HYPEBEAST – Food & Beverage.

Excitement is brewing among Shake Shack‘s Hong Kong fans as the chain announces that the beloved Avocado Bacon Burger and Avocado Bacon Chicken, initially launched as limited-time delights in May 2022, are now taking their place as permanent offerings on the menu. The burgers quickly captured the hearts of foodies with their harmonious blend of fresh avocado and smoky applewood-smoked bacon atop Shake Shack’s classic Angus beef burgers and crispy chicken. Priced at $74 and $72 HKD (approximately $9.5 and $9.2 USD) respectively, with an additional $12 HKD to add avocado to any order. To mark the occasion, Shake Shack is launching an exclusive collaboration with local pin badge brand PERKS, starting March 28. Customers who purchase an Avocado Bacon series item, along with a snack and drink through the mobile ordering platform, will be rewarded with one of three playful Avocado Bacon Pins, while supplies last. This initiative not only celebrates the menu’s expansion but also offers fans a fun, collectible keepsake. The duo is here to stay, ensuring that your go-to Shake Shack order can always include that lush, bacon-avocado twist.

FRESH PLAZA.

Australia’s Shepard avocado season has started and to showcase this special fruit Avocados Australia, Hort Innovation, Trade Investment Queensland and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission are
presenting the “Queensland Shepard Avocados Workshop & Networking Function” on Friday 3 March at the Grand Hyatt (Drawing Room) in Hong Kong.

The purpose of the workshop is to promote Shepard avocados and engage with importers and retailers in Hong Kong. During the workshop a range of knowledge will be shared from supply chain management, benefits of Shepard avocados and the introduction of the levy funded marketing program.

The event aims to:

• Raise awareness of Shepard avocados (this variety is unique to Queensland, Australia),
• Share some great benefits of using Shepard avocados (i.e., the flesh colour doesn’t change when cut open),
• Build relationships with Hong Kong importers and retailers,
• Further build the Australian avocados brand in Hong Kong
  

Avocados Australia is very excited to be able to showcase Shepard avocados in Hong Kong as it is a very important overseas market for Australian avocado growers. Shepard avocados, also known as a “green skin variety”, always stays green when ripe. They have smooth, glossy green skin and a delicious taste. Another great
benefit is that the flesh of Shepard avocados doesn’t go brown when cut. They are grown only in the state of Queensland and are available from February through to May.

Queensland Shepard avocados will be in Hong Kong retail stores from early March. With 2023 being the Year of the Rabbit, said to bring hope and prosperity, Avocados Australia would like to invite Hong Kong shoppers to celebrate by buying something special, Shepard avocados.

Australian avocado growers will also be visiting Hong Kong at this time taking part in a half-day tour of an importer’s facility, the wholesale market and retail chains because they are keen to find out more about the Hong Kong market.

John Tyas, the Chief Executive Officer of Avocados Australia, believes Hong Kong people will like the look and feel of Shepard avocados and they will find that the taste and texture makes it a versatile fruit to eat.
“Shepard avocados have a unique flavour and texture and can be used in a range of dishes. Shepard avocados can be added in lots of recipes such as with seafood, with noodles, with eggs, in a salad, or as a dessert. There are a lot of different recipes that Hong Kongese can try.”

TIME OUT Hong Kong.

Avocados have, for some time now, held a place in the heart of many a food-loving Hongkonger for some time now, and it’s easy to see why. Not only are these fruits deliciously moreish but they are also incredibly versatile and boast a range of health benefits. We’re lucky in this city to have more than a few great restaurants that take the humble avocado and elevate this buttery fruit into something great. To celebrate International Avocado Day, we thought we’d give the lowdown on some of our favourites. Here are 10 places to visit in Hong Kong to find the best avocado dishes, and the best part is that many of these do delivery and takeaway so you can avo blast at home. By Sam Evans and Chloe Li

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Avobar
Restaurants
Tsim Sha Tsui

Avo thing for avocados? Then you’ll be pleased to know that Avobar at K11 Musea is all about this most buttery of fruits, serving up an entire menu of avocado-based treats. Their most famous dish is undoubtedly the Avo Bun Burger ($163), in which a vegetable patty is sandwiched between to half avocados – yes you heard that right. It’s delicious, but it doesn’t stop there, because they serve up more avo-licious eats like the refreshing avocado udon bowl ($119), avocado and chicken toast ($141), and many, many more.

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Elephant Grounds
Restaurants
Wan Chai

Elephant Grounds is no stranger to avocado, as they whip up a fine selection of avo-inspired dishes across their Hong Kong branches, and a good selection of these dishes are available for delivery. We recommend Charred Avo, a healthy bowl that comes loaded with kale, cherry tomato, pickled cucumber, radish, alfalfa, and is finished with a drizzle of green goddess dressing. This will start your day off with a health kick, but for those feeling slightly more decadent, opt for Elephant Grounds’ rendition of the avocado toast ($125), with poached egg, French pea pesto and a dollop of yoghurt.

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11 Westside
Restaurants
Kennedy Town

Guacamole might be the quintessential avocado dish, but 11 Westside does it as good as anyone. Hailed as LA’s ‘Taco King’, the restaurant gives you a show when you order a bowl of guac ($150). The server scoops avocadoes and seasonings into a mortar and pestle and gets to work mashing it into a delightfully creamy mix at your table. Don’t forget to order some of the restaurant’s lauded tacos. If you’re on a health kick, try the avo-packed California veggie tacos ($48).

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Bakehouse
Restaurants
Wan Chai

Bakehouse’s Avocado Benedict ($108) is a great way to kickstart your day. This heavenly dish comes with poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce and avocado stacked on some of the most scrumptious sourdough toast we’ve tasted in the city. For those that want an extra touch of indulgence with their breakfast – or any time of day for that matter – opt for the add-ons like streaky bacon and smoked salmon.

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Chino
Restaurants
Kennedy Town

With Chino’s menu being a mash-up between Mexican and Japanese food, it makes for some interesting culinary uses of the avocado. Think Japanese tomatoes with avocado, pickled fennel and yuzu soy sauce, tacos with Japanese beef, guacamole and shishito pepper, and grilled corn avocado tostadas – all the time championing an ‘all ingredients have a purpose’ philosophy.
There are more avocado offerings here than you can shake a stick at, but we particularly recommend the Chicken tinga taco ($40) with shredded chicken, pickled onion, and avocado; or the spicy lobster avocado tostada ($90).

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Lady M
Pâtisseries
Causeway Bay

Want something a little more decadent? Lady M might be the place to go. The New York bagel sees avocado slices resting on top of a cream cheese-covered bagel, bringing the best of the Big Apple to Hong Kong. Or you can indulge in an avocado burger – made with thick avocado slices sit atop caramelised onions, silky scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and Sriracha mayo, sandwiched between a buttery brioche bun – for takeaway late brekkie or lunch.

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Pokeworld
Restaurants
Sheung Wan

Uber-trendy poke meets the buttery avocado at Sheung Wan’s Pokeworld. Their green tofu salad ($95) is comprised of tofu, corn, edamame and sesame dressing, and of course, generous amounts of avocado. More readily accessible is the hot spicy roll ($116), a so-called ‘pokeritto’ (a mashup of poke and a burrito, in case that wasn’t obvious) stuffed with avocado, salmon and spicy mayo. It’s a perfectly cooling meal when the heat starts to build in summer.

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Q1 Vietnamese Breads and Dessert
Restaurants
Sham Shui Po

Sham Shui Po restaurant Q1 Vietnamese Breads and Dessert has a slightly different take on the avocado, serving up Vietnamese-style avo shakes for only $30 a pop. For this avo-tastic creation, avocadoes are blended with milk and sugar to make a rich and refreshing smoothie. It’s a decadent creamy treat available right now for takeaway.

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Verde Mar
Restaurants
Wan Chai

Verde Mar doesn’t just highlight the avocado. At this restaurant, there’s a whole menu devoted to the green treat. The avocado tostada ($99) is a good start, but if you want to go deeper, try the avocado burger, with avocado slices as buns, customisable with meat or veggie patties. There’s also ceviche de avocado, avocado fries paired with a lime dipping sauce, and a range of avocado treats. Call restaurant to enquire about takeaway and delivery.

CHINA DAILY – Paul Welitzkin.

Chinese consumers are developing a taste for avocados and officials in Mexico, the world’s largest producer, said China is a market ripe for growth－as Mexico may be facing possible policy changes by the Trump administration that could affect avocado trade with the United States.

«Exports of avocados from Mexico to China have substantially increased in recent years. Although total volumes remain small, the growth rate is amazing,» said Ramon Paz of the Association of Producers, Exporters and Packers of Avocados from Mexico.

«We exported 470 metric tons in the 2012-13 season and it jumped up to 11,000 tons in the 2015-16 season,» he said.

Clement Mougenot, the research director at Daxue Consulting in China, said that Mexico’s avocado trade with China will continue to increase.

«Volumes are growing year after year and we do not expect the trend to slow down for the next 5-10 years if the Mexican avocado association can work out a marketing strategy similar to New Zealand kiwis to help Chinese consumers develop a taste for the avocado in general,» he added.

Most Mexican avocados are shipped by sea to China, according to Mougenot.

«It takes around 20 to 50 days through shipping and the cost through sea shipment is much lower than air shipment,» he said.

«The main ports of entry are Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.»

While China’s growth rate for avocados is increasing, there is some nervousness in the Mexican agriculture community as US President Donald Trump considers proposals like a 20 percent tariff on imports from Mexico. Association of Producers spokesman Paz said that the avocado trade between the US and Mexico would still thrive.

«We believe that even if tariffs were imposed on avocados from Mexico (to the US), we would continue exporting big volumes to this market, merely because there is no substitute to Mexico,» he said.

«We are the only supplying country that can offer the huge amounts demanded in the US and the only one able to do it during the 52 weeks of the year,» he said.

Paz said Mexico has a profitable market in the US, thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

«We shipped 860,000 tons in the 2015-16 season and expect to ship around 800,000 tons in the current 2016-17 season. This represents around 80 percent of the US market consumption,» Paz said.

Mougenot said that in China avocados are quite popular in big cities and that the market is developing, as consumers become more aware of the fruit. Despite their green color and taste, avocados are not a vegetable but a fruit or single-seeded berry. «Restaurants and fast-food chains are also adding avocado to their menus,» he said, noting that Yum China, the company behind Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC (the leading brand of fast food in China with 7,200 stores) have menu choices with avocado.

Mougenot said very little of avocado demand is met by local growers in China.