The Made in Hong Kong brand has lost its marketability in recent decades in comparison to the city’s manufacturing heyday during the 1960s and 70s.
Flick over a clothing label from an old jacket or turn over an old-school aluminium tin and the infamous tagline reveals itself, responsible for furnishing many of the world’s 20th century trinkets.
The story today of Hong Kong is one of mass international consumption. Our burgers come from McDonald’s, coffee bought at Starbuck’s, sushi enjoyed at Genki Sushi, fried chicken at Jollibee, and farm-fresh, out-of-season fruits readily available at city’super.
Importing food brands into Hong Kong is easy; we are creatures of international fandom, and travel regularly enough to demand international flavours at home. However, to bring Hong Kong stories out of Hong Kong necessitates guts and motivation. These three restaurateurs have ventured to introduce Hong Kong’s culinary brands across the region.
Dough Bros. Pizza & Doughnuts has enjoyed innumerable success in Hong Kong in only five years since their opening in Happy Valley, numbering 20 stores across 14 out of 18 districts in the city. Their next phase to grow their sourdough pizza and doughnuts dominion, masterminded by co-founders Ed Rolston and Matt Lamming, is to expand across Southeast Asia.
Thailand’s capital was the key to expanding their Hong Kong brand into a new tomatoey frontier. Dough Bros. officially opened their first branch in June 2024 in Bangkok and later opened two more in autumn.
“There is no secret that Bangkok is one of the most epic food cities in the world. It has an unbelievable culture, the people are amazing, and the energy of the city makes it a really exciting place to be at the moment,” Ed tells Foodie.
Bringing their Hong Kong-born pizza and five-year-old sourdough starter to Bangkok was not a sole mission to open solely in the capital itself, but a test run for Thailand-wide expansion.
“The difference between us and other pizza places in Bangkok is that they have not been able to scale. We fill that white space in between the mass market pizza and fine-dining Neapolitano woodfire pizza restaurants where they are afraid to put pineapples on pizza or use barbecue sauce like we do.”
Dough Bros.’ classic margarita pizza in Bangkok costs THB260, roughly HKD58, bringing the brand to “sit in the bracket of very high quality, affordable pizza. We do not think anybody [in Thailand] is really doing this at the moment, at scale.”
With prices adjusted to fit the purchasing power of Bangkok, flavours are localized too. “Thai people love big flavours, so we serve a pad krapow pizza on the menu which has been fizzing!”
Localising one’s product is a key determinant for success abroad. Flavours enjoyed by Hong Kong, loud salt, spice, and wok hei, may not reflect the more nuanced palettes of Bangkokian’s, Singaporean’s, or Manileño’s.
Alexis Ouffe, the co-founder and managing director of Meraki Hospitality, which spawned concepts Bedu and Uma Nota in Hong Kong, was key to note this when he opened Uma Nota in Manila in February 2024. For Alexis, he saw great potential in the city. “Manila is exciting, it feels like Hong Kong 20 years ago,” he says.
Located within Manila’s Shangri-La hotel in the upscale business district of Bonifacio Global City, Uma Nota took on a new identity in the Philippines. “We are not creating a completely different concept in Manila, the DNA of the brand, food, and approach to service is still consistent [to our Hong Kong and Paris operations], but we are positioning ourselves more to a Zuma-style restaurant.”
From Wednesday to Saturday, the restaurant serves their signature Brazil-meets-Japan menu until 11PM when the tables and chairs are cleared, lights dimmed, and music pumping till 4AM, similar to Zuma’s global approach to hospitality, meeting food, drinks, and music.
Alexis stated that he previously had no intention of opening a restaurant in Manila, but the charm of Shangri-la Fort motivated him to bring the fresh Uma Nota brand to the city. The hotel sought to position itself as a youthful lifestyle brand, befitting the restaurant’s new hybrid-entertainment identity. “We are full every night with our parties without even promoting it on social media. This has expanded the lifespan of the brand [in Manila].”
The design of the restaurant itself is a departure from the tropical and homely touch of the Hong Kong location. Light brown, orange, beige, and oaky brown paint the furniture and walls, the lights are dimmed, and a sprouting tree dangles from the ceiling to evoke grandeur.
“I think Uma Nota can work anywhere in the world,” Alexis claims. “We were confident that the concept would fit Manila, because people love Japanese food and we were able to adapt to the market.”
Uma Nota Manila’s menu deviates from its European and Hong Kong counterparts, serving food with a sweeter touch and adding more carbohydrates and rice dishes to the menu, staples in the Philippines diet.
Completing the trio of openings across Southeast Asia, Ging Sun Ho King of Bun launched in Singapore in September 2024, effectively matching the twin cities’ adoration for Chinese food.
The longstanding Shanghainese pan-fried pork bun chain opened in the Lion City and benefited from the city’s great landscape for top cuisine, “especially regional Chinese, such as Fujianese, Beijing, Shanghainese, and Sichuanese,” according to marketing manager Yo Kong.
“Singapore has been very welcoming to our brand, the city loves to eat spicy food and dumplings.”
The Hong Kong-born brand is heavily favoured by Singaporeans, garnering positive Google reviews and long lines upon opening. “People were eager to get a taste [of Ging Sun Ho] in Singapore for our classic Hong Kong flavours and service.” Yo mentions that the chain is a hit among visiting Singaporean tourists in Hong Kong.
Ging Sun Ho adjusted their menu to fit the market, which provoked a deviation from their hero item, crispy pork chops, and focusing on cold noodles, dan dan mian, spicy sharing dishes, and the signature pan-fried pork buns.
Similarly to Dough Bros., their first store was a testing ground for how well Singapore approved of their brand. The chain plans to open “everywhere in Singapore” come 2025.
