5 Mins Read
November is a great month for Hong Kong. The weather has cooled down, the holidays are around the corner and there are oodles of new healthy and exciting eateries opening around town. Below is our roundup of Green Queen’s five new favourites- there’s one for every diet and every mood.
Butcher Baker Cafe: Nose-to-Tail Dining
Best For Family Brunch
From the folks that brought us Jaspa’s, Oolaa and Wagyu, we now have Kennedy Town’s only days old Butcher Baker Cafe on Cadogan Street. This new eatery features a full restaurant with an exhaustive menu offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, a Sunday Roast and a Wednesday Buffet, because, why not? So far, so Castelo Concepts. But Butcher Baker HK has a couple of crafty twists. Connected to the restaurant is a bakery producing artisanal breads and baked goods baked fresh on the premises every day, available for purchase and served in the restaurant. Helmed by Jonny Farrell of Shanghai Butcher Farrell fame, the “Butcher” section of the name refers to the full butchers’ counter featuring responsibly-sourced nose-to-tail cuts and offerings of hormone-free pork, grass-fed/pasture-fed beef & lamb and free range poultry. Excitingly, you can roll up and ask for the exact cut you want! Finally! Hong Kong has been waiting for a proper butchers’ for AGES! Also served at the restaurant, as well as available for purchase, are smoked kippers and handmade sausages. Yum!
On Fat Building, 57-59 Cadogan Street, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong Island. +852 2591 0328. Open daily 7AM – 11PM.
Catch Juicery: Organic Cold-Pressed Juice
Best For Post Yoga Refuel
Hong Kong’s juice scene keeps expanding. The new kid on the block is 100% organic and cold-pressed Catch Juicery located on Wellington Street, whose bright store is lined with colorful shelves of fun and unique flavors such as Kandy Krush, Holy Kale and Grow A Pear which were created with the help of their in-house nutritionists (one of them hails from LA and is a regular on Perez Hilton & US Magazine), HKD 45 – HKD 88 for a 375ml bottle. They offer three cleanse packages, each of which include eight juices in levels 1 to 3 depending on fruit content. They also feature a range of smoothies including Tiger’s Blood made with pineapple juice, beetroot and chia seeds, and Muscle Beach with almond mylk and plant-based protein. They have wheatgrass and ginger-lemon-tumeric-cayenne shots as well as E3Live organic live algae.
G/F, 67 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong Island. +852 2567 3677. Open Monday to Friday 8AM – 9PM and Saturday/Sunday 9AM – 9PM.
Fish School: Local & Sustainable Seafood
Best For Gourmet Dinner Date
The newest opening in so-hot Sai Ying Pun is Fish School on Third Street, offering modern Cantonese seafood. Yenn Wong, founder of the JIA group- which includes 22 Ships, Ham and Sherry, and Aberdeen Street Social- has teamed up with chef David Lai, of On Lot 10 and Neighbourhood fame, to bring us a new take on traditional favorites. The restaurant interprets Hong Kong’s culinary zeitgeist perfectly with a focus on the fresh, the local, and the seasonal but also on introducing “new” local fish species to diners. Open for dinner, the menu features a rotating selection of small plates, whole fresh fish or crustaceans straight from the tank, grilled meats and desserts. Fish School uses local and sustainably sourced fish and seafood and organic produce, faithfully adhering to tenets of the farm-to-table school of sourcing.
100 Third Street, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong Island. +852 2361 2966. Open Tuesday to Sunday 6 – 11PM.
Fresca HK: Vegetarian Farm-to-Table Cafe
Best For Healthy Lunch Takeaway
Offering 100% vegetarian meals for dining in and take-away, Fresca HK is located on Hollywood Road a quick walk from the Mid-Levels escalators. They are open for breakfast and lunch. Their lunch menu features soups, salads, warming curries, healthy bakery items (think cookies, muffins and paninis) while breakfast features everything except their salads which are served from 11AM. Their salads are mixed-to-order: you can choose a base of veggies or grains, and then pick your own toppings and dressing. Their produce is sourced from local organic farmers including their very own small farm in the New Territories. They also have an events space available for private bookings (they will customize a menu for you including meat and seafood dishes if desired) and offer home gardening workshops such as ‘grow your own mini-salad garden’.
54A Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong Island. +852 2770 2282. Open Monday to Saturday 8:30AM – 5PM.
Little Cove Espresso – Artisanal Cafe
Best For Lazy Afternoons
The newest artisanal coffee shop in town is Little Cove Espresso, offering Sai Kung residents some pep in the cafe scene. First off, they take their coffee very seriously. they serve fair trade, organic and single-origin coffee with a range of rotating beans- currently it’s Ethiopian yirgacheffe. Their drinks menu includes bulletproof coffee and iced-drip varieties- so much more than the standard cup of joe. They also feature at least four varieties of milk/mylk options including coconut, soy, almond and cow’s to suit just about everyone in your posse. Hungry? They serve smoothies, chia puddings, a variety of (organic) egg dishes, granola, baked goods and salads- most everything is made on the premises fresh every day. Many of their baked snacks are paleo and gluten-free including organic gluten-free paleo blueberry muffins and gluten-free cookies. In the coming weeks Little Cove Espresso is launching the healthy trifecta of crepes: they will be serving their vegan, paleo and gluten-free recipe, made with coconut flour and psyllium husk. We can’t wait!
34 See Chung Street, Sai Kung, New Territories. +852 9423 1655. Open daily 7:30AM – 6PM.
Photo Credits: Butcher Baker Cafe, Catch Juicery, Fresca HK, Little Cove Espresso, Fish School.