Andō, the Michelin-starred restaurant in Hong Kong headed by Argentine Chef Agustin Ferrando Balbi, is continuing its partnership with the food charity More Good into 2023, donating meal boxes in collaboration with the city’s leading chefs and restaurants.
The Hong Kong food charity More Good, co-founded by Yardbird Executive Chef Matt Abergel in 2021, aims to provide nutritious and high-quality meals to communities in need. Having assisted many local NGOs in their urgent fundraising and hot meal-procuring initiatives, More Good strives to tackle existing issues in society creatively, enlisting the help of its extensive network of chefs and volunteers.
In 2022, the charity prepared and distributed 15,700+ meals, organised 90+ volunteering sessions, and supported four communities per week.
Following a successful year of giving back with the charity, Andō renewed their partnership into 2023, along with a renewed set of goals to achieve by the end of the year. Having officially been named as ambassador of the organisation, Andō aims to work with Hong Kong’s top chefs and restaurants to prepare, cook and distribute around 2000+ meal boxes in total to vulnerable groups.
Donating their time on one Sunday every month, Andō’s team led by Executive Chef Agustin Balbi and a new collaborating restaurant will create together a nutritious meal box menu consisting of one rice or noodle dish, one main course, and two types of vegetables, of which 160 – 200 boxes will be distributed out to communities in need.
The participants in the More Good charity meal initiative
Outlets participating in Andō’s meal box donation initiative with More Good will include contemporary Nordic fine dining restaurant Embla, May Chow’s modern Chinese bistro Little Bao, one Michelin-starred Korean restaurant Hansik Goo, two Michelin-starred French fine dining restaurant Amber, two Michelin-starred modern French-Japanese restaurant Ecriture, elevated Neapolitan restaurant Estro and Simon Rogan’s Michelin-starred and Michelin Green Star recipient, Roganic Hong Kong.
More restaurants will be announced in due course throughout the year. The full schedule for meal donations will be as follows, with approximately 160 – 200 meal boxes to be distributed per collaboration: Andō’s restaurant collaborations for food box donations are as below:
- 5 March (Sun) – Embla
- 30 April (Sun) – Little Bao
- 28 May (Sun) – Hansikgoo
- 25 June (Sun) – Amber
- 30 July (Sun) – Ecriture
- 27 August (Sun) – Estro
- 24 September (Sun) – Roganic Hong Kong
To sign up for volunteering work and assistance with all Sunday activities, please contact Andō’s directly.
Andō: Innovative Spanish x Japanese cuisine by Agustin Balbi
Derived from Chef Agustin’s Latin surname Ferrando, Andō in Japanese connotes a sense of contentment, while in Spanish, it is the equivalent of ‘-ing,’ the verb par ti ciple to describe the act of doing in the present. Born into a Spanish and Italian family, Agustin’s love for food was ignited at his grandmother’s dining table, where fond childhood memories of his late Lola’s homemade Latin dishes would inspire much of his innovative cuisine today at Andō.
During his formative years as a chef, Agustin’s rebellious streak took him eastwards to Japan, where he spent several years honing his craft in Tokyo’s veritable kitchens, including two Michelin-starred Zurriola, 3 Michelin-starred Nihonryori Ryugin and 2 Michelin-starred Cuisine Michel Troisgros.
Aside from shaping his culinary philosophy, Agustin’s time in Japan holds a special time in his heart, as the place where he met the love of his life Yoshika, now his wife and the mother of his two children.
Images of More Good courtesy of Eugene Kan and Hecho.
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