Blog Inspire Archives - Black Sheep Restaurants

Influence / 16 Jun 2020

Let's hear it for the boys

Lessons, like dads, come in all shapes and sizes and with Father’s Day just around the corner, we are here to pay tribute to the men who imparted their wisdom on us. From hospitality hacks to classic...

Influence / 27 Apr 2020

Movie Matches | Part One

As ordering in and spending the night on the couch watching a movie has become standard, why not take your cinematic experience to the next level by curating your choice of film to your food? All of our...

Consume / 15 Apr 2020

save vs splurge

Groceries have become a more regular occurrence for most of us and knowing what is a must and what is just nice-to-have can make a big difference, especially when you are shopping with less. But cooking...

Consume / 02 Apr 2020

Restaurant Vibes at Home

Everyone self-isolating knows the phenomenon that occurs: the days quickly start to merge and despite having all the time in the world at home – unwashed hair and pizza-stained sweatpants become...

Influence / 20 Mar 2020

KEEPING YOU SAFE

This week it seems pointless to pretend that we are thinking about anything other than the current pandemic so we thought we would reiterate how we are trying to keep our community safe and the new protocols...

Explore / 13 Mar 2020

Best Seat in the House | Wan Chai | Part 2

It is a well-known secret that there is always one table in every restaurant that has a little more magic than all the others. Closest to the kitchen? Panoramic views? Cosiest corner for romantic dates?...

Influence / 05 Mar 2020

International Women’s Day is around the corner and we took a moment to talk to some of the amazing women that make our world go round. We asked them why our industry is still seen as a man’s world...

Explore / 21 Jan 2020

Best seat in the house | SoHo | Part 1

It is a well-known secret that there is always one table in every restaurant that has a little more magic than all the others. Closest to the kitchen? Panoramic views? Cosiest corner for romantic dates?...

Influence / 09 Jan 2020

New Year, New Goals

When late nights, booze and midnight dinners are part of your daily routine, resolutions can be difficult to keep. Working in the hospitality industry has its indulgences, which can mean that the first...

Consume / 31 Dec 2019

Best things we ate and drank this decade

With the year drawing to a close, we have come to the startling realisation that we are also about to enter a brand new decade. You are probably ready to pop your champagne, raise your glasses and eat...

Inspire / 17 Dec 2019

What to get your food-loving friends this Christmas

With Christmas just around the corner, it can be a daunting task to fill your friends’ stockings. Especially your food-loving friends. You know, the ones whose cameras eat first or always have the insider...

Consume / 25 Oct 2019

Cheers to chianti

If you want a truly Tuscan experience in Hong Kong, all it takes is a glass of deep, red Chianti. Nestled in the heart of an area steeped in history and battles for control, the Chianti region produces...

Consume / 30 Sep 2019

How to Dine at Carbone Like a Baller

Carbone, our fancy red-sauce joint with a lust for excess, has been celebrating the clichés of its genre for half a decade now in Hong Kong! Find out more about the epic anniversary party plans with Mario...

Inspire / 15 Aug 2019

THE POWER OF HOSPITALITY

It is no secret that working in hospitality comes with a unique set of challenges, such as long hours, late nights and a pressurised environment, but it is also an industry that opens itself up to definitive...

Inspire / 06 Aug 2019

COULD YOU STAND THE HEAT?

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen, right? Well sure; but what if you had some insider tricks at your disposal to keep you cool and bag you that job you were after? We spoke to some...

Consume / 30 Jul 2019

Gelato University is a Real Thing and We Went

Whatever you did your degree in, Chef Safia’s is cooler. Safia heads up our bakery where most of the cakes, pies and cookies for all of Black Sheep Restaurants come from. We sent her to Gelato University...

Inspire / 05 Jul 2019

Dragon Boat 2019

Last month we competed in the Stanley International Dragon Boat races. While we did not bring home gold this year, we made memories that will last a lifetime.

Inspire / 31 May 2019

All about the ho lee fook lions

Ho Lee Fook is well-known for its wall of waving cats that have been ushering in good fortune for almost five years now. But the restaurant recently got some new feline friends in the form of these two...

Inspire / 16 May 2019

A Visual Feast: 5 Films for Foodies

The advent of streaming services, such as Netflix, have been a boon to micro-genre nerds everywhere. Where once we had to be satisfied with broad categories like rom-com, thriller or action, now you...

Influence / 01 May 2019 / BY Sandeep Arora

Springtime in Punjab

Spring always makes me a little homesick for Punjab. As one of the main crop cutting times of year the whole region jumps into action and the whirring of combine harvesters fills the air – which is...

Influence / 27 Mar 2019

The Best Advice Our Chefs Were Given

“A king’s time as ruler rises and falls like the sun. One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you as the new king.” Sound advice you receive at the beginning of your...

Inspire / 13 Mar 2019

Our Frontline Leaders' Top Tunes

When you work in service, you wait for that one song to come on all night. Maybe it reminds you of a person. Or of home. Or of growing up. Or it depicts what you are going through in life. We asked our...

Influence / 08 Mar 2019

Black Sheep Restaurants celebrates International Women's Day

We are brimming with strong, confident leaders, with a 50-50 representation across the board. This International Women’s Day, we asked our kickass ladies what it means to be a woman in a traditionally...

Inspire / 15 Feb 2019

7 Things You Did Not Know About Greek Wine

Despite the country’s truly ancient history of winemaking and ideal conditions for growing grapes, Greek wine is often overlooked in favour of its famous European neighbours. Sommelier Aurelie from our...

Consume / 06 Feb 2019

JOIN THE #MILEPIECLUB, EASY AS PIE

WIN A TRIP FOR TWO TO NAPLES WITH MOTORINO. From now until 25 February, order any pizza while dining-in at Motorino and ordering through GO, for delivery or pick-up, to be entered into the #MILEPIECLUB....

Inspire / 28 Dec 2018

Our Sommeliers' Picks for New Year’s Eve Bubbles

Champagne is the go-to for the most extravagant of celebrations, and New Year’s Eve is incomplete without a glass of something bubbly and fun. We asked our sommelier team for their picks of what to sip...

Inspire / 20 Dec 2018

chefs' tips for using up holiday leftovers

‘Tis the season of excess so we asked our chefs for their favourite ways to use up the inevitable Christmas leftovers. You might be surprised by some of the answers which include turkey and peanut butter...

Inspire / 14 Dec 2018

WHAT TO GET YOUR FOODIE FRIEND FOR CHRISTMAS – CHEF’S EDITION

Don’t waste another minute wandering aimlessly around the shops to find your impossible foodie friend the perfect holiday gift. Black Sheep Restaurants’ resident culinary experts will steer – or...

Inspire / 20 Nov 2018 / BY Christopher Mark

The Colombo Traffic Officer Who Became a Musical Icon

Introducing the infectious rhythms of baila, Sri Lanka’s unique form of dance music that originated among Portuguese fishermen and African slaves in the colonial period. Modern baila is now popular in...

Inspire / 16 Jul 2018

Ho Lee Fook Silent Art Auction

This week we’re making way for a brand new collection of lightbox works by Jonathan Jay Lee at ho lee fook so we’re auctioning off the much loved old series of scenes from Gage Street market. To make...

Inspire / 09 Jul 2018

Why Do Chefs Wear Clogs?

Unless your favourite chef is a tap-dancing farmer from 13th century Amsterdam, you probably wouldn’t expect them to wear clogs. Yet a surprising number of stove-jockeys swear by the outdated form of...

Inspire / 13 Jun 2018

The Origin of Dragon Boat Festival And Why We Eat Zongzi Dumplings

Patriotic poet, Qu Yuan. Photo sourced from Wikipedia by Chen Hongshou (17th century). On the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, Hong Kong’s...

Inspire / 15 May 2018

Lessons from their mothers

Food and family memories are often entwined, and many chefs developed their passion for cooking from their maternal figures. To celebrate Mother’s Day, we had our chefs share some thoughts on how their...

Inspire / 08 May 2018

How-To: Piping Tips

Icing cakes is an art form. We chat to Safia Osman, the mastermind of our pastry programme at Black Sheep Restaurants, on how she manages to get it so right every time. Side note: every time means every...

Inspire / 03 Apr 2018

Bartenders' Favourite Cocktail Books

Bartenders have deep understandings of their crafts, memorizing complex recipes, grasping the nuances of varied liquors and dabbling in chemistry. Many amass libraries chock full of bartending guides and...

Inspire / 15 Jan 2018

The BSR Bar Series: "Dry Jan" Hacks

We’re sixteen days into 2018, which means sixteen days into having kept or not kept that extensive list of resolutions you scrawled from your hungover cave, feebly convincing yourself would last the...

Consume / 02 Jan 2018

Reboot Your Pantry

Oh, January. After a lush holiday season, many of us are heading back to the gym and reevaluating eating habits. One quick and easy way to clean up your diet without ruining your social life is to just...

Inspire / 02 Jan 2018

The BSR Bar Series: Hangover Cures, As Told By Our Experts

December is relentless. Burning the candle at both ends is unavoidable, and office parties, visiting friends and end-of-year commitments can lead to an intense month. We’re through the woods (thankfully)...

Inspire / 18 Dec 2017

How to pair wine with your favourite junk foods

Wine. We have complex tools for decanting, delicate glassware, choreographed steps around service and oftentimes a hefty price tag, all of which can make it seem intimidating and inaccessible. However,...

Inspire / 11 Dec 2017

Gifts to get for your foodie friends

Christmas shopping stressing you out? We asked a few of our in-the-know foodie friends what they are asking Santa for this year so you can buy the epicurean in your life something that they’ll genuinely...

Inspire / 27 Nov 2017

FESTIVE STRESS RESCUE: Holiday Punch How-To

Party season is fast approaching, with three days until December, and with it the stress of party planning. From potlucks to posh dinner parties, enough pressure is placed on meticulous meal prep that...

Inspire / 14 Nov 2017

Surviving Flu Season: Tried-and-Tested Chinese Remedies

While the change in weather provides a welcome respite from the heat and humidity, it often means the start of sniffle season, especially when you’re new in town. Traditional snake soup might be the...

Inspire / 31 Oct 2017

Level up your home coffee game

Black Sheep Restaurants’ Head Barista Gabe Phanoulas knows good coffee. He also knows, however, that not everyone has the money or the inclination to shell out for the proper equipment. Here are his...

Inspire / 23 Oct 2017

The History of the Patiala Peg

The liberated era of postcolonial India and Pakistan was flamboyant yet regal and surprisingly booze-centric in the shared region of Punjab, with a heavy emphasis on gin in the summer and whisky in the...

Inspire / 03 Oct 2017

Chefs Secret Pantry Staples

We polled chefs on their unexpected yet essential pantry staples to make weeknight dinners more exciting. Here’s how they use them. Palash Mitra, New Punjab Club You can always find some variation of...

Inspire / 25 Sep 2017

Three-ingredient Dishes: Controversy vs Convenience

Nigella Lawson angered the internet this summer when she shared her two-ingredient recipe for tomatoes and salad cream (although the salad cream actually contained a whole slew of ingredients, which the...

Inspire / 28 Aug 2017

Buzz on Nitro Coffee

Nitro coffee is not a new concept, but it is still a niche one. Invented in 2013 by Stumptown Roasters’ Nate Armbrust, the discovery began as a labour of love and became a full-blown quest to aerate...

Inspire / 21 Aug 2017

Dressing for Date Night with Milk Magazine

Whether it’s a Tinder meet up, a night out with a hot date or an anniversary dinner with your other half, planning your date night outfits is always tricky. We talked to Hannah Lok, the senior editor...

Inspire / 07 Aug 2017

Instagramming in SoHo

Instagrammable Spots in Soho Hong Kong’s vibrant SoHo neighbourhood provides varied backdrops for snapping social media pictures guaranteed to get the likes. Spend your day snapping playful murals, winding...

Inspire / 31 Jul 2017

How to be a good bar regular

bar team for their tips to attain ‘Cheers’ status where everyone knows your name and there’s always a cold one waiting: Find your spot. Find a laid-back, nearby bar with a selection that won’t...

Inspire / 17 Jul 2017

Karaoke Etiquette: 7 Rules to Sing By

Karaoke is the ideal mix of a bar hangout and performance showcase. The world needs to hear you sing and you’ve already got your first ten songs picked out in your head. But before you go ahead and load...

Inspire / 17 Jul 2017

Tips for capturing your most-liked food instagram

The most important thing about dining out is the Instagram, right? Here are some tips and tricks from experts in the field on capturing that money shot. #1: Natural lighting There is no chance of getting...

Inspire / 16 Jun 2017

Five Movie Diner Scenes

The humble American diner has provided the backdrop to countless movies, but not all diner scenes are equal. Here we list five of the best that may not promote the food service element of diners but does...

Inspire / 05 Jun 2017

Where to Find the Best Steak in Buenos Aires

There’s a saying that the only part of the cow the Argentines don’t eat is the “moo.” Argentina without steak would be like Italy without pasta, Hong Kong without dumplings, Mexico without tacos…you...

Inspire / 06 May 2017

Five Tips For Navigating A Wine List Like a Pro

Perplexed by a wine list? We’ve all been there. Whether it’s a tight selection of quirky wines at a neighbourhood joint, or an expansive list from an award-winning cellar, restaurant wine lists can...

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Inspire / 09 Jul 2018

Why Do Chefs Wear Clogs?

Blog / 05 Sep 2018

Why We’re Obsessed with Mooncakes

Blog / 16 Oct 2017

Chef's Guide to Buying Kitchenware on Shanghai Street

Blog / 19 Sep 2018

How Aberdeen Angus cattle became Argentina's Prized Beef

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