The Sommelier’s Palate – Samuel Davies, Regional Sommelier for zuma Hong Kong, Bangkok and ROKA Hong Kong

Pattes-Loup Chablis: Thomas Pico is the winemaker, young and energetic, his wines have always over delivered. I think he produces Chablis for Sommeliers to drink” Samuel Davies, Regional Sommelier for zuma Hong Kong, Bangkok and ROKA Hong Kong

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Best Steamed Buns (aka) Dumplings in the World – Truffle Dumplings at Din Tai Fung – Singapore

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The Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong – Perfect for all Seasons and Reasons

The Wandering Palate’s recipe for an ideal urban family holiday catering to everyone’s needs and desires.

One of the conundrums of family holiday planning is trying to cater to everyone’s individual wants and needs, both adults and children. Actually, the reality is everything gets planned around the children, which is where most hotels fall short in catering to the most demanding of all guests. They may not pay the bill but I can assure you, if the kids are happy mum is happy. And if mums happy, dad is happy and you will potentially have a repeat customer.

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The Standard Newspaper

The Standard is the first free English daily newspaper in Hong Kong. The popular daily publication has an audited circulation of 222,413 copies a day. It has evolved into a powerful, influential medium in Hong Kong with a diverse audience and a broad reach since becoming a free newspaper in September 2007. The paper is distributed Monday through Friday throughout Hong Kong.

Editorial quality, integrity and fairness remain guiding principles, with a diverse range of news and features presented in a bold tabloid format.

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Wine Merchant of the Year – Asia

In case you are not aware, importing, distributing and retailing wine is a tough business and highly competitive – everywhere. In Asia it is hyper-competitive and in Hong Kong, with its recent zeroing-out of import duties, it is insanely competitive!

Here is a market that is arguably out of control and quite possibly the Island might sink under the weight of wine flooding in to it. When the duties were axed, the vinous floodgates opened with every man and their dog importing wine direct from merchants and vineyards all over the world. Needless to say, the established Hong Kong merchants have taken a hit.

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One hell of a wine workout
Vinexpo logo

Taste testing the best 2003 Bordeaux at Vinexpo had its pain and its pleasures… Curtis Marsh confesses all.

I recently spent three grueling days tasting at the world’s largest and most significant wine show, Vinexpo, with leading vintners from all over the globe massed at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Vinexpo has been held bi- annually in Bordeaux since 1981, with overseas exhibitions in the Asia-Pacific region organized in alternate years.

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Grab it by the horns
Cheap Wines

Cheap wines doesn’t necessarily mean cheesy in the world of reds.

Internationally relegated to quaffing status, the wine world is finally starting to give grenache the respect it deserves. I doubt that grenache devotees are that concerned. Sometimes it’s best not to say anything about a bargain.

Whether you are a serious wine buff or just enjoy the odd glass, there will always be occasions that call for an inexpensive, everyday drinking red.

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A Wine List is Born
Wine glass & bottle

Leading vintners from across the globe will be at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre May 23-25, promoting their wines at Vinexpo, the world’s largest and most significant wine show.

Held bi-annually in Bordeaux since 1981, it now offers overseas exhibition s in the Asia-Pacific region in alternate years. Hong Kong staged the first in 1998 with Tokyo wrestling it away in 2000 and 2002, but exhibitors resoundingly requested a return to the fragrant harbour for this year’s event.

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Acker Merrall & Condit Incredible Champagne Collection!
Dom Perignon Champagne

This incredible Champagne collection spans more than three decades and includes well over a hundred of the best bubblies produced between 1979 and 2002.

Among the many highlights are multiple vintages of Krug and Krug Clos du Mesnil, ten vintages of Dom Perignon, plus a horizontal of the great 1996s from Billecart Salmon!

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A Michelin Star in Mongkok

Serving up pork buns to our enthralled restaurant reviewer for pennies.

It seems an incongruous place to find a rating most chefs would strangle their sous-chefs for. But the gamy Hong Kong district of Mongkok hosts the cheapest starred restaurant in the famed culinary kingdom of the Michelin Guide. It is Tim Ho Wan, a Cantonese eatery that for instance features for just HK$12 (US$1.53) three light, crispy barbeque pork buns filled with a gentle stew of meat chunks swaddled in slightly sweet sauce. These baked buns are largely responsible for not only keeping this restaurant forever busy, but earned it a star that would be the envy of the tens of thousands of chefs in France.

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