Last week I was invited to attend a blogger event, Foodie x iPick hosted at Kushiyaki Beco. It was an enjoyable night of food tasting and sampling of a new social food app, iPick.
The Chinese company behind the popular QQ Instant Messenger and WeChat, Tencent, launched this mobile app, iPick. It is a free app that is a guide to Hong Kong’s food scene.
I’ve been playing around with this app the last week, and I found what I liked most about it was how clean the user interface is. It’s simple to navigate and with the “Smart Search” feature it is easy to find restaurants. The “Smart Search” feature will render new search results as you type in each character. For example, if I were to search for “Kushiyaki Beco”, I would only need to type in “kus” and I would find the resto.
Or, say I wanted to find a Japanese restaurant in the World Trade Centre, all I had to do was:
- Type “Ja” in the Search -> Japanese would should show up, and just click on it to add it to the search filter
- Type “Wor” in the Search -> World Trade Centre with 10 results of Japanese restos would return
Another cool feature of this app, is the ability to organize a meet-up at a restaurant and invite your friends through Facebook, Whatsapp and of course, WeChat. But the best part of it all, no pop-up advertisements!
Like most other food apps, they offer reviews and photos of restaurants. I believe, iPick is trying to set themselves apart from their competitors by offering high quality reviews. Since this app is quite new, reviews are still scarce. But, I’ve been assured by the people from Tencent they will be getting more reviews, especially English ones, soon enough.
At this blogger event, we not only got to learn more about this new mobile app, we were also treated to a food tasting by Kushiyaki Beco. This little Japanese restaurant is tucked away in Sheung Wan and specializes in grilled skewers in a cozy atmosphere. Kushiyai Beco lavished us with so much delicious food, I felt guilty for leaving early and not trying the last few dishes.
Being my forgetful self, I didn’t bring my camera with me, so I lifted some photo’s taken by Foodie (with their permission, of course). I mixed in some photo’s from my iPhone, but the quality wasn’t so great. In one of the photo’s above, is the Chef’s Special, Grilled Japanese Tuna Jaw with Sea Salt and was one of my favorites of the evening.
All the dishes were grilled and seasoned to perfection, but the Beco Platter of beef skewers of different cuts (Oyster Blade, Short Rib, Hanging Tender, Tri Tip) was the most memorable. I loved the side of Yuzukoshō served with these skewers.
When I shared the juicy details of this meal with hubby, he was a tad bit jealous that I had such a tasty meal without him. So I promised to take him to Kushiyaki Beco sometime soon.
Thank you Foodie, iPick and Kushiyaki Beco for the invite and company for the evening.
Kushiyaki Beco: 2 Shin Hing Street, Sheung Wan / Tel: 2581 1282
Foodie: http://afoodieworld.com
iPick: http://ipick.com
Download the App (supports iOS and Android users in Hong Kong):
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tencent.ibg.ipick&hl=en
App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/ipick/id912765938?mt=8
*Some photos provided by Foodie
Salt & Chili 