Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival offers unique online and offline experiences

Prepare to be excited. The annual Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival is going live this year, promising to delight the global audience with its online and offline format. The all-new format will give audiences at home and abroad a new gastronomic experience not bound by time and geography.

Enjoy a wealth of exciting online experiences, including an Online Wine Cellar, Gourmet at Home Menus, and live-streamed cookery and wine-tasting masterclasses on a new one-stop online platform. Offline experiences include special deals and gastronomic events offered by hundreds of dining outlets across the city for consumers to enjoy.

Organised by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), the festival will run for five weeks from November 11 to December 15.

Online masterclasses

The highlight of the event is a diverse series of 34 online masterclasses, which global viewers can enjoy for free no matter where they are. The masterclasses will be live-streamed on WineDineFestival.DiscoverHongKong.com for three consecutive Saturdays and Sundays from November 21 to December 6. They cover a wide range of topics, from wine and spirits trends to fine dining, healthy eating, and the art of food plating.

Enjoy a tipple? Tune in to the wine talks by internationally acclaimed critic James Suckling and Master of Wine Debra Meiburg, who will share recommendations on the themes “New Wave Bordeaux” and “The Pacific West”, respectively. Suckling will introduce three bottles of affordable new wine from Bordeaux.

“Hong Kong is one of the best wine cities in the world, ranking at the same level as London and New York,” Suckling said. “Hong Kong also remains the number one export market for Bordeaux wines. This year’s Festival is going to reach more people around the world, and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Love cocktails? Don’t miss award-winning mixologist Jay Khan’s masterclass, which will see the co-founder of Mexican bar COA in action whipping up tequila cocktails.

Looking to hone your skills in the kitchen? Learn new tips and tricks during the live cooking demonstrations. Celebrated Hong Kong chefs Shane Osborn of Arcane and Cornerstone, and Vicky Cheng of VEA Restaurant & Lounge will lead the cooking demo.

Lady’s Talk

Also worth noting is the all-lady line-up on November 28. Themed Lady’s Talk, five influencers who are shaking up Hong Kong’s food and beverage scene will each host a masterclass to share a unique take on their own expertise. The influencers in order of appearance are Shirley Kwok, founder of vegan bakery The Cakery, chef Vicky Lau of TATE Dining Room, certified sake sommelier Jamie Lo, Master of Wine Sarah Heller, and actress-turned-winemaker Bernice Liu.

Left: Shirley Kwok of The Cakery; Right: Vicky Lau of TATE Dining Room

Cheers to Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival

“Although the HKTB’s mega events have been suspended for some time, we are drawing on our ingenuity and resources to optimise and adapt promotions against the backdrop of a pandemic that will be with us for some time,” said HKTB Chairman Dr. YK Pang.

“That’s why we have decided to resume the staging of mega events, and adopt a new ‘online + offline’ format for the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival 2020. It is a new venture designed for the new normal in which we find ourselves. The HKTB is doing this to ensure people can join this annual event in spite of the pandemic, and to help our hard-hit businesses to promote their products and open up new business opportunities in these challenging times.”

Our objective is to continue giving the Hong Kong economy a boost and to send out a positive message to the world that Hong Kong’s can-do spirit and love of life have not been dampened in any way by the pandemic, and that we can use our innovation to stage our signature events while we prepare to welcome visitors back to our city.

Dr. YK Pang

For more information about the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival 2020 and full program of the online masterclasses, you may visit WineDineFestival.DiscoverHongKong.com.

Featured image: Jay Khan, co-founder of Mexican bar COA

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