Ethical Coffee

Sydney-style espresso bar OSCAR's has recently opened tucked under the escalator on Wellington Street. Launched by husband and wife team, Rebecca Mikula-Wright and Pavel Mikula, OSCAR's serves up bold Australian coffee, with an equally bold business mission: to lead by example with its sustainable business practice. They also called on the contacts and expertise of Mikula-Wright's brother, World Barista Champion Judge Saxon Wright, to purchase the highest quality beans from environmentally sustainable farms, and work with farmers to achieve the highest production standards with 50% of OSCAR's coffee coming from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms. OSCAR's also serves Australian milk, cheese and yoghurt, plus a range of sandwiches, salads, pastas and soups. They are also offering free delivery for orders of $99 or above, to offices in the Central district. 

The pair are constantly researching ways to reduce their packaging, and encourage customers to recycle their cups on location, or give them locations to the nearest recycling facilities. For inevitables such as electricity, they purchase carbon offsets from the Australian Orang-utan project, aiming to make OSCAR's footprint as small as possible. 

Sha Tin 18's Sunday Brunch

Sha Tin 18 has introduced Sunday Bunch available every Sunday from 10.30am to 3pm, presenting an assortment of Dongguan specialties and traditional dim sum. Priced at $250 per person, the six-course menu features Chef Nelson's home-style Dongguan specialties (Wok-fried garoupa with winged beans and preserved black beans, and Tossed mustard greens with beancurd sheet); dim sum and appetisers (Crispy roasted pork belly and barbecued pork; Crispy-fried shrimp spring rolls with plum sauce; Pan-fried duck, mushroom and beancurd roll); and signature desserts (Candied longan peanut brownie with sesame ice-cream and Hawthorn panna cotta).

Additional beverage arrangement: $80 per person for unlimited fresh juices or soft drinks, $150 per person for unlimited selected red and white wine, and $250 per person for unlimited Delamotte Champagne.

Abalone Tuesdays

Each Tuesday night Cafe Deco's Buffet includes a whole Australian Green Lip Abalone for each diner. Each individual Plated Abalone Treat can be served either cold (Japanese Style Inspired Abalone scented with Mirin, Sake and Daikon) or hot (Traditional Chinese Style braised Abalone). The buffet is priced at $288 per person and includes a range of international hot and cold dishes, plus desserts.

Goose Liver Mooncakes

This year, the Dim Sum Chef from Shang Palace and the pastry chef from the Western kitchen of Kowloon Shangri-La have put their heads together to come up with a new wave of culinary creations to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Pastry Chef Wins Hung has creatively designed two ranges of cookies, which are predominantly made with the main ingredients of traditional moon cakes - lotus seed and red bean pastes - without being too rich or heavy. While Dim Sum Chef Chung Chi-ming has drummed up a range of moon cakes with goose liver.

New environmentally friendly packaging has also been specially designed to help preserve the environment through its recycled and recyclable paper material and simple and minimal printing, and is wrapped in a 100 per cent Chinese silk scarf. This packaging is available for the purchases of Double Egg Yolk with White Lotus Seed Paste Moon Cakes (four pieces) and Mini Moon Cakes with Egg Yolk and White Lotus Seed Paste (six pieces). 

The moon cakes and cookies will be available for sale from 15 July.