On November 15, Korean-American content creator Jaeki Cho touched down for a one-night-only pop-up in Hong Kong, bringing a taste of New York and Seoul to Sai Ying Pun’s Shop B.
The event, a collaboration with the modern Cantonese restaurant, saw Cho transplant his influential “Righteous Eats” platform from the digital realm to a physical gathering, offering a taste of his mission to foster community and cross-cultural dialogue through food and music.
The menu was a combination of Cho’s Korean heritage and New York upbringing mixed with local Cantonese flavours.
The stars of the night were a Hong Kong-style bacon, egg and cheese in the form of a pineapple bun sandwich with char siu and honey butter, and K-BBQ in a loaded baked potato using crispy pork belly and gochujang sour cream. There was also a ceviche with cured hamachi, scallop, pickled red onion and mala oil, eaten with prawn crisps.
One of the stars of the night were the pineapple bun sandwiches with char siu and honey butter. Photo: Shannen Buxani
Cho, a former music journalist for hip-hop publications XXL and Complex, is not a restaurateur in the traditional sense. Instead, he has carved a niche as a culinary curator and ally, using his platform to champion small food businesses in the United States. The Hong Kong pop-up served as an international extension of this ethos.