s Road West, Sheung WanWhen: Lunchtime on weekdaysPrice: HK$198 per person

French film producer Dimitri Rassam was destined to make movies.The son of Bond girl Carole Bouquet – whose role in 1990’s Too Beautiful for You saw her pick up a best actress award from France’s César Awards – and French film producer Jean-Pierre Rassam, he has been immersed in cinema since birth. Francis Ford Coppola is his godfather.In 2024, Rassam’s The Count of Monte Cristo was one of the top-grossing films in France. Now, he has big plans to produce global blockbusters in English, with a French twist.Rassam, 43, is on a quest to produce a costly medieval saga based on The Accursed Kings, a French novel series that inspired Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.The films are set to be shot in English with an all-star international cast, designed to appeal to a global audience.It i...

2/5 starsWith three of Japan’s most accomplished actresses under 30 – Suzu Hirose, Hana Sugisaki and Kaya Kiyohara – performing under the assured stewardship of director Nobuhiro Doi, and with a script by Cannes Film Festival award winner Yuji Sakamoto (Monster), supernatural drama Unreachable should have been an easy win.But this persistently baffling tale of three young ghosts navigating modern-day Tokyo is dead on arrival.Fantasies dealing with the dead and their attempts to interact with the living are not only commonplace in cinema; among them are some of the very best and most emotionally resonant films ever made.From Ugetsu to Rouge to Ghost, stories that reach across the ethereal plain tap into our most primal and profound feelings of love, regret, grief and loneliness. But in orde...

Dog owners tend to enjoy having their companions with them most of the time, whether that is on holiday, when exercising outside or even at work.However, there are times when our pets should or must stay home alone – like when their owners are at the gym or out to do a bit of shopping.A dog home on their own can seem a scary thought for both dog and owner, but with proper training they can safely be left to their own devices.Puppies or very young dogs should only be left alone for short periods, say dog trainers and animal welfare experts, but three or four hours is not much of a problem for most adult dogs that are accustomed to being left alone.A dog that has had exposure from a very young age to being alone is likely to react calmly to the short disappearance of its owner.Puppies or ver...

This article contains minor spoilers.2.5/5 starsLead cast: Go Youn-jung, Jung Joon-won, Shin Si-ah, Kang You-seok, Han Ye-jiLatest Nielsen rating: 8.14 per centFrom a narrative standpoint, if Resident Playbook was about anything, it’s how one young woman picked herself up by her bootstraps, went back to work, and made it through the first year of her medical residency.However, her struggles were not the point of the story.

“It’s the finale … a bad dessert can ruin the meal,” insisted Anne McManus, then executive pastry chef at Manhattan’s Maloney & Porcelli, in an interview in 2000.Since the pandemic, as Hong Kong’s F&B industry deals with a labour shortage and a change in dining habits, the role of many pastry chefs has shifted. No longer is their sole focus crafting plated desserts. Now, they are frequently a more involved member of the wider chef’s team, responsible too for innovation and polishing recipes for takeaway.Despite these changes, Hongkongers’ fascination with sweet treats remains strong, and not all restaurants are abandoning the old ways. This summer, three new faces are making waves in the dessert scene, facing down the challenges and looking to leave a lasting impression.Eve Miniala...

Almost half a billion teenagers around the world will be overweight or obese by 2030, experts predicted, as they warned that adolescent health was at a “tipping point”.In a major new review of the health and well-being of adolescents, experts said some main drivers of ill-health among teenagers have switched from cigarettes and alcohol to weight gain and mental health problems.They warned that mental health among teenagers had seen a “significant decline” over the past three decades, which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis.And they projected that 464 million teenagers around the world will be overweight or obese by 2030 – 143 million more than in 2015.But the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing pointed out: “In terms of health risks, substance use [specifically tobacc...

It’s open(ing) season for Hong Kong’s bar scene. The last few weeks have seen several new concepts start welcoming customers, and two of the latest and possibly greatest are Bar Oasis and Goose Island Taproom. The former, helmed by Alex Pun of fruit spirit cocktail bar Orchard, is currently in its soft opening phase, while the latter is in full swing serving the best brews out of Chicago. If you’re at a loose end on Friday, be sure to head to the new and improved Kai Tak as Kinsman’s Gavin Yeung celebrates the former airport’s aviation history with a collaboration at rooftop bar Jin Bo Law.Thursday, 22 MayBar OasisAlex Pun and his team at Bar Oasis. Photo: HandoutWhat: This month Alex Pun – the brains behind Orchard, Hong Kong’s only eau-de-vie concept – brings us a modern take on the dive...

The bitter brotherly feud that sparked the creation of sports-shoe brands Adidas and Puma in the same small German town in the 1940s is to be turned into a television series with the help of family archives, its producers have announced.Hollywood-based film producer No Fat Ego is backing the project, which has the blessing of the family behind the Adidas empire founded by Adolf “Adi” Dassler.It will delve into one of the most fascinating fraternal blow-ups in corporate history, which pitted Adi against his brother Rudolf (“Rudi”), who went on to create rival Puma.The two men jointly ran a family-owned footwear company before falling out during World War II, with their post-conflict animus splitting their town of Herzogenaurach to this day.Rudolf “Rudi” Dassler (left) and Adolf “Adi” Dassle...

When Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, known as the pinnacle of Italian opera, announced conductor Chung Myung-whun, 72, as its next music director, global attention quickly turned to the fact that he would become the first Asian to hold the position. But for the South Korean, the title of La Scala music director carried little personal weight.“I don’t think it’s significant just because I’m the first Asian,” Chung said. “But it’s certainly a meaningful opportunity to honour my country, and something I felt I had to do.”Chung’s ties to La Scala date back to 1989. Since then, he has conducted 84 operas and 141 concerts at the theatre and, in 2023, became the first conductor in La Scala Philharmonic’s history to be named honorary conductor.His upcoming tenure as music director runs from 2027 to 203...