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Eat Drink Asia Podcast

SCMP culture journalists and dedicated 'foodies' Bernice Chan and Alkira Reinfrank speak with chefs, bartenders and restaurateurs from across Asia as they sip, sample and taste their way through the local and international cuisine in Hong Kong in this delicious bi-weekly podcast.

last updated:

9 September, 2024

highlights from

100 Top Tables 2024 Restaurant Directory

From Amber and Aqua, to The Upper House’s Salisterra and Morton’s The Steakhouse, check out our list of the seven best New Year’s Eve dinners in Hong Kong for 2024. Photo: Handout

The 7 best New Year’s Eve dinners in Hong Kong for 2024

24 Dec 2024 - 2:27PM

DarkSide’s Festive Manhattan, part of its special Christmas cocktail menu, is made with panettone-infused cognac. Photo: Jocelyn Tam

Drink in Focus: Festive Manhattan at DarkSide

23 Dec 2024 - 6:00AM

Hong Kong’s professional chefs may be among the best in the world, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t experienced their share of disasters. Photo: Ilus AI

Word on the StrEAT: Hong Kong’s top chefs’ worst kitchen nightmares

21 Dec 2024 - 5:00PM

Delicate scallops drizzled with yuzu ponzu and shiso for a refreshing burst of flavours will be served at a two-night only omakase at Liberty Exchange. Photo: Iron Chef Hong Kong x Liberty Exchange

Your Hong Kong weekend food guide for December 20-22

18 Dec 2024 - 6:15PM

Yurakucho’s Merry Mischief Midori as part of Singular Concept’s The Grinch Who Stole Cocktails event. Photo: Handout

Your 100 Top Tables Hong Kong weekend drinks guide, for December 19-21

18 Dec 2024 - 6:15PM

The world of Hong Kong noodles

19 Aug 2024 - 11:15AM

Eat Drink Asia Podcast

The 7 best New Year’s Eve dinners in Hong Kong for 2024

Drink in Focus: Festive Manhattan at DarkSide

Word on the StrEAT: Hong Kong’s top chefs’ worst kitchen nightmares

Your Hong Kong weekend food guide for December 20-22

Your 100 Top Tables Hong Kong weekend drinks guide, for December 19-21

The world of Hong Kong noodles

Hong Kong bakeries 101

The art of modernising dim sum

How overtourism created Bali’s most popular street food, babi guling

The Lunar New Year food turning parts of China into a desert wasteland

A centuries-old Lunar New Year treat in Hong Kong

The evolution of sweet and sour pork

How KFC became a Christmas tradition in Japan

How instant coffee became the hottest Korea-wave export

Hong Kong’s ‘endangered’ dim sum

Is this the end for Asian culinary icon Sara Lee?

Century egg: misunderstood snack a Chinese favourite for 500 years

Wok stars of Hong Kong: understanding ‘wok hei’, the breath of the wok

Tempura isn’t from Japan? How the country made the dish its own

Tempura – seafood or vegetables coated in batter and deep-fried – is as much a staple of Japanese cuisine as sushi and sashimi, but its origins are on the other side of the world.

Journey to the West: how tofu made its way to America

From its invention in China 2,000 years ago to acceptance in mainstream America today, tofu has gone from an acquired taste to trendy superfood.

Egg tart history: from medieval England to global dim sum hit

Chefs in Canton, southern China, created the egg tart by adapting an English recipe for custard tarts brought there by homesick merchants. Custard tarts go back to 15th century England, where they were a savoury affair and contained bone marrow.

The hidden history of xiaolongbao, Shanghai’s famous soup dumplings

It is said that xiaolongbao, or soup dumplings, loved around the world thanks to Taiwanese restaurant Din Tai Fung, originated in snack shops in a town on the outskirts of Shanghai, and may have had a very different name.

How Parasite put ‘cheap student grub’ into high-end restaurants

Ram-don, or jjapaguri, is not typically served with marbled sirloin like it is in the film Parasite, but the dish is common in South Korea, a country that embraces its love of instant noodles.

A refugee invented butter chicken, and changed the face of Indian cuisine

The story of butter chicken is one of three hard-working refugees, a hugely popular Delhi restaurant, and an accidental combination of ingredients born of necessity.

How Korean fried chicken – the other KFC – became a huge hit

South Korea is widely known for having one of the best and most crispy versions of fried chicken, a dish enjoyed the world over that was first introduced to the country by US troops during the Korean war.

South China Morning Post wins two awards at Asia Podcast Awards

The two podcasts were recognised for their exploration of food, entertainment and technology.

How Vietnam’s humble banh mi took on the world

Introduced to Vietnam by the colonial French, the baguette was later adapted for local tastes. Banh mi is still sold in Vietnam as a cheap snack, but can now also be found around the world.

Banh mi: where Vietnamese tradition and French colonialism collide

The dish was born in a time when Vietnamese weren’t even allowed access to wheat flour, making it hard to imagine the sandwich would become world famous.

‘A taste of America’: how Spam became a hit in Asia and beyond

Fried, baked, boiled or braised, pork-based Spam was first a hit in the US during the Great Depression and then in Asia after World War II. Now some chefs are incorporating it in upmarket dishes.

All about that Spam

American icon became popular during the war and managed to stick around.Your junk email is named after the canned meat, by the way.

The story of Sichuan food and the secret to its popularity

We think of Sichuan food as numbing and super hot, but the cuisine is much more subtle than that, say chefs and fans. Dishes such as mapo tofu and Sichuan hotpot are popular all over the world, but two-thirds of Sichuan dishes aren’t fiery.

The surprising history of Sichuan cuisine

Bernice Chan and Alkira Reinfrank analyse the cultural appropriation, and fascinating history, of Sichuan cuisine. They delve into the chemistry of the Sichuan pepper and unpack the components of a traditional meal.

Sushi did not originate in Japan: how raw fish and rice became a world favourite

It turns out that early sushi was not about rice. And it originated from the Mekong, not Japan.