Food is where the heart is

The plain rice with lard.HK O'Man restaurant's signature dishes include the plain rice with lard, the mixed HK O'Man pig knuckle and poon choi, or basin cuisine, served in large wooden, porcelain or metal basins.[Photo provided to China Daily]

A Hong Kong transplant says the capital's food scene was leaving him homesick, until he opened his own restaurants, Liu Zhihua reports.

In 2009, after working on the Chinese mainland for a few years, Hong Kong native Andrew Lam was becoming hungry for the foods he'd grown up with.

"Beijing people call migrants living and working in Beijing 'beipiao', and we are also beipiao. We come from the south, and now live in the north, and miss the flavor of our home," Lam says.

Despite the thriving restaurant scenes even in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai, it is still difficult to find authentic Hong Kong cuisine, Lam says.

Not a cook himself, Lam hired an experienced team headed by Hong Kong chef Chan Kin-chiu, and opened his first HK O'Man restaurant in the Chinese capital's Sanlitun area in 2011, which quickly became popular with its quality fare at a moderate price. Late last fall, the second branch opened in Yintai in 88, an upscale shopping mall in the city center's Wangfujing area.