If you’re a foodie or you work in the Food and beverage industry, you’ll already have the Hong Kong Food Expo in your calendar, probably circled with a thick, red marker pen. If you’re not in the business and you just love food, then pencil the dates in, as the Hong Kong Food Festival 2018 is not one you’re going to want to miss.
The Hong Kong Festival 2018, its sixteenth year, takes place over five days, from 22 to 26 December at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The exhibition is open every day from 10:00 until 21:00 except on 26 December, the final day, when it will stop at 19:00.
Over the previous 15 years this particular Hong Kong exhibition has attracted over 6 million visitors, coming from both the local area and from overseas. It is becoming Hong Kong’s very own ‘must visit’ Christmas event!
The event not only showcases local food but also food from the neighbouring countries of Hong Kong, including, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Italy, Korea, Japan and Australia. Further afield countries are also represented, such as Italy.
Admission
Tickets cost HK$ 20 per person except for those aged three and under or sixty-five and over, in these cases admission is free.
Tickets for the morning of the 22 December are available at HK$ 10, but this is the only day when morning tickets are allowed.
You must enter the exhibition 15 minutes prior to closing time in order to be admitted.
What’s On?
The exhibition is split into nine diverse areas, each with its own distinct theme, flavours, smells and colours! Take the opportunity to taste delicacies and sample wine from all over the world. Exhibitors from the countries themselves will be in attendance, so authenticity is guaranteed.
- Premium Brands Zone
- South East Asia Flavour Zone
- Staple Diet of Japan
- Worldwide Food & Trading Zone
- International Wine & Luxurious Food Zone
- Taste of Korea
- Healthy Green and Vegetarian Zone
- New Year Food, Daily Essentials & Quality Dried Seafood Zone
- Taste of Taiwan – New for 2018
There will be many activities on offer from the exhibitors in the nine zones, activities that are in some way all related to food of course. These include large showcases of various cuisines and interactive cookery demonstrations. If there’s something you want to learn or techniques you’ve always wanted to master in the kitchen, this is the place to do it.
There are stands with samples of food and drink from all of the areas above, with plenty of opportunities to make purchases. Normally high priced luxury foods such as abalones, lobsters and oysters can be picked up at a fraction of the normal cost too. Exhibitors are happy to offer discounts to encourage you to buy from them in the future.
Previous exhibitions have seen special offers handed out to the first visitors to certain stands. In the past this has been things such as free ice cream to the first 100 visitors, or offering luxury seafood at HK$ 1 a plate.
The Hong Kong Food Festival is also a great place to spot celebrities, well, celebrities from the world of food and drink anyway!
Renowned chefs from across the city and the world are always invited, as are food themed artists and stars of food related television shows.
They’re not there just to show their faces either. Each year they will be on hand to share their cooking tips and techniques from their favourite cuisines whether that be Japanese, Chinese or all vegetarian cooking.
Aside from celebrities you’ll also find other industry experts giving informed talks about various food related issues. The first exhibition was held in 2003 when the area was suffering from the SARs epidemic. The exhibition in its first year was launched to counteract these fears about the Hong Kong Food industry and there was much info distributed concerning these issues.
In 2018 expect healthy eating to be high on the agenda, as it has been in recent Expos.
Lastly, for those keen to get their hands dirty, there’s plenty of expertly arranged workshops where you can excel at making beer, baking or cocktail mixing, amongst many other things.
Places to Stay in Hong Kong
When considering where to stay in Hong Kong consider first the other places to visit in Hong Kong that you have on your ’to do’ list. After that, check out the Hong Kong Luxury apartments being offered by thesqua.re. Not only are they well placed, but they are also some of the best self catering accommodation you’ll find in the city.
