CookSmart (13th Issue) Page10

EatSmart Restaurants Snaps

Fuk Yuen Group

Enjoy a Healthy Hot Pot Experience

Fuk Yuen Group, a popular hot pot restaurant chain, was originally established in 1997 and has grown into one of the leading catering groups in Hong Kong. The group operates a number of brands and outlets which offer fine hot pot dishes as well as authentic Cantonese cuisine.

Mr. Raymond KWOK, Branch Manager of the group’s Golden City Banquet, has worked for many fine restaurants over the past 30 years. In his opinion, the success of the restaurant chain is built upon a good system of management, an open-minded management team and a young staff team, who have a drive for innovation and a desire to learn and improve.

Healthy and Tasty Hot Pot Dishes

The catering industry is highly competitive and Mr. KWOK says that the essence of any good meal is the quality of ingredients; for example the beef served at the restaurant chain is directly imported from Canada and New Zealand. The chain also offers high-quality seafood and freshwater fishes as well as house-made prawn balls, fish balls and dace fish paste.

The restaurant chain offers different soup bases in different seasons. Winter melon soup, for instance, is served in summer while herbal soups are served in autumn and winter. “Customers have developed a preference for light-flavoured soup bases over the past few years,” says Mr. KWOK. “Strong-flavoured soup bases such as Sichuan spicy soup are less popular nowadays.” He adds that customers also eat more vegetables than before.

New Recipes that Improve on the Tradition

To offer its customers more choices, the group changes its nine “Chef’s Recommendations” (which include several EatSmart Dishes) every three weeks. The group also spurs kitchen staff members to explore new recipes time and again. Mr. KWOK finds that inexpensive and healthy food ingredients – for example, mushroom, which is easy to cook and which can complement many others – are now widely available and should be used as often as possible.

Mr. KWOK thinks that people in the industry need to improve the quality of dishes, food ingredients and services in order to cope with the changing market environment effectively.