STORY: Art on the lips at hippiest cultural district in Hong Kong
SHOOTING TIME: April 11, 2024
DATELINE: April 22, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:29
LOCATION: HONG KONG, China
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of a coffee shop and a restaurant at M+ Museum in China's Hong Kong

STORYLINE:

Amazed by a Japanese avant-garde artist's rainbow-striped drape cascading from the ceiling of M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Cultural District? If you also stop by for a latte from the museum coffee shop, you will find the design on top of your drink.

Vincent Wu is the man behind the latte art. He is seeking to bring Hong Kong's vibrant art and culture scene to tables worldwide.

Wu's company owns a coffee shop and a top-floor restaurant at M+ Museum, as well as a Chinese restaurant at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. While under construction in 2019, the West Kowloon Cultural District invited Wu to bid for the coffee shop. Wu's company won after three rounds of bidding.

"We are able to update our menu to reflect the ongoing shows and exhibitions in the cultural district. This became our competitive edge because we can ensure foot traffic on a constant basis," said Wu.

The business formula proved successful when visitors to a Yayoi Kusama exhibition last year snatched up lattes bearing the artist's iconic, polka-dotted pumpkin images. Those sold out on the first day of release, as did popsicles and chocolate snacks shaped in the form of bronze masks. Those masks are on display at the Hong Kong Palace Museum and hail from southwest China's Sanxingdui archaeological site.

Wu got his artistic inclinations from a seven-year experience of working at an art broker. On the wall of CVIEW, Wu's restaurant at M+, hangs a handwritten menu by the legendary Chinese artist and renowned gourmet Zhang Daqian. Wu bought the work at a Sotheby's auction in 2022.

The menu inspired an upcoming culinary series dedicated to the painter, who penned it in the 1960s for a dinner party with friends. One of the new dishes, Liuyisi, came straight from the seven-dish-and-one-soup menu.

Originally a stir-fried dish invented for Zhang's 61st birthday, Liuyisi contains squid and five different vegetables including leek sprouts and lettuce. It now takes on a stylish form, with each of the six ingredients standing on its own in a delicate garnish.

At XIA, the restaurant at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, Wu recreated some of the famous scenes from the trip of Qing Dynasty Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) to the West Lake, now a UNESCO World Heritage site in east China's Hangzhou City. From XIA's menu, customers can read historical anecdotes about the imperial cuisine that inspired the dishes at the restaurant.

"We have worked to enrich the experience of Hong Kong Palace Museum visitors by creating a relatable environment," said Wu.

As one of the world's largest hubs for art trade, Hong Kong has been an ideal location for Wu's business to flourish.

"Hong Kong's art and cultural environment is particularly vigorous now," said Wu.

Working out of the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong's new cultural landmark, Wu's team is using coffee shops and restaurants as venues for exchange between local artists and their global counterparts. It is also developing new cuisine to go with the Hong Kong Palace Museum's upcoming products.

"It is my heartfelt wish to promote traditional Chinese culture, which is also what the market needs in the future," said Wu.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Hong Kong, China.
(XHTV)