From street-side waffles to organic local vegetables, Roganic’s General Manager loves the diversity of Hong Kong’s food culture
As part of our series celebrating the vibrancy and community within Hong Kong’s dining scene, we spoke to several of the industry’s leading lights about why they love the city’s unique food culture. Here, Tatler Tastemaker Sean Oakford—the ever-charming General Manager of Roganic Hong Kong, who has been part of chef Simon Rogan’s team since 2015—shares his love for North Point street waffles and why cocktail sausage buns are his ultimate morning meal.
Tell us about your favourite Hong Kong food moments.
I live in North Point and there’s a bakery right next to my front door called Fresh Day Bakery. They do these sausage-in-a-buns—sweet soft bread, frankfurters and grilled cheese with a tomato-herb sauce. It’s the perfect morning food for after a long week; I buy around four of them (including one for my wife… always one for my wife), with a bottle of orange juice. I get home and spray them liberally with sriracha—it soothes my soul. The dog then gets the leftovers and I’m ready for my day.
What are some of your favourite local ingredients to use?
Anything from the pioneering local, organic farms here—I’ve been lucky enough to visit several that are leading the way towards a more sustainable food culture in Hong Kong. There are some really inspirational stories out there, such as Hung Yat Farm—a true closed-loop labour of love.
We were introduced to them by Farmhouse Productions. Ming Gor is the master of Hung Fat Farm and he started it as a passion project. With closed-loop farming, you recycle all the nutrients and organic matter back into the soil; he uses fish and crayfish in particular to also improve his soil quality. The farm grows nutritious, health-conscious and most importantly, delicious produce—their carrots and tomatoes are very good—and they need to be celebrated.
