Can you tell us more about Afterwork Kitchen and Grocery?                  

I started my instagram profile @afterwork_kitchen during Covid, mainly to record my cooking and recipes after work. Cooking is always fun, and helps me to relieve stress from work. As I began to cook more and more, I started to look for better kitchenware to improve the outcome of my dishes. Surprisingly, I caught the attention of my followers and connected with many fans with a similar interest in kitchenware.

While there are too few choices of kitchenware in Hong Kong, I thought of doing something to change the market. Combining my knowledge in software engineering and e-commerce for over 15+ years, I quickly launched my online store @afterwork_grocery in a month and started selling my own selections of premium kitchenware.

Now @afterwork_kitchen is almost 4 years old and @afterwork_grocery is 2.5 years old. I am selling over 700 SKUs today and I keep working to expand the catalog. I am proud to have created my own business with my interests and knowledge I’ve learnt from work.

Afterwork Kitchen (recipes): https://www.afterwork-kitchen.com/

Afterwork Grocery (online store): https://www.afterwork-grocery.com/

What are your kitchen and grocery essentials at the moment?

I love cast iron cookware. No matter if it is a frying pan, or enameled dutch oven, cast iron cookware gives me an exceptional cooking performance. From searing steak, to making beef stew, or even camping, I must have cast iron cookware with me.

Do you have a favourite Falcon product that you stock?

Most Falcon products are very useful. If I can only pick one, then I would recommend the Prep Set. The Prep Set comes with 5 bowls of different sizes and one strainer. They stack nicely and save on storage space, which is very important in small flats in Hong Kong. I always use the smallest bowl for my dinner, the medium size bowls for soup and noodles, while the largest bowl for kneading bread. As Falcon products can be used directly on a gas stove or induction cooktop, I sometimes reheat my food directly in the bowls.

The Square Bake Tray is the second Falcon product I love, especially the pillarbox red one. The red color fits so well for the happy mood of Xmas and Chinese New Year. From baking Lasagna, to steaming Turnip Cake (Chinese Lo Bak Go), the Square Bake Tray never disappoints me.

What do you love most about Winter in Hong Kong?

Definitely the food in Winter! With the cooler weather in winter, there are always excuses to eat hot yummy food, such as hot pot, clay pot rice, lamb stew, poon choi, seafood steam pot, ginger milk curd, etc. I would recommend anyone coming to Hong Kong in winter to try them all!

Are there any local companies you'd like to shoutabout? Where do you usually eat, drink, and source ingredients in your local area?

I usually pick the best ingredients from local markets. For example, fresh fruits from Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market, seafood from Sam Shing Hui Seafood Market and vegetables from local farmers markets.

For meat, I recommend my friend’s grocery store Meat Mania (IG: @mrspoon.by.wf), they have plenty of high quality beef, from chilled to dry-aged beef. Besides beef, they also provide hotel grade ingredients. Whenever I have a family gathering, Meat Mania is the store I always consider first.