Just a quick update on some fantastic new additions to the locavore, raw and organic Hong Kong foodie scene.

If you haven’t been to Grassroots Pantry, it’s time to pencil it in. They serve delicious vegetarian fare with a focus on vegan options and even a couple of raw dessert choices like the blueberry cheesecake.

Another brand new options for veggies is The Herbivores, an innovative scene-setter on Hong Kong’s green dining scene brought to you by a chef team previously a Roka, so expect a Japanese twist to the menu. 

Pushing boundaries in the wild food movement is Wild Grass. Their whole raison d’etre is organic, sustainable fresh ingredients done perfectly. Even the furniture is recycled. This is fine dining with a conscience. Perfect for a an eco-date, get booking now!

Want more raw and superfood ingredient options? Try Culture Organics, a brand new online store with some very interesting prices for speciality ingredients like cacao butter and coconut palm sugar. They also have the usual selection raw kitchen equipment, supplements, nuts & seeds, beans, grains, superfoods and much more. 

On the raw front, another exciting discovery: Anything but Salads. Imagine, Hong Kong’s very own first raw vegan prepared food service. They have raw breads, crackers, dips, cheeses, milks, granola…Green Queen’s mouth is watering as she writes this! Plus they offer catering services (from raw vegan to intelligent vegetarian) and host a private kitchen. Absolutely raw-tastic!

Green Queen also came by Spicebox Organics, a fairly recent addition to Sai Ying Pun’s funky neighourhood. They stock some great organic brands from India, choose from Tulsi tea, speciality oils, raw energy bars and granola and cute gifts like thali sets and diyas. For those of you who want to cook Indian at home, finally here is your one-stop shop for organic Indian ingredients! 

For those of us who want to detox this January, check out The Genie Concept. They provide hand-delivered, freshly made raw, organic fruit and vegetable juices in special packs and with detailed instructions so you don’t have to think! Plus, the staff is so lovely you can’t help but have a crush on the whole team!

With all this thrilling innovation and experimentation, there is absolutely NO reason not to green your eating!

photo credit: emilychang via photopin cc

Gladys HandMade Soap: hand-milled functional soaps made by Gladys herself using non-toxic ingredients and essential oils. Gladys’s soaps offer different functions such as the Mugwort Peaceful Soap or the The Coffee Household Soaps. The products can be tailor-made to suit needs or events such as the Wedding Soap collection. Gladys also hand-makes lip balms, massage oil blends, insect repellent, itch relief balms, body butters and more. Gladys’s soaps are made in small quantities so the soap profiles change regularly. Gladys’s products are hand wrapped in beautiful recyclable packaging. Approx HKD 50 per soap bar.

Squeaky Clean: Based in Discovery Bay, Squeaky Clean hand-makes chemical- free powder detergent goodness, scented with essential oils, no less! Packaged in vintagey-brown-paper bags, here is what they promise: no phosphates, no chlorine, no optical brighteners or dyes- basically totally non-toxic. Great at removing stubborn stains and gentle enough for your baby’s bottom though strong enough for cloth diapers! The blends come in Everyday or Extra Gentle and are offered in the following scents: Lavender/Vanilla, Lemon/Orange and Unscented for the extra-sensitive among us. 16oz for HKD 70 will get you about 48 loads or go for the family-pack 24oz for HKD 110 which should get you 96 loads.

HK Honey: HK Honey is the real thing, a full-blown Hong Kong locavore eco-movement. The HK Honey team has revived the art of beekeeping in our city and given locally-made artisanal honey some serious street-cred. You can also hold them responsible for making it uber hip to be an urban beekeeper. HK Honey is extremely collaborative: anyone can contact them and join the movement to learn about Chinese honey bees and set up their own roof-top golden hive. If you just want to get a taste, contact them for a tour and meet the bee-keeeprs- a great family day out! The team also hosts bee-keeping and candle-making workshops. They produce and sell delectable jars of Hong Kong honey (HKD 240 for 250g jar), as well as clean-burning beeswax candles (HKD 120 per candle jar). 

Bella Sapone: Bella is a Hong Kong based homemaker dedicated to living an eco-friendly organic life. This passion led her to develop Bella Sapone, an extensive line of earth-friendly homemade cleansers which uses non-toxic ingredients such as virgin olive and coconut oils, organic cane sugar and essential oils. Bella Sapone offers liquid dish soap, body soap hand soap and laundry soap as well as shampoo and hand-made bar soaps. Bella products are stocked at various health stores around Hong Kong; check the website for stockiest and exact pricing. Starting from HKD 48 for 500ml bottles and HKD 48 her soap bar. 

So…Soap! It’s hard not to root for So…Soap! Other than the charming name, this social venture was founded to offer marginalized women in Hong Kong an honest, sustainable and flexible livelihood. The women produce toxin-free, glycerin-based bio-degradable liquid soap from their Hong Kong homes, enabling them to promote a greener environment and care for their families. The bottles are recycled soy milk containers, the soap contains calming essential oils, the packaging is chic and modern and these women earn a decent wage. What is not to love?  HKD 88-108 for a 500ml bottle, So…Soap offers Tea Tree Hand Soap and Body Soap in 3 different scents: Bergamot, Lavender and Orange Ginger.

For just HKD20 a week, HK Recycles will collect your recycling and well, get it recycled! Here are the facts:

• –> it’s cheap – as their website cleverly notes: less than a cup of coffee

• –> it’s convenient – they pick up once a week at your doorstep

• –> they ensure that the waste actually gets recycled- they have a no landfill policy

• –> they do private households as well as offices, shops, basically any entity with waste to recycle

• –> they provide you with a starter kit which includes 4 compact recycle bags for easy sorting

• –> they do glass! Until now, there has been no viable glass recycling programme in Hong Kong

• –> they employ people from marginalized communities and pay them above market rate

No Excuses! Sign Up NOW: HK Recycles

Of all the eco stores in town, Just Green stole Green Queen’s Heart long ago. It is literally her happy place; she often gets lost in the Soho location for hours and that is saying something in a 500 sq.ft shop.

Founder Helen Sung’s aim is to be the Green 7-11 and as far as Green Queen is concerned, she and her burgeoning team are well on her way. The clean and bright store is well-laid out and has everything you need to live a healthy, green life. From groceries to dairy and meat to cleaning products to bath & body potions to snack to supplements, there is nothing you can’t find.  Just Green has a variety of brands and options that boggles the mind. They are always experimenting with new products and companies from all over the globe, even if it means stocking small quantities. The other big plus is that the staff knows every product like the bag of their hand. Green Queen has tested them- they are a knowledgeable bunch.

While Green Queen would happily take home the entire inventory, here are a few of her favorite Just Green things:

• Ecolution PFOA Free Hydrolon Cookware: eco-friendly pots and pans with water-based non stick solution. Ecolution is safe, reasonably priced and offers a lifetime warranty. Just Green can order the models they don’t stock for you- just take your pick on the Ecolution website.

• Woolly Pocket Living Wall Pocket Planter: Want to grow your own tomatoes and chillies? Hang a Woolly on your kitchen wall. Made from recycled plastic bottles, the planter allows you to cultivate flowers, herbs, lettuces, peppers and much more. It even boasts a built-in irrigation system so no mess to worry about.

• Freshly Grown Wheatgrass: a firm favourite amongst health gurus everywhere, no one can dispute wheatgrass’s detoxing superpowers. Buy it fresh at Just Green- they also stock the special juicer you will need to extract the green nectar.

Other highlights:

-Just Green offers what is Hong Kong’s best selection of chemical-free, unprocessed power/energy bars with dozens of brands such as Raw Revolution, Pro Bar, Go Raw, GNU foods, Nakd and a host of dietary requirement options be it gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan, raw or dairy-free.

-They stock a great selection of dairy-free milks such as quinoa, cashew, hazelnut, coconut and chocolate coconut as well as many nut butters like sunflower butter, cashew new butter, almond butter, hazelnut butter and pumpkin seed butter.

-They have some great chocolate bars such as the raw superfood line Ombar, and the gourmet organic Dagoba; they also have various raw cacao powders, nibs and butters for those who want to make their own chocolate. For those sensitive to cacao, Just Green has Carob options.

-For the athletes among us, the store has several protein powder options that are whey and soy free. To complete the protein smoothie option, they sell every superfood powder you can imagine from maca to pomegranate.

Just Green  is now in 3 current locations: Lamma Island; St Francis Street, Wanchai and Graham Street, Soho with more outlets planned in the near future.

NB: Just Green had no knowledge of this post prior to its publishing. Green Queen strongly values her editorial integrity and all the site’s posts reflect her personal opinions and assessments.

This Lantern Festival, eat clean! Visit Just Green!

Organic Moon Cake – Original
Ingredients: Organic Soy Pulp, Organic Flour, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Coconut Milk, Organic Chi Shang Glutinous Rice Powder, Syrup, Organic Fair Trade Cane Sugar, Alkaline Water, Egg
(Contains soy beans and egg; need to be refrigerated)

Eco-pack: $80                                Gift-pack: $85
Lantern set (4 pcs): Original Price $438            Coupon Price $328

Organic Moon Cake – Mixed Nuts
Ingredients: Organic Soy Pulp, Organic Flour, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Coconut Milk, Organic Chi Shang Glutinous Rice Powder, Syrup, Organic Fair Trade Cane Sugar, Organic Pine Nuts, Organic Brazil Nuts, Alkaline Water, Egg
(Contains soy beans, tree nuts and egg; need to be refrigerated)

Eco-pack: $83                                Gift-pack: $88
Lantern set (4 pcs): Original Price $449            Coupon Price $338

*Lantern sets are available as coupon before 12 Sept 2012. Customers with coupons are entitled to pick up 1 lantern set per each coupon at appointed collecting points from 12 Sept to 29 Sept 2012.

NB: This post was pre-scheduled for Sep 5 2012 but it looks like Just Green beat me to it- they also shared this post on their Facebook page on Sep 4 2012! Oh well, green minds think alike.

Just a short ride from Tsuen Wan MTR, enjoy one of Hong Kong’s most beautiful hikes. Circling the entire reservoir will take around 3 hours. It is fairly flat though there are some steep bends; overall it’s a good balance of proper-hike and serene-nature-walk. A great family excursion for kids and grownups alike though we did it entre amoureux and it is plenty romantic for a unique date.

The country park is overwhelmingly lush and immediately transports you far away from Hong Kong’s urban sprawl. The vistas are truly spectacular and on this particularly perfect summer day, we kept forgetting which continent we were on.

At the beginning of the trail, there is an old fashioned refreshment stands but the offerings are mostly junk food and ice cream so bring your own supplies. The park boasts a wild butterfly garden as well as an Arboretum with over 270 plant species- both of which are popular with the kiddies. The park also offers shaded table and bench sitting areas and barbeque pits at various points for those looking to grill Canto-style. We were there on a sunny Sunday and it was extremely pleasant crowd-wise: there weren’t that many people to fight through and at many points during our hike, we felt like we had the park to ourselves.

The park  is inhabited by wild macaque monkeys. They are curious and sometimes vicious: they will approach you if you are holding any kind of foodstuff in your hands. We were actually chased down by a family of them!

We came upon grass pastures where buffalo herds were grazing quietly. Unlike their Symian friends, they were extremely docile and we were able to walk across the field without a second thought.

The park has an unusually large number of tree species- over 70- and we found gorgeous tree-lined walkways that simply took our breath away.

We discovered a lovely clearing that would have been the perfect picnic spot had we been better prepared.

Though we didn’t spot any clear signs, Hong Kong reservoirs do not allow swimming. A bit of a drawback on a hot summer’s day, although most of the hike around the reservoir is shaded and the trees offer some breeze; the effect is cooling and pleasant.

It’s very easy to get to the Reservoir: from Central MTR station, the red line goes straight to Tsuen Wan which only takes about 25 minutes. We then exited at the Bus Terminus and grabbed a cab- the ride to the reservoir was only 10-15 minutes. You can opt to take the no 82 Green Minibus, it will take you straight to the entrance but it is hard to find the bus stop as it’s a few blocks away from the MTR station.On our way back, we saw the queues for the minibus and decided against waiting- preferring to walk down from the Visitor’s Centre/Shing Mun Reservoir Entrance to the main road. Luckily, we found a free taxi fairly quickly.

Don’t forget to pack lots of water, sunscreen and some bug spray just in case- we didn’t get bitten for the most part but there were a couple of mozzies zooming around.

I am a French woman very careful about the environment…I am especially looking for a universal household cleaning product that doesn’t seem to be available in Hong Kong: its called \”pierre d\’argile\” in French and is a cleaning product made of white clay and soap, usually sold in a round pot. Its green, clean and so efficient that it replaces all the other household cleaning stuff. If you know where I can find this, it will help me protect the environment, which in HK is quite a challenge!

I would also like to know if you have any idea of how I could recycle my glass bottles as they are not collected in the recycling scheme in this country.

Thank you in advance.

Kind regards,

Marine

Dear Marine, 

I’m so excited to have found your website! A lot of useful info in there! Do you know if there are any laundry shops in Hong Kong using eco-friendly dry cleaning detergents please. I live in New territories. Thank you.

Regards,

Alex

Dear Alex,