TOPIC

Eat Drink Asia Podcast

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.
highlights from
100 Top Tables 2025 Restaurant Directory
100 Top Tables 2025 Restaurant Directory
At Mesa by José Avillez, the restaurant’s namesake chef (left) works closely with head chef Herlander Fernandes to craft a menu that reinterprets Portuguese cuisine for international diners in Macau.

Mesa by José Avillez celebrates artistry of Portuguese cuisine in Macau

In partnership with:SJM Resorts
videocam
Enjoy a classic Christmas turkey at Regent Hong Kong this festive season. Photo: Handout

Where to enjoy Christmas dinner in Hong Kong this festive season

Hot Wine at The Aubrey, Hong Kong, one of the many seasonal drinks on offer in the city this year. Photo: Handout

Your 2025 guide to the best Christmas cocktails in Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s hospitality sector faces staffing shortages, but start-up Shift Happens is offering a recruitment solution. Photo: Jelly Tse

Need restaurant staff? Shift Happens is here to help

Beloved Hong Kong bar The Daily Tot, one day after its closure this month. Photo: Jocelyn Tam

Looking back on a bruising year for Hong Kong’s bar industry

More from 100 top tables
Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
The world of Hong Kong noodles
Hong Kong chefs

Video | The world of Hong Kong noodles

Food and Drinks

Video | Hong Kong bakeries 101

Hong Kong chefs

Video | The art of modernising dim sum

Indonesia

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

How overtourism created Bali’s most popular street food, babi guling
17:04
Food and Drinks

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

Food and Drinks

Video | A centuries-old Lunar New Year treat in Hong Kong

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Food and Drinks

Video | The evolution of sweet and sour pork

The evolution of sweet and sour pork
21:46
Japan

Video | How KFC became a Christmas tradition in Japan

Coffee

Video | How instant coffee became the hottest Korea-wave export

Food and Drinks

Video | Hong Kong’s ‘endangered’ dim sum

The dim sum dishes facing ‘extinction’ in Hong Kong
33:52
Food and Drinks

Video | Is this the end for Asian culinary icon Sara Lee?

Sara Lee pound cake, a staple for the Asian diaspora, crumbles after 50 years
11:06
Food and Drinks

Video | Century egg: misunderstood snack a Chinese favourite for 500 years

Food and Drinks

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

Food and Drinks

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.

4
Unlike a lot of Western fried food, tempura is known for its light and airy batter. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Food and Drinks

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.

Tofu has come a long way, from its invention in China 2,000 years ago to acceptance in mainstream America today. Photo: Getty Images
Food and Drinks

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.

videocam
4
Food and Drinks

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.

videocam
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Food and Drinks

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.

Jjapaguri (or ram-don) prepared by Do Yong-soo at Silencio in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Tory Ho
Food and Drinks

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.

Food and Drinks

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.

Hong Kong culture

South China Morning Post wins two awards at Asia Podcast Awards

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

(L-R) Zen Soo from Inside China Tech, and Alkira Reinfrank, Yang Yang and Bernice Chan from Eat Drink Asia, winners in the Asia Podcast Awards. Photo: Antony Dickson
Food and Drinks

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.

Le Petit Saigon chef Theign Yie Phan with a pork banh mi. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
Food and Drinks

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.

Food and Drinks

‘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.

Food and Drinks

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.

Spam advertisement by Hormel Foods Corporation.
Food and Drinks

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.

videocam
Sichuan cuisine is known for being spicy and numbing, but it is more complex. Photo: Alamy
Food and Drinks

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.

Food and Drinks

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.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.
SUPPORT NOW
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement