Our town now

2084 hits the spot

If you haven’t discovered veggie meats yet, get along to 2084, the new restaurant in Sai Kung’s Man Yee Square. James Bradshaw’s place specialises in meat-free foods. He has sold us on his meatballs with a creamy sauce and potato. Very tasty and you feel healthier after eating it. James’ prices are relatively low for a quality restaurant in the central square. His beers and wines are cheap. Specials have included Pinot Grigio for $25 a glass. The place has his spartan decor — the customers add the colour — and an attractive bunch of staff, Salve, Jennifer, Veo and others.

An animal lover and former committee member of the SPCA, I feel guilty at times eating meat. Here’s an example of ingredients in vegetarian meatballs: white onion, cloved garlic, flax egg, chickpeas, vegan cheese, basil and oregano.

Winerack on the move

^{Andy and Marian Konrad in their new Winerack store at Shop 1, Man Yee Square}

Andy Konrad’s Sai Kung Winerack has moved. The shop used to be in Hoi Pong Square; now you will find it in Man Yee Square, a far more salubrious location. Its address: Shop 1, Shat Tsui Square, a former waste of space as a real estate agent.

Tall and pony-tailed, Andy is a familiar sight striding across the Central Square. He runs Winerack with his wife, Marian. They’re a close couple.

At the relatively hidden-away ex-location, Winerack developed a reputation as the cheapest place to buy a beer or glass of wine after 7/11 or Circle K. Characters who watch their money carefully would gather outside sipping in the afternoons and evenings. Whether that will transfer to the high-visibility Man Yee Square shop we have yet to see.

Andy has been quietly expanding. He and his partners now have four Wineracks. The others are in Wanchai, Sai Ying Pun and Tsimshatsui. Their aim is to supply wines, beers and other drinks at affordable prices. For example on the comprehensive website you will see wines from New Zealand, Australia, S. Africa, France and Chile for under $80.

Meanwhile, it is sad to report that JB Mage has shut his Wine Guild shop on Po Tung Road. Perhaps it was on the wrong side of the street along from the carpet and coffin shops. Now the personable young Frenchman, a Sai Kung resident, is running a wine shop at Ryan Mansion, 31 Mosque Street, Middle-levels. He told BUZZ this is a much more high-traffic location. There’s another Wine Guild shop in Central. JB has not responded to our enquiry on whether it is his too.

Welcome back everyone

It’s good to see Sai Kung people reclaiming their central square. The old ladies in purple floral tops and black pyjama bottoms have pushed aside the Government’s orange barriers and are back playing cards. The children are frolicking in their playground, barriers gone, and racing around the pavilion on skateboards, scooters and trikes. On sunny days the busy town looks like it’s almost back to normal.

Except everyone is wearing a mask. This is depressing. Human communication is reduced by the muzzles. We can’t see who’s friendly, kindly, pretty or handsome. We look for smiles in the crinkling around the eyes.

How long will it be before Hong Kong people stop wearing the muzzles? Five years? Masks are embedded in the culture now. It seems the people are saying, I’m a Hong Konger therefore I wear a mask. Remember when every woman in Hong Kong thought the only colour she could wear was black, if you call that a colour. It went on for about five years. Yes, everyone got depressed. It’s happening again.

Mobiles, schmobiles

Addicts and their i-pads and mobile phones. . . You see them everywhere. One pretty woman at lunch yesterday had an i-pad and two mobile phones arrayed on her table. She was with two friends, but ignored them, playing social media incessantly. Young couples date, both concentrating only on their I-phones. You wonder what they do in bed. Is internet addiction a factor in Hong Kong’s low birth rate?

Then there’s the card who thinks he’s cool walking around with three mobiles on the go on a metal tray. Crossing a road while playing mobile phone? Why not? It’s Darwinian. The fools may kill themselves off before they produce children as dumb as they are.

And the taxi drivers. . . It is common to see drivers with five mobile phones mounted on the dashboard. There is no way the driver could see approaching from the right a child, a woman with a pram, a bent old lady. Criminal negligence comes to mind.

PS

Still, be thankful you are in Hong Kong. The people are so friendly. Go jogging in the country park and once you become a familiar sight everyone will greet you. “Joe san, dai lo.” A morning ritual that lifts the spirits. The Chinese have a lovely saying that works with virtually everyone: “You respect me one inch, I’ll respect you one foot”.