Life Style

Hideaki Sato is the chef and co-owner of three-Michelin-star French-Japanese restaurant Ta Vie in Central, Hong Kong. He spoke to Andrew Sun.I was so picky about food when I was young, before I started my career. I wouldn’t eat most vegetables or pork, and I was more focused on football, drawing, or making something than eating. Now, I enjoy casual food. I really like honest food that is not fancy and without gimmick.This is Ta Vie’s 10th year. In my early years, I tried to create dishes which only exist at Ta Vie, so I forced myself to do a mixture of Japanese, French and Chinese cuisines. But during Covid, I started creating dishes more naturally from my own sense and background, and was concerned more about harmony.I’m trying to avoid doing one course that is very French, the next that ...

With the weather in Hong Kong looking stormy this weekend, we have you covered with some great indoor entertainment.Fans of live music can head to the Fringe Club in Central on June 13-14 for the 21st anniversary bash of live-music platform The Underground, while oenophiles can hide from the elements while enjoying wines paired with vinyl records.If you are looking to calm your mind, a crystal bowl and Tibetan singing bowl course might be for you, or maybe some retail therapy at a pop-up by Japanese fashion brand Kay Me.1. Introduction to Crystal Bowls & Tibetan Singing BowlsThis weekend, Audrey Yiu will lead an introductory course on playing crystal bowls and Tibetan singing bowls at the Yoga Room in Sheung Wan. Photo: instagram.com/audreyiuThose looking for calm and the means to spre...

This is the latest instalment in a feature series reflecting on instances of East meets West in world cinema, including China-US co-productions.Sometimes an outsider’s perspective can tell you more about a place than you might expect. This is especially true for Hong Kong – a city of endless comings and goings – and the filmmakers who chose it as a location.Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung made waves with his 1993 debut The Scent of Green Papaya, which won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for best foreign language film at the Oscars. His follow-up, 1995’s Cyclo, co-starred Hong Kong’s own Tony Leung Chiu-wai.Having established himself on the world stage, Tran attracted some big names for his fourth film, the 2009 art-house thriller I Come with the Rain, whi...

This article contains spoilers.3/5 starsLead cast: Go Min-si, Kang Ha-neul, Kim Shin-rok, Yoo Soo-binLatest Nielsen rating: 3.8 per centTastefully Yours, a delectable food-themed romcom about a big city restaurant entrepreneur (Kang Ha-neul, Squid Game season 2) who connects with a small-town chef (Go Min-si, Sweet Home), foregrounds a curious paradox that exists at the heart of South Korea’s infamously competitive environment: its obsession with both authentic home-grown culture and aspirational high-class markers from the West.On the one hand, you have the members of the Hansang restaurant conglomerate, including Han Beom-woo (Kang) and his brother Seon-woo (Bae Na-ra, Weak Hero Class 2), who each run their own fine-dining restaurant.

Hong Kong-style egg waffles are one of the city’s most beloved street snacks.Called gai daan zai – “little chicken eggs” – in Cantonese and also simply “egg puffs” in English, these golden treats have been around in Hong Kong since the 1950s.Unlike Western waffles, which have a grid-like pattern, Hong Kong’s egg waffles are covered in small oval-shaped bubbles, which may have inspired the name “little eggs”.The batter is typically made with eggs, flour, sugar and evaporated milk. When cooked just right, the waffle has a thin, crispy layer on the outside and a deliciously contrasting soft and chewy texture inside, as well as little air pockets where the “bubbles” are.An egg waffle from Master Low-Key in Shau Kei Wan. Photo: Instagram/master_low_key_food_shopThe street snack is a uniquely Ho...

Aristo Sham Ching-tao, the first pianist from Hong Kong to win the gold medal in the Van Cliburn Piano Competition, has expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming support he received from the city following his victory in one of the world’s toughest and most prestigious music competitions.Speaking from New York, Sham said: “I am overwhelmed by the support in Hong Kong since the news of my win. I really did not expect that.”Born in Hong Kong, he left to study overseas at the age of 14, but remains closely connected to the city despite spending much of his time abroad.“Nowadays, I am mostly based in New York and spend time in Sweden, where I studied with a professor since 2017, and come back to Hong Kong three to four times a year because my parents are [t]here,” he said at a news conferen...

I’m the first person to refuse dessert at the end of a meal and, like many Asians, consider “not too sweet” the finest compliment I can bestow upon a cake or its brethren. So many found it odd that I spent some time in Hokkaido recently with the main aim of attending a sweets festival.Japan’s National Confectionery Exposition has been held since 1911 to promote the country’s sweets trade. It occurs once every four years but, owing to the pandemic, was cancelled in 2021 and last held in 2017.The expo returned this year for its 28th edition – called Smile Sweets Hokkaido – and was held in Asahikawa, a small city in Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island known for its excellent dairy industry and high-quality fruit and vegetables. More than 1,000 products featured.Let’s just say I’ve never seen su...

Summer is upon us once again, which in Hong Kong means an onslaught of heat and humidity matched only by what is lining up to be a torrent of sequels, remakes and bona fide blockbusters that will dominate cinema screens between now and the new school year.Comedies, thrillers, spine-chillers and superhero extravaganzas will be duking it out for our attention, so here is our pick of 15 of the most promising offerings to open in Hong Kong this summer (opening dates are for Hong Kong).1. F1: The MovieDirector Joseph Kosinski follows Top Gun: Maverick with another tale of ageing thrill-seekers commanding incredibly expensive vehicles at impossibly high speeds.This time, Brad Pitt plays an over-the-hill Formula One driver who is recruited into Javier Bardem’s struggling team alongside a hot-head...

As Hong Kong reels from sweltering temperatures and a typhoon warning, take refuge this weekend as The St Regis Bar Hong Kong hosts two Taiwanese guests in a six-hands guest shift.Elsewhere, Ginza-style Madara opens in Causeway Bay under Rayven Leung from Takumi Mixology Salon, and the Four Seasons’ Caprice introduces a new nature-inspired menu.Thursday, June 12St Regis Bar Hong Kong x Bar Without x To Infinity & BeyondPedison Kao (left) from Bar Without and Mars Chang from To Infinity & Beyond will arrive at the St Regis Bar Hong Kong for a six-hands guest shift. Photos: HandoutWhat: The St Regis Bar Hong Kong assembles mixologists from two of the best venues in Taiwan for a rare six-hands guest shift. Pedison Kao – who placed third globally at last year’s World Class competition ...

Of the more than 3,700 restaurants Michelin has awarded stars, only six are listed on its website as exclusively vegan – and only one of those is in Asia.The success of Légume, which got its first star in the Michelin Guide Seoul and Busan 2025, is remarkable given how uncommon and often misunderstood veganism is in South Korea.Sung Si-woo opened his restaurant in Seoul in 2023 after deciding to bet on his unconventional idea of a vegan fine-dining establishment.Few believed it would work – even Sung had doubts.The interior of Légume, in Seoul, where guests can watch chefs prepare dishes in the restaurant’s open kitchen. Photo: east_people“When I opened Légume, I invested more money than I’d ever earned in my life, so a lot of people tried to talk me out of it,” the chef-owner says at a ca...