“Organic”, “green” and “sustainable” have been labels thrown around by chefs and restaurant PRs for quite a while, and discerning diners nowadays are aware of the fact that these words have merely become trendy marketing terminology with little meaning. In reality, customers are barely permitted to have a clue of how food is actually sourced, where its origins lie, or whether the ingredients are truly beneficial to our wellbeing.

The “Certified Organic” or “USDA Organic” seal on select items do guarantee products free of chemical dyes, pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, as well as more sinister industrial solvents or genetic tinkering. But the labels “organic” and “locally grown” do not necessarily equate with a better tasting product of quality — especially in Hong Kong, where the soil and air are not exactly in pristine conditions to begin with.

Just how eco-conscious are food producers and restaurateurs? It seems that some members of Kee Club have taken the organic matter into their own hands. Together with Dr. Andrew Lam — a highly sought-after natural farming consultant by universities, NGOs and governments — they’ve set up ecoFarm in the pristine mountain forests of Ruijin, in China’s rural and relatively untouched Jiangxi province. Incredibly, 50 per cent of all of the natural farm’s proceeds are donated back to communities in Ruijin. And Kee Club Hong Kong’s award-winning Executive Chef Roland Schuller is serving only organic vegetables sourced from this all-natural farm on both his European and Chinese menus.

Over the past few years, Hong Kong has seen a rise of high-end restaurants with organic offerings, but traditional dim sum houses have been loath to adopt the trend. As Kee serves authentic Cantonese dim sum for lunch (and modern European in the evenings), this makes the exclusive club the only establishment in town to feature dim sum prepared with all-natural organic vegetables. There are even fully organic vegetarian items on the menu, such as delicate steamed dumplings of baby Swiss chard, kale and borage with tofu olive oil, and deep-fried vegetarian spring rolls with baby cabbage and carrot.

Chef Roland’s enthusiasm in using organic greens is inspired and resolute: “I feel very passionately about raising awareness of the benefits of organically grown ingredients and steering people away from genetically modified food or produce grown in soil with toxic residues — especially when it is also so apparent that food cooked with organic produce is much tastier,” he says. He also believes that with the amount of attention chefs receive nowadays from the adoring public that they “have a responsibility, as culinary experts, to help change people’s eating habits.” 

The Chief Farmer and Founder of ecoFarm, Dr. Lam, is equally dedicated to the cause. Besides being an expert in natural farming, he’s also the personal physician of Chef Roland and Umberto Bombana of Otto e Mezzo (Chef Roland was introduced to Lam through Bombana). In his sixties, the doctor is a chatty and charismatic character with a glowing complexion as he regales his fascinating background to us over lunch.

A fourth generation Chinese American who grew up on his family’s farm in California, Dr. Lam was a surgeon specializing in oncology. When his eyesight deteriorated, he started looking into more holistic forms of healing, traveling to India to study Ayurveda, then to China to learn more about traditional Chinese medicine. He concluded that most illnesses stem from an unhealthy diet, and that clean, organic food was crucial for healthy living. In essence, Dr. Lam believes that plants free from pollution are preventative herbs that stop most diseases before it takes root in our modern, stressed bodies. He soon realized that his new calling was to produce the highest quality of organic fruits and vegetables possible, with his unique approach to all-natural farming.

Dr. Lam personally selected the site for the farm, an untainted eco-system in Ruijin high up in the mountains of Jiangxi. No fertilisers are used at all, and instead of pesticides, he opts for breathable netting to protect his crops from insects. It’s laborious work for the farmers to cover up all the plants every night, removing the nets in the morning. And for the seeds, he uses “originals” collected from their particular place of ancestry for optimal flavour profiles and textures. Think tomatoes and potatoes from Peru, or beets and carrots from northern India.

The produce is transported via an eight-hour truck ride from Jiangxi province to Hong Kong – resulting in less of a carbon footprint than is produced by importing most jet-fresh produce we get in the city. It’s clear why the organic vegetables served at Kee Club pack a flavorful punch. The pan-fried turnip cake with conpoy tastes incredibly fresh and sweet with a textural bite instead of the bland, soggy versions one usually encounters. The Chinese chives in the steamed seafood and chive dumplings feel excitingly rich with its muscular herbal flavour. And if you’re ordering a plate of greens, Chef Roland recommends simply steaming ecoFarm’s mustardy kai lan, grassy choi sum or sweet Indian green lettuce for maximum preservation of the vegetables’ superior nutrients and natural flavours, served with just a drizzling of olive oil and a dash of sea salt.

“We’re not making any money out of this, but it’s purely my passion, and people really need this nowadays,” says Dr Lam. “It’s a step in the right direction.”