元創方 香港的美食與藝術新地標

The image of a police officer is spray-painted on a wall at Sohofama, a Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong that sticks to its blue-collar roots with home-style dishes served on outdoor wooden tables and benches. The picture pays homage to both a founder’s father, a local officer, and the establishment’s location at PMQ, a 1950s “Police Married Quarters” that once housed hundreds of families and is now home to dozens of restaurants, studios and boutiques run by local artisans and designers, including Vivienne Tam.

“料理農務”(Sohofama)是一家香港家常菜中餐館，露天的木頭桌椅保持了藍領作風，其中一面牆上噴繪着一個警察的肖像，這是爲了紀念一位創始人的父親，他也是一位當地的官員，此外也是爲了紀念“元創方”(PMQ)的原址。20世紀50年代，這裏曾是“已婚警察宿舍”，住有幾百個警察家庭，如今這裏開着數十個餐館、工作室和精品店，由本地藝術家與設計師們經營，其中還包括譚燕玉(Vivieene Tam)。

The revitalized PMQ complex — two midrise buildings set around a large central courtyard — takes up a whole city block on the western edge of Soho, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood where art galleries and French bistros are next to work.ng-class shops and apartments. The postwar complex sat vacant for decades but reopened last April as a center for art and culture after a renovation of 400 million Hong Kong dollars (more than $50 million). Its 100-plus units have been snapped up by tenants who have quickly made PMQ one of the most popular scenes in town.

重生的“元創方”是圍繞着一個大中心廣場的兩棟中等高度的建築，它位於Soho區西部邊緣，佔據了一整片街區，這是一個品味迅速提升的地方，畫廊和法餐廳混雜在工薪階層的公寓及店鋪之間。這裏修建於“二戰”之後，閒置了幾十年，去年四月經重修後作爲藝術與文化中心重新開放，修繕費約爲4億港幣（合5千萬多美元）。樓中的100多個單元被搶租一空，租戶們很快令“元創方”成爲香港最受歡迎的一景。

The original structures, including their large balconies, were retained, said William To, the center’s creative director.

元創方的設計師陶威廉(William To)說，許多當初的建築特徵都得以保留，比如巨大的陽臺。

“At that time, people had outdoor kitchens and communal areas where families ate together,” he said. “It was a close community.”

“當時這裏有戶外廚房和公共區域，幾家人可以在一起吃飯，”他說，“這是一個關係親密的社區。”

The new PMQ preserves that feeling of openness through the generous use of shared and alfresco spaces. The courtyard has been covered in a glass canopy so that it can be used for large-scale art installations, fairs, festivals and popular weekend food nights with plenty of beer and street snacks.

新的“元創方”採用大量共享與戶外空間，保持了這種開放性。院子用玻璃頂棚遮蔽，因此可以用來陳設大規模藝術裝置，舉辦藝術展、藝術節，以及受歡迎的週末美食之夜，售賣啤酒和路邊攤食品。

Since the heritage site’s reopening, these establishments — from cozy bakeries to high-end restaurants — have joined a buzzing dining scene in Hong Kong, a city with nearly 14,000 food outlets, 88 Michelin stars sparkling among 64 restaurants, high rents and some of the world’s pickiest eaters.

這裏的餐飲業從舒適的麪包房到高級餐廳應有盡有，自“元創方”重開以來，它們也迅速融入了香港繁榮的美食景觀。這座城市有近14000家飯館，88顆米其林之星在64個高檔飯館門前閃耀，不時有世界上最挑剔的食客大駕光臨。

Sohofama focuses on organic and — as far as is possible in this concrete jungle — local ingredients. While the restaurant makes a few forays into fusion cuisine — chorizo fried rice and black truffle “xiao long bao,” soup dumplings — it mostly serves simple, homey dishes. Lunch is about 114 Hong Kong dollars a person, or $15 at 7.60 Hong Kong dollars to the U.S. dollar; dinner is about 190 dollars. Most diners order small dishes to share: chilled cucumber slices, vegetable rice, fried fish with corn sauce, sweet and sour pork, scallion pancakes, buns stuffed with minced meat and a whole crab in a clay pot. At night, a mix of artsy residents and visitors sip cocktails infused with sour plums, orange peel and hibiscus flowers.

在這座鋼筋水泥叢林裏，“料理農務”還是儘量使用有機食品與本地原料。餐廳嘗試了若干融合菜餚，諸如西班牙辣香腸炒飯和黑松露小籠包、餛飩，但主要還是提供簡單的家常菜。午飯每人約需114港元（按7.60港元兌換1美元，約合15美元）；晚飯每人約需190港元。大部分食客都會點些小菜來分食，比如黃瓜片、蔬菜飯、玉米醬炸魚、叉燒肉、蔥餅、肉夾饃和砂鍋蟹。晚間常常會有頗具藝術氣質的本地居民與遊客特來品嚐摻加了酸梅、橙皮與芙蓉花的雞尾酒。

Hong Kong’s British colonial heritage permeates Aberdeen Street Social, a two-story bar and restaurant that is one of several collaborations around town between Jason Atherton, a Michelin-starred British chef, and Yenn Wong, a Singaporean heiress and hotelier. Their cocktails include the most appalling British puns: Just Beet-Root to Me, Bitters & Twisted, Pretty Fly for a Mai Tai and Pot Pouring Ketel Black.

Aberdeen Street Social這樣的地方頗具香港英殖民時期的遺風，這是一個兩層的酒吧兼餐廳，是英國米其林星級廚師傑森·阿瑟頓(Jason Atherton)與新加坡女繼承人兼酒店經營者Yenn Wong合作的結晶，兩人在香港其他地點還有若干合作餐廳。這裏的雞尾酒名字裏包含了最嚇人的英國雙關語：“Just Beet-Root to Me”（意爲“對我粗魯”與“甜菜根”諧音——譯註）、“Bitters & Twisted”（必打士與變態），“Pretty Fly for a Mai Tai”（Mai Tai酒裏的漂亮蒼蠅）和“Pot Pouring Ketel Black”（波特澆黑坎特）。

The terrace has a casual vibe, serving upscale gastro-pub grub: truffle popcorn, flatbreads, savory pies and a salad made with Peking duck. But the upstairs restaurant is a full-on dining experience — with French-speaking staff and fine wines — that impressed even my picky husband, a chef. In one standout dish, a duck breast (266 dollars) swam in a blood-red beetroot sauce thickened with honey and spice. A bite into what looked innocuously like a glazed cherry turned out to be a duck heart on a spear, a happy surprise.

樓下充滿休閒氣息，提供高檔酒吧美食：松露爆米花、小麪包幹、風味派和北京烤鴨沙拉。但樓上的餐廳就完全是正餐的天下——侍者說法語、供應高檔紅酒——我丈夫是一位頗爲挑剔的大廚，見此也頗爲觸動。一道鴨胸肉（266港元）格外美味，鴨肉浸在濃稠血紅、混有蜂蜜與香料的甜菜根醬汁中。旁邊配有看似完全無害，宛如玻璃櫻桃的裝飾，吃一口才知道是鴨心，堪稱意外驚喜。

Visitors should be warned that any request for a hot caffeinated beverage on a weekday morning will be met with a bleary-eyed barista just getting to work. Bread n Butter, a crepe place inside a pink-festooned women’s boutique, manages to get going by 11 a.m. By noon, you can have coffee from fresh-roasted beans at Café Life, pastries at the hippie-ish Alice Wild Luscious and homemade bread at Levain Bakery.

遊客要注意的是，在工作日的上午點任何含咖啡因的熱飲都有可能遭到剛來上班的侍者白眼。“麪包與黃油”(Bread n Butter)是一家精緻的小店，隱藏在一家專售點綴粉紅花邊的女裝店之內，上午11點就開張了。到中午時分，你可以在“咖啡生活”(Café Life)享受新鮮的現磨咖啡，在嬉皮風格的“Alice Wild Luscious”享受糕點，在“Levain Bakery”享受家制麪包。

PMQ gets livelier later in the day, especially on the weekends. On a recent weekday afternoon Isono, a 4,000-square-foot tapas restaurant, was filled with creative types tapping away on laptops. From noon to midnight, customers snack on sharing platters of Ibérico ham, pheasant terrine, duck rillettes and, for visiting Americans, passable sliders. Serious epicures head upstairs to the adjoining fine dining restaurant, Vasco.

下午時分，元創方纔會變得更有活力，特別是在週末。最近的一個下午，佔地4000平方英尺的小吃店Isono裏擠滿了敲筆記本的創意人士。從下午到午夜，他們用公用的大盤子吃着伊比利克火腿、砂鍋野雞、鴨肉醬以及對於美國遊客而言味道尚可的迷你漢堡。認真的老饕們會上樓，到高檔的Vasco餐廳享用大餐。

Mr. To demurred when asked which restaurant was his favorite. But he said even the pricier ones are doing well.

被問到自己最喜歡哪家餐廳，陶先生表示無法回答。但他說，就算最便宜的餐館也很棒。

“They are constantly full and now it’s difficult to get a table on the weekends, even for us,” he said.

“那些地方經常滿座，現在到了週末，就連我們也很難訂到位子，”他說。