Life Style

Beauty pageants are a national obsession in the Philippines, where the glitzy spectacles provide a stage to showcase not just fancy fashions and hair flicks but regional pride.Over the decades, the Southeast Asian nation has positioned itself as a beauty pageant superpower, accumulating an impressive collection of “Big Four” crowns: four Miss Universe titles, one Miss World, six Miss International and four Miss Earth titles.A new documentary, dropping April 10 on streaming site Netflix, explores the world of beauty pageantry in the Philippines.Titled A Queen’s Runway, the film takes a peek behind Miss Universe Philippines, one of the country’s most prestigious and celebrated events, which reaches millions of viewers each year.Spanning three-and-a-half months of rigorous preparation and riv...

Foie gras – a delicious delicacy to some, blatant animal cruelty to others – requires ducks and geese to be force-fed high-calorie food through a tube into their stomachs.This excruciating process causes the liver to swell significantly and its fat content to rise. In many countries, this practice is banned.Now, a German-Danish research team has presented a method to produce a foie-gras-like pâté without the painful force-feeding.“It has always been a goal to reproduce the taste and texture of real foie gras while keeping animal welfare in mind,” explains team leader Thomas Vilgis, from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany.Various factors can alter the taste of foie gras, including the food being force-fed to the animals, Thomas Vilgis says. Photo: ShutterstockTh...

A new school in Ireland is training up a fresh generation of thatchers in a bid to save the country’s disappearing thatched roofs, an iconic feature of the Irish landscape.In a hall in Portnoo, students at the Donegal Thatching School clamber over practice roofs under the watchful eye of Brian Lafferty, one of Ireland’s last master thatchers.“That’s it, start at the eaves and work from there,” says the still sprightly 72-year-old, peering upwards as a student lays and fixes batches of flax straw on top of a purpose-built model house.“The tradition has almost died out,” he adds. “It is crucial to pass it on to the younger ones.”Brian Lafferty is one of Ireland’s last master thatchers. Photo: AFPLafferty, whose expertise was learned from his father, grew up in County Donegal, the part of Ire...

Sophie Chan is a trained barista and certified sensory judge who writes about coffee on her platform, Coffee Daily. She spoke to Andrew Sun.Growing up in a family of food lovers, I was surrounded by delicious Chiu Chow and Shanghai cuisine. Both my grandparents were exceptional home cooks and my dad is my partner in crime in culinary adventures. We always seek out local dining experiences. He taught me to appreciate good Chinese food, regardless of price.By my twenties, my love for beverages – tea, coffee, cocktails and spirits – opened up my palate to international cuisines. While I genuinely enjoy good food, I also appreciate the atmosphere and interactions that come with restaurants.For breakfast, fish belly congee at Sang Kee Congee Shop (7-9 Burd Street, Sheung Wan. Tel: 2541 1099) is...

 [The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.]When Andrea Bocelli sings, the world seems to still. His voice is golden, tremulous and impossibly pure.At Galaxy Arena in Macau, that voice unfurled like silk across the audience. It was less a concert than a communion, a shared breath between artist and admirer, spun from notes that hovered between earth and the divine.Held on March 29, 2025, the performance marked Bocelli’s long-awaited return to Asia after nearly a decade, and his first-ever solo concert  in Macau. Fittingly, it was also the first time a tenor had graced Galaxy Arena – the city’s largest indoor arena capable of holding 16,000 spectators while refined enough to cradle the subtlest harmonies. For those fortunate enough to witness it, this debut w...

South Korean actress Kim Min-hee, 43, and film director Hong Sang-soo, 65, recently became parents to a baby boy.According to sources on April 8, Kim gave birth at a hospital and later stayed at a postnatal care centre in Hanam, Gyeonggi province, South Korea.Witnesses also claimed to have seen the couple visiting an obstetrics clinic in Hanam for regular check-ups.South Korean film director Hong Sang-soo and actress Kim Min-hee. She is said to have given birth to a baby boy, with Hong, 65, the father. Photo: Instagram/kdramahotgists

2/5 starsFirst dates can be murder. This is especially true for Violet (Meghann Fahy), the heroine of Christopher Landon’s latest high-concept thriller, Drop, who receives anonymous and increasingly threatening messages on her cellphone while on her first night out following the death of her husband.The evening comes to a head when she is ordered to murder her date, Henry (Brandon Sklenar), or risk her young son being killed instead.Fahy, best known for her performance in season two of The White Lotus, is convincingly discombobulated as Violet, a victim of domestic abuse who is taking her first tentative steps back out into the dating world.Sklenar (It Ends With Us), as Violet’s all-too-understanding new love interest, is similarly on point, skirting the line between impossibly charming an...

By Jon DunbarFRYb, a small restaurant just south of Quy Nhon-gil in Seoul’s Itaewon district, describes itself as an “American Fried Bistro”.However, members of the local Filipino community have noticed something else about it.Perhaps it is the lower case “b” in “FRYb”, which officially stands for “bistro” but somewhat evokes the name of the Filipino fast-food chain Jollibee.Spicy and crispy chicken at FRYb. Photo: Instagram/fry.bistroNot many would dispute fried chicken’s American origin, but a few distinct features in FRYb’s menu reveal that this is American food brought to you via the Philippines.

The shelves lining Luke Malpass’ home workshop are a gamer’s treasure trove stretching back decades, with components of vintage Game Boys, Sega Mega Drives and Nintendos jostling for space and awaiting repair.Parcels from gamers seeking help arrive from around the world at RetroSix, Malpass’ Aladdin’s cave.He has turned a lifelong passion for gaming into a full-time job, answering the common question of what to do with old and worn machines and their parts.“I think it can be partly nostalgic,” said Malpass, 38, as he surveyed the electronics stacked at his home in Stoke-on-Trent, in the UK.Retro video games at the headquarters of Luke Malpass’ RetroSix in Stoke-on-Trent, in the UK. Photo: AFPHe said the huge revival in retro games and consoles is not just a passing phase.

We’re well under way with our month of long weekends – shortly after Ching Ming Festival (aka Tomb Sweeping Festival), Easter weekend promises both the Friday and following Monday off! There’s no better time to pace out your weekend and visit three of the many fantastic guest shifts happening in our city’s cocktail divans.On Friday, pop over to The St. Regis Hong Kong as guests from its sister bars take over. Through the thick of the weekend, visit Quinary to indulge in Prohibition-era drinks from Soko bar in Seoul, or pop over to Bar Leone to sample libations from Toronto’s La Pompette.Friday, April 11St Regis Sip & Savor Vol. 2Head mixologists Paul Pan from The St. Regis Bar in Bao’An, Shenzhen, and Kevin Lai from The St. Regis Bar Macau, will mix up drinks at The St. Regis Bar Hong ...