Latest news with #JeremyEvrard
South China Morning Post
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Behind the counter at Hong Kong's first cheese omakase
Almost everyone in Hong Kong knows Laughing Cow: the grinning red cow on a round blue-and-white box, packed with foil-wrapped triangles of soft, tangy cheese with an unmistakably artificial plastic sheen. Surprisingly, it's also beloved in France, the land of strict appellations and strong opinions on dairy. For Jeremy Evrard , owner of the much-buzzed-about cheese omakase Roucou , that was where the obsession started. 'My mother would buy La Vache qui rit at the supermarket. I always kept the label. I've been fascinated by those red cows,' he says. Why? He shrugs: 'When you're a kid, you just do things.' What began as a casual habit became a collection of more than 1,000 cheese labels, the oldest dating back to the 1930s. Jeremy Evrard has more than 1,000 cheese labels, with the oldest dating back to the 1930s. Photo: Jocelyn Tam 'It's just a thing I started. And then it became, 'No, no! Stop!'' He throws his hands up, laughing. 'They just kept coming and I didn't know what to do.' Being friends with a cheesemaker helps. One such friend named Jean François started saving labels for him once he caught wind of the collection. 'It spiralled from there.' Evrard is a self-described 'cheese freak'. 'I grew up with this dairy obsession. I don't know why. My parents aren't in the business. My mother is the worst cook ever,' he chuckles. 'She wouldn't mind me saying it – it's true.' He calls his love of cheese 'self-built'. Instead of visiting vineyards when he was old enough to drink, he would visit dairy farms. Even so, young Jeremy couldn't have guessed where his love of cheese, and its packaging, would eventually lead him. A sushi roll with organic Camembert at Roucou. Photo: courtesy Roucou
South China Morning Post
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
This week in PostMag: racing at Le Mans, a healthy obsession with cheese and a drop of Bordeaux
A cheese omakase shouldn't work. Or at least that's what I told myself as I sat down in the polished back room of Roucou, Jeremy Evrard's exuberant new restaurant-slash-love-letter to dairy. Course after course of … cheese? Surely that's a recipe for indigestion, even for the lactose tolerant. But then came a thick smear of Brillat-Savarin wrapped in nori and topped with caviar. Next, a tower of Parmigiano Reggiano crisps with herring and a whisper of lemon. Then a savoury shellfish bisque with uni and halibut, showered in Beaufort d'Alpage. And yes – this one surprised me most of all – creamy Camembert sidled in next to a slab of toro seared with a charcoal stick. It was delicious. I might have walked in a cynic, but I left a convert. So I was happy to read more about what kick-started Evrard's passion in My Obsession, our new column about collectors and their beloved ephemera. It turns out his love of cheese began, like many great passions, with something deeply uncool: a childhood hoard of Laughing Cow labels. He has more than a thousand now, many tucked into drawers at home, some finding new life at Roucou as hand-scrawled menus or little gifts for diners to take away. Like his restaurant, it's charming and a little eccentric – which is to say, completely delightful. In our cover feature, former racer Matthew Marsh takes us trackside at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where two Hong Kong drivers joined one of motorsport's most gruelling races. There's no glamorising here – just the brutal choreography of a race that starts in daylight and finishes – if you're lucky – a day and 5,200km later. Marsh captures the madness and muscle of it all, from the Tricolore flag drop to crowds buzzing well past midnight. Back in Hong Kong, Fionnuala McHugh speaks with Rocco Yim Sen-kee, the architect responsible for some of the city's most iconic spaces, about his new monograph, Looking to Hong Kong. Yim is softly spoken, allergic to hype and utterly unmistakable in a portfolio packed with malls, cultural landmarks and government buildings. Whether you know it or not, you've walked through his ideas. In the classroom, writer and lecturer Karen Cheung is reckoning with a very modern crisis: grading student essays and slowly realising some were written by bots. Her piece is sharp, confessional and just unnerving enough. She doesn't panic – not really – but she does ask hard questions about authorship, originality and what's at stake when we let the machines do the messy, human work of thinking for us in this new era of the em dash. If that's too unsettling, let us take you to Bordeaux, where John Brunton finds natural wine, medieval chapels and the odd Ayurvedic massage in between tastings. Chickens wander between the vines and clay amphorae stand where oak barrels once ruled. It's not your grandfather's Bordeaux – and that's the point.
Bloomberg
17-05-2025
- Bloomberg
Roucou Is a Cheese Omakase and Bar Offering 12-Course Meals in Hong Kong
Roucou is a cheese omakase and bar that recently opened on Aberdeen Street opposite PMQ, and is the creation of Jeremy Evrard, former manager of Caprice and Upper Modern Bistro. I went recently with five friends and we indulged in the restaurant's 12-course cheese voyage. This took the form of a Japanese-French omakase at HK$1,280 per head. There's also the option of a HK$500 wine pairing, with bottles from up-and-coming vineyards. If you opt to order a la carte at the bar, friends who have done so suggest getting more than you might think, and also being adventurous in your cheese selections.
South China Morning Post
18-04-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How Hong Kong's ‘first cheese omakase and bar', opened by ex-Caprice GM, came to be
There was a time when gourmet European cheese was an uncommon ingredient in Hong Kong restaurants. The assumption was that local diners did not like cheese, finding it unappealing, expensive and stinky – and certainly not the preferred post-dinner alternative to dessert. Plus, it was presumed that Asians were mostly lactose intolerant. Advertisement Jeremy Evrard set out to change that. As the general manager of fine dining restaurant Caprice when the Four Seasons Hong Kong opened in 2005, the Frenchman defied convention and introduced artisan cheeses rarely – if ever – tasted in the city. 'When I arrived five years ago, everybody told me, 'Forget about cheese, nobody eats cheese in Hong Kong,'' he told the Post in 2010. His curation of prized fromages and high service standard soon earned loyal admirers. Undoubtedly, it helped Caprice maintain its haute reputation and Michelin-star status over the years. He ended up working there for almost a decade. Roucou allows cheese fans to indulge in a wide selection of cheeses from France and beyond. Photo: Roucou 'At the beginning, cheese was never part of the plan,' he says. 'Caprice was supposed to be fine dining, going for Michelin stars. But the cheese cellar came along, and I was very lucky to be able to transform the place and express myself through this cheese discussion.'
South China Morning Post
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
The hottest new openings in Hong Kong, April 6-12
Tanukikoji Tanukikoji's ichiban dashi broth. Photo: Tanukikoji The rugged iteration of shabu-shabu takes a new twist at Causeway Bay's latest izakaya , Tanukikoji. Diners can enjoy premium sets starting at HK$178, featuring Tokachi black Wagyu and Hokkaido rice-fed pork, paired with authentic Hokkaido-style soup bases. Advertisement Limited to 80 servings per day, the must-try Hokkaido uni soup base is made daily using seasonal sea urchins and ichiban dashi broth. Shop 4, Haven Court, 128-138 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay Pintxos by Bàrbar Spanish finger food at Pintxos by Bàrbar. Photo: Pintxos by bàrbar Native to northern Spain, pintxos (finger food) get their due at this new Wan Chai eatery from the team behind Pica Pica in Sheung Wan. Pintxos by Bàrbar's kitchen is headed by 25-year-old chef Xavier Pla, who turns out moreish bites such as crispy pork belly with dill salad, and broken eggs with tempered chorizo, all within a space evoking the time-worn character of Spain's most revered tabernas. G/F, 22 Ship Street, Wan Chai Roucou Roucou's fromager Jeremy Evrard. Photo: Roucou There's dairy for days at Hong Kong's first cheese omakase and bar, which blends artisanal fromage in an unlikely Franco-Japanese sensibility. Helmed by cheese master Jeremy Evrard, who worked at the Four Seasons and The Ritz-Carlton in Hong Kong before honing his culinary skills in Japan, Roucou features melted open sandwiches, fondues, tarts and stunning cheeseboards. There are even sacré bleu, cheese-inspired cocktails.
