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Charmaine Mok

In the world of fine dining, the amuse-bouche is arguably one of the most important mouthfuls a chef can serve their patrons. As a taste of what is to come, it has the potential to pack a world of information in a single bite.
In this respect, the opening act for the sold-out A Taste of Home, by Windmill Grass Theatre – the troupe behind the hit Black Comedy Di-Dar – is one of its weaker moments, like a broth that needs more time to develop flavour.
Moving across the stage while pushing glowing geometric frames with the slow and measured gait of street vendors, each member of the four-strong troupe – Joey Leung Cho-yiu, Luna Shaw Mei-kwan, Edmond Tong Chun-yip and Kearen Pang Sau-wai – takes turns reciting an abridged history of some of Hong Kong’s most iconic culinary figures, from baking queen Maria Lee Tseng Chiu-kwan to Lan Fong Yuen’s milk tea king Lam Muk-ho.
Despite their intention to highlight the tenacity and resilience of these legendary names, the monologues have a saccharine, stilted quality to their delivery. Fortunately, this is the low from which the production then vaults into the highest of highs, with a punchy succession of skits and vignettes that are in turn rousing, tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud hilarious.

With “memory” the common thread written into the script, the production – taking place at the intimate Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre – is remarkably personal. Between chapters, with the leading quartet weaving seamlessly between playing multiple characters as well as sharing their very real and individual recollections of meals and loved ones past, we hear recordings from members of the production crew as they, too, reveal their own food stories with vulnerability and wit.
One of the high-octane segments comes early on, as Leung, Shaw, Tong and Pang banter back and forth in a you-go-I-go game of nostalgic recall, reminiscing over Hong Kong food culture – from old Calbee snack commercials to childhood tuck-shop favourites (Green Spot orange soda, anyone?).
Another impressive chapter, dedicated to Hong Kong’s cha chaan tengs (traditional local diners), makes full use of sound, light and body language, with the quartet taking part in a furious dance-like sequence that has them flow effortlessly from waiter to customer in quick succession.
A game show skit that puts Leung in full-on drag mode – dressed as the sassy Mrs Mut, a matronly character played by the actor Liu Wai-hung in the 1990s The Funny Half Show – is participatory theatre at its finest.

As a testament to the appeal of the production, one of the audience members randomly selected to lead a quiz team admits to having seen A Taste of Home more than once already.
But between the belly-laughs and the puncturing of the fourth wall for a gag, there are some poignant moments. In one, a Proustian-style museum of fragrances becomes the meeting spot for estranged school sweethearts who find their way back to each other through scents of their shared past – from Calvin Klein’s Eternity cologne to the specific, musty smell of a remote holiday home.
There is a recurring question asked by the cast throughout: what are the flavours you miss the most? In a video break, we watch talking head interviews featuring store owners and chefs of decades-old establishments, from dai pai dong Shui Kee to Tak Hing Fish Ball, who lament over the challenges of catering to the modern palate.
In another, we simply see a romantic, blurry montage of Hong Kong’s once blazing and abundant neon lights as the actors ponder the passing of time.
It would not be a gastronomic production without some actual food. In the penultimate act, our four heroes each take a spot behind a mobile kitchen counter that materialises on stage and make four distinct dishes on the spot: from Tong’s rendition of his elderly aunt’s braised pork belly dish recipe to Leung’s sweet-sour-salty-bitter prawns (it is worth noting that the thespian also holds a French Escoffier Diploma in Culinary Arts).

At a run time of 2½ hours, some fat could be trimmed – a satirical skit where diners from the past are confronted by the modern dim sum experience (“where are the trolleys?”) is not spicy enough to make a bigger point, instead making basic digs at the contemporary restaurant-goer experience. There is also a karaoke bit that, while getting the audience to sing along enthusiastically and hold up their phone torches, feels oddly out of place.
But overall, it is a solid progression of courses, the most sobering being an unexpected projection of real-life handwritten notes from audience members, submitted before the opening of the show, in which they share their most memorable meal – the taste of a grandmother’s signature recipe, or the final dinner they had with their father before he died from cancer – read out loud by each cast member.
It is in these moments that the theatre quietens, bar the distinct sounds of gentle crying and the telltale sound of a tissue pack being ripped open, where it becomes obvious that we are all collectively thinking about what truly makes a taste of home, and the bittersweet taste of love and loss.
A Taste of Home, Windmill Grass Theatre, Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre, 111 Shau Kei Wan Road, Sai Wan Ho. Reviewed: August 11, 2026. Continues until August 16.


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(From left) Windmill Grass Theatre’s Joey Leung, Luna Shaw, Edmond Tong and Kearen Pang perform in a scene from A Taste of Home, a production centred on Hong Kong food culture and history, at the Sai Wan Ho Civic Centre. Photo: courtesy of Windmill Grass Theatre

Luna Shaw (left) and Kearen Pang in a scene from A Taste of Home. Photo: courtesy of Windmill Grass Theatre

In this scene from A Taste of Home, Joey Leung and Edmond Tong reference a popular 1990s TV skit called “Mrs Mut and Lee” about cooking shows of the time. Photo: courtesy of Windmill Grass Theatre

A scene from Windmill Grass Theatre’s A Taste of Home. Photo: courtesy of Windmill Grass Theatre

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Food & Drink

Rousing, tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud hilarious, Windmill Grass Theatre’s new production is peak Hong Kong food nostalgia


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Rousing, tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud hilarious, Windmill Grass Theatre’s new production is peak Hong Kong food nostalgia

Rousing, tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud hilarious, Windmill Grass Theatre’s new production is peak Hong Kong food nostalgia