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Ashlyn Chak

The Young Chef Young Waiter Young Mixologist (YYY) competition recently crowned its Hong Kong winners.
Chef Angus Wong Chun-kei of Amber, waiter Tony To Long-him of Central Japanese restaurant Godenya and bartender Evan Mak Siu-nam of Argo will represent Hong Kong in the 2024 world final in November.
The contest, also known as the Olympics of hospitality, began in the United Kingdom in 1979. It was launched to recognise and promote excellence among hospitality professionals aged 28 and under.
The competition has since expanded to 12 places around the world. It was launched in Hong Kong in 2023, the same year it added a bartending category.

Participants are placed into groups consisting of a chef, a waiter and a bartender, but are judged individually.
The teams for this year’s YYY Hong Kong competition were announced just over two weeks before the final at the International Culinary Institute in Pok Fu Lam on October 11, allowing the contestants to discuss their menus.
Wong has been in the restaurant business for four years and at two-Michelin-star Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental hotel in Central for two years. He was runner-up in the chef category of YYY Hong Kong in 2023.
Chef Angus and I created a welcome drink with sustainability in mind
Bartender Evan Mak, on part of his winning Hong Kong YYY 2024 menu
For his appetiser of shima aji (striped horse mackerel), Wong used lime kosho (a fermented Japanese seasoning paste), pickled radish, chive oil, jalapeño and Granny Smith apple. He says the lime and jalapeño added sour and spicy flavours to elevate the taste of the fish.
Wong says inspiration for his main course, rice duck, came from traditional roast duck in Hong Kong.
He tells the Post he wanted to create “a roast duck-like crispy outer layer with soft, tender and pink meat inside” by slow-baking the duck at a low temperature before grilling it at a high temperature and smoking the meat with lychee wood at the end.

“I roasted the duck bone for a soup which I then reduced to a concentrated sauce, and I added Sichuan peppercorns to balance the gaminess of the duck,” Wong says.
The rice duck also featured beetroot, red cabbage, red wine jus and shiso.
Wong’s bartender partner Mak used some of the same ingredients, in line with the sustainability theme of this year’s competition.
Mak, 26, has been in the drinks business since he was 19 and has worked at the Four Seasons Hong Kong hotel, in which Argo is located, for three years.
“Chef Angus and I created a welcome drink with sustainability in mind,” he says. “Using the ingredients from his dishes, I made a gin-based sour and sweet cocktail with pickle juice, apple juice, balsamic vinegar, shiso and ginger syrup to go with the chef’s [welcome snack of] potato skin tacos with marinated prawns.”
Mak also created a drink using Wong’s beetroot juice, lemon juice, ginger syrup and non-alcoholic tequila.
Despite the Western fine-dining plating, the taste was reminiscent of Hong Kong’s traditional sweet potato soup dessert
Chef Angus Wong, winner of of YYY Hong Kong 2024
For his second cocktail for the lunch service at the final, Mak added green tea and vanilla to yuk bing siu, a Cantonese rice wine made with fatty pork.
“The challenge involved Cantonese spirits. I recently learned about [yuk bing siu] and was surprised to find that its flavour profile included pandan and vanilla notes,” he says.
To wrap up the meal, Wong again took inspiration from traditional Hong Kong cuisine and created a mille crepe cake – a layer cake made of crepes stacked with different fillings – by puréeing grilled sweet potatoes, to which he added whipped cream for texture.

It was paired with a cinnamon gelato topped with walnut crumble and a sauce made with leftover potato skin and ginger.
“On the day I was coming up with the menu, I felt a hint of autumn in the air in Hong Kong,” Wong says. “It reminded me of the roast sweet potato stalls that would pop up around the city around this time of year.
“Despite the Western fine-dining plating, the taste was reminiscent of Hong Kong’s traditional sweet potato soup dessert.”
The Hong Kong winners were judged by respected industry veterans. They included chefs ArChan Chan of Hong Kong Cantonese restaurant Ho Lee Fook, Shane Osborn of Arcane Collective and Richard Ekkebus of The Landmark Mandarin Oriental.

Lindsay Jang of yakitori restaurant Yardbird, and Kristina Snaith-Lense of The Upper House hotel, judged the waiters, while Bar Leone’s Lorenzo Antinori, Kinsman’s Gavin Yeung and Quality Goods Club’s Francisco Ricafort judged the bartenders.
In 2023, Singaporeans won all three categories at the YYY world finals in Monaco. This year, the world finals will take place in Singapore from November 22 and 24. The Hong Kong winners will compete for a cash prize of US$15,000 (HK$117,000) with young professionals from 11 other places.


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Food and Drinks

Trio picked to represent Hong Kong in Young Chef Young Waiter Young Mixologist world final

(From left) Argo’s Evan Mak Siu-nam, Amber’s Angus Wong Chun-kei and Godenya’s Tony To Long-him, who were respectively crowned the best bartender, chef and waiter in Hong Kong in the 2024 Young Chef Young Waiter Young Mixologist Hong Kong contest. Photo: Ashlyn Chak

The YYY Hong Kong 2024 finalists at the October 11 lunch service competition, at the International Culinary Institute in Pok Fu Lam. Photo: Feste Group

Wong prepares his main course, rice duck, at the YYY Hong Kong 2024 competition. Photo: Feste Group

The YYY Hong Kong 2024 finalists at work. Photo: Feste Group

Wong is presented with his YYY Hong Kong 2024 award in the chef category by Richard Ekkebus (left) of The Landmark Oriental. Photo: Feste Group

From milk tea to noodles, the history and influence of Chinese food culture

A girl poses with Milk Tea Flavours installation at HKIA Arts & Culture Festival in Hong Kong Airport. Photo: Edmond So

Hong Kong-style milk tea is served with popular Hong Kong fare at the HOKO Cafe, a pop-up cafe in the trendy London neighborhood of Shoreditch. Photo: AP

Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Photo: Hector Amezcua

Photo: Bloomsbury Publishing

Photo: Jennifer Wong

Photo: Kong Tea

Photo: Jonathan Wong

Photo: Alexander Brunacci

Photo: Rice Service

Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 full list: Bar Leone in Hong Kong No 1, co-founder ‘speechless’

Zest’s Dohyung Kim and Bar Leone’s Lorenzo Antinori celebrate after their bars were named respectively second and first in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars ranking for 2024 in a ceremony at Hong Kong’s Rosewood hotel. Photo: Charmaine Mok

Bar Leone’s interior features vintage football shirts, and photos of Italian icons, from Popes to B movie actors. Photo: Bar Leone

The food is moreish at Bar Leone. Photo: Bar Leone

Dohyung Kim of Seoul’s Zest bar (left) with Lorenzo Antinori of Hong Kong’s Bar Leone moments before the number one bar was announced. Photo: Charmaine Mok

Co-founders Jay Khan (left) and Ajit Gurung at The Savory Project in Hong Kong, which received the award for best new opening and ranked 19th on the Asia’s Top 50 Bars list for 2024. Photo: The Savory Project

Representatives of the 50 bars and other awardees on stage at the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 ceremony at the Rosewood hotel in Hong Kong. Photo: Asia’s 50 Best Bars

BKK Social Club at the Four Seasons Bangkok, seventh on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list for 2024. Photo: Four Seasons

Coa’s Bitter Melon Collins. The Hong Kong bar, No 1 for three years in a row, placed fourth. Photo: Coa

One of Zest bar’s signature cocktails, the City Bee’s Knees. Photo: Zest

88 Hong Kong dishes and snacks made vegan in new cookbook, from dim sum to ‘egg’ tarts

Vegan versions of fishballs and siu mai are among the snacks featured in Christine Wong’s new vegan cookbook, The Vibrant Hong Kong Table, which includes 88 traditional Hong Kong dishes and snacks. Photo: Christine Wong

Christine Wong stands next to a fruit and vegetable stall in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Sun Yeung

One of Wong’s most arduous inventions is her take on Spam, which is actually tofu marinated in beetroot. Photo: Christine Wong

Veganised versions of cha chaan teng dishes. Photo: Christine Wong

Wong’s beef brisket noodles are made from jackfruit. Photo: Christine Wong

“Grandma’s Hong Kong Curry” is a recipe inspired by Wong’s maternal grandmother. Photo: Christine Wong

Wong says the most difficult recipe to get right was vegan fish balls. Photo: Christine Wong

Salt and pepper “squid” is actually made with chewy konnyaku yam cake and artichoke hearts. Photo: Christine Wong

Hong Kong noodle history and the different noodle styles explained

Shrimp roe thick noodle lo mien from Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle in Hong Kong. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Roast goose with lai fun rice noodles from Yung Kee in Hong Kong. Learn about the different kinds of noodles served in the city, how they are traditionally made, and the foods they are typically paired with. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Wheat noodles originate in Northern China, while rice noodles have Southern Chinese origins, says Dr Siu Yan-ho, a lecturer in Chinese language and literature at Baptist University. 

Marco Li Ka-chi of Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle balancing on a bamboo pole to make noodles. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Shrimp roe thick noodle lo mien at Kwan Kee Bamboo Noodle. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

 Cheung Wing Kee started making noodles in the 1950s, producing small quantities using labour-intensive methods.

Roast goose with lai fun rice noodles. The thicker, neutral-tasting noodles are perfect for absorbing the flavours from the roast goose and broth. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Amber, Argo and Godenya restaurants produce 2024 Hong Kong YYY competition winners. They talk about their creations that impressed judges


Amber, Argo and Godenya restaurants produce 2024 Hong Kong YYY competition winners. They talk about their creations that impressed judges.


Hong Kong chefs