Staying in the rural home of a Hong Kong eco-cook

by Joyce Man

Amen Tsang opens his home and kitchen to share his low-carbon way of life with urbanites.

I am in a rural home in Tai Po and there is an impressive spread before me: soft sticky rice in a crispy tofu skin, a fiery green papaya salad with squid, scrambled eggs with shrimp, deep-fried tofu that's crunchy outside and succulent inside, ?three-cup chicken?  prepared with rice wine, vinegar and basil, as well as a banana and avocado dessert with a hint of lemon.

But more notable is the origin of each dish.

The papaya hails from a tree next to my table and the basil and lemons from the garden just meters away. The eggs and bananas come from the Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden that is half an hour?s stroll down the road.

The venue is a private kitchen called Sik Yam Sik Sik, which is paired with rural homestay Yuen Hideaway; both are located in Tai Om, a community of several hundred in Tai Po?s Lam Tsuen, which comprises 26 hamlets and dates to the Song dynasty.

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