The Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival Is Back In 2020 And Bigger Than Ever

If there is one thing that unites all Hongkongers, it’s our love for food, whether it’s dining out, eating in, discovering new flavours or debating where to find the best gai daan tsai. While the pandemic has put the brakes on food festivals around the world, organisers have found innovative ways to stage virtual events with an enthusiastic online culinary community. The Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival is one such event and it returns this year, it could be said, larger than ever, merging the digital and physical in a five-week celebration between 11 November and 15 December.

Championing the food and drink industry has never been more important, as hard-hit businesses large and small navigate difficult hurdles to stay open during the pandemic. The Wine & Dine Festival provides the platform to do just that – from the comfort of your home and at restaurants across the city, with enticing offers to boot.

This year, bons viveurs can enjoy the festival from home at the click of a button, accessing wine and meal deliveries and a series of online events where chefs and drinks experts share their recipes and recommendations. The Online Wine Cellar, for example, is stocked with recommendations and up to 50% discounts from more than 100 wine merchants. Browse bottles from France, Italy, Australia, South America, Japan and lesser-known producers in Lebanon and Turkey, as well as made in Hong Kong beers and spirits. On the food front, Gourmet At Home offers a curated list of 30 takeaway and delivery menus from top-tier hotels and restaurants. Highlights include a limited edition afternoon tea set by Grand Hyatt Hong Kong and The Perfect Roast by The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong. What’s more, buyers of the first 50 sets of every Gourmet At Home offering receives a Bordeaux wine and a set of wine glasses. 

For keen cooks, the festival’s online masterclasses bring the culinary action direct to your homes. Learn from the key players of the city’s cheffing game with cook-along kits and livestream workshops, including Tatler Dining’s 2019 Chef of the Year Vicky Cheng of VEA and Arcane’s Shane Osborn, the latter of whom starred The Final Table on Netflix. Chop Chop’s Chef Dai Lung will also run an online class on ‘sorrowful rice’, the signature charsiu and egg on rice dish that he created for Stephen Chow’s classic comedy God of Cookery. Meanwhile, oenophiles can learn about new wave Bordeaux in an online tasting led by respected critic James Suckling, and cocktail lovers can create their own with George Clooney’s Casamigos tequila, as taught by acclaimed mixologist Jay Khan of COA, which this year earned the number three spot on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list. The 34 themed livestreams and recordings of the masterclasses can be accessed by anybody around the world for free on the event website, and cook-along and tasting kits, which start from HK$150, can be purchased and delivered ahead of the sessions.