Rubin Verebes is the managing editor of Foodie and is very opinionated. Transforming his hobby of eating and drinking into a career, he shares his account of Hong Kong’s F&B scene and the worldwide state of dining in Rubin’s Take, a monthly opinion column.
There is something uniquely European and bougie about al-fresco dining – quite literally. It is Italian for “in the cool” and stands as one of the continent’s primary factors for chilled, chic living.
Al-fresco dining is a celebration of our freedom to enjoy the weather and connect with our neighbourhoods. Pair that up with some fried and salty snacks, white wine, Aperol spritz, or something French and you’ve got an experience that is worth living for, or at least that’s what brings us Hong Kongers to Europe every summer for a slice of this.
Our Hong Kong style of al-fresco dining should not be mistaken as European with our penchant for eating on wobbly plastic stools and roll-out tables at the city’s dai pai dong spots or many cha chaan tengs.
In fact, after everything the Europeans have done to influence our dining scene, al-fresco dining is something that is decidedly lacking. This ought to change.
Any restaurateur can testify to the challenges that come with opening a restaurant and legalising its operation. For restaurants seeking to establish an al-fresco dining space, known as an outdoor seating accommodation (OSA), business owners must undergo a separate licencing process following the approval of their licence, which is quoted to take 46 days to undergo. In reality, this is false.
A LegCo report on the OSA application process released earlier this year found that the actual time taken to process such applications ranged from 84 to 341 working days. It took anywhere from 1 to 134 days for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), the governmental body that handles licences for restaurants, to inform applying restaurants of objections made by the public or other government departments.
Legally, an al-fresco restaurant or space attached to an existing restaurant must ensure hygienic conditions, correct land use on either private or government land, suitable planning requirements, and building, fire, and traffic safety regulations kept to a high standard.
The process can sometimes involve multiple parties signing off on spaces for dining outdoors, including the FEHD, Home Affairs Department, Lands Department, and Hong Kong Police Force.
The Hong Kong government was correct, and rightfully celebrated, when they laxed the wine duty rate in November of this year in order to bring down the cost of importing spirits into the city. More liberal policies involving support of the F&B industry, such as making it easier to open al-fresco spaces and encouraging this European standard of dining, could reflect positively across Hong Kong.
I argue that not only simplifying the process to open outdoor dining areas but also shutting down certain streets would greatly amplify the image of Hong Kong’s restaurant scene and allow it to compete with our romantic sister-cities of Europe.
I love Tai Kwun’s open approach to dining in its main courtyard area, but imagine if we could enjoy our Friday night dinners underneath the stars on Peel Street? Or Stanley Street being shut every month for an outdoor pop-up restaurant festival?
The quiet streets of Kennedy Town and Tai Hang would benefit from permanent dining fixtures outdoors to emulate the European style of al-fresco fun. Why not extend Temple Street Market in Jordan to cover its criss-crossing streets with plastic stools and tables for enjoying the area’s famous seafood fare?
Understandably, Hong Kong maintains an unhealthy and maligned relationship with air con, with eight months of our year unbearable for dining or merely walking outdoors. Yet the option to sweat and eat outside, everywhere across our city, would make me even more proud of Hong Kong to innovate when the market necessitates it.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author’s and do not represent or reflect the views of Foodie.
