First Japanese GORUMET Promotion!

Hong Kong (7 Oct 2005)

GOURMET, Hong Kong's best boutique style fine food hall is launching a special 3 week-long Japanese food promotion from October 7 to 27, 2005. The promotion will feature nearly 2,000 Japanese Gourmets. This vast assortment of products from Japan has been grouped into 4 favourite categories for Japanese food lovers, including snacks & drinks, noodles & sauce, Japanese sake and fresh vegetables & fruits. Let's enjoy the authentic taste of the freshest and highest quality fine foods at GOURMET.

Snacks & drinks
Japanese snacks are favourite of Hong Kong people. Meeting this delicious demand, the Japanese GOURMET Promotion features a wide variety of healthy snacks straight from Japan. Yamayoshi is one of the oldest tofu-makers in Japan. 3 flavours of Yamayoshi Crisp Chips including Shoyu, Shio and Ebi flavour are available in the promotion period (each pack 60g for HK$14.5). The chips are made of selected yellow beans and rice. It is a good substitute of potato chips since the carbohydrate content of Crisp Chips is much lower than regular ones, and the yellow beans help lower the cholesterol level.

Using seasonal fruits from Japan, Izomiya fruit jelly (190g for HK$19-22) is another kind of healthy snack. The unique feature of Izomiya fruit jelly is mixing jelly with specially grown fruits from each province of Japan. Aware of consumer demands for health and convenience, the jelly has no preservatives and does not need refrigeration. Izomiya fruit jelly comes in 6 flavours: prune from Okayama, loquat fruit and Mandarin orange from Nagasaki、cherry and peach from Yamagata, and Mandarin orange from Ehime.

Disney cartoon characters are always welcomed children all around the world. Celebrating the Grand Opening of Hong Kong Disneyland, Bourbon produce snacks with classic Disney characters, is featuring 14 kinds of chocolates, candies and cookies to cheer up kids. Various Disney cartoon characters including: Cinderella, Snow White, Lion King, Aladdin, Nemo, Buzz Light Year, Little Mermaid and more. They are definitely irresistible to Disney fans.

Japan is famous for its unique drinks. GOURMET's Japanese Promotion is especially featuring Okinawa Tea (500mL for HK$13). This healthy drink comes in 3 special flavours: Jasmine, Vegetable and Plum; it is good for health which can lower blood pressure and keep the digestive system healthy. The plum flavoured tea is a special GOURMET highlight as it is made from plums specially grown in Okinawa. With its famous hydrating properties, Japanese frequently use Okiniwa plums as an ingredient in skin care products.

GOURMET has brought in another special drink: Sangaria sparkling soft drink (240mL for HK$9). According to the recipe of this all-time favourite, the drink has been added with DHA which is good for brain development. With 3 traditional flavours: plum, orange and strawberry, shoppers are sure to find the flavour they like. For convenience, the drink comes in a choice of safe and interesting-looking plastic bottles.

Noodles and sauce
Japan has a well-earned reputation for producing highest quality and most delicious noodles. Among the wide variety offered in the Japanese Gourmet Promotion are the authentic Kubota Noodles (320g for HK$48), including the choices of wudon or soba with 5 flavours: taro, truffle, wasabi, black sesame and miso. Kubota noodles do not need refrigeration and taste best when eating original. Convenient packing with soup base is provided for customers, making noodles can become extremely convenient and tasty.

Another type of Japanese noodle featured in the Japanese Gourmet Promotion is Myojo Chuka Ramen (200g for HK$27). Myojo is a well-known brand of making Japanese noodles. This Chuka Ramen is unique for the soup base recipe which is based on the authentic regional Chinese sauces. 4 flavours are offered including Sichuan soybean paste sauce, Sichuan noodles with pepper and sesame sauce, Guangdong XO sauce and Beijing seafood sauce; the texture of these fresh noodles is chewier than regular instant-noodles.

Japanese cuisine is known for its refined simplicity and accent on pure flavours, a tradition that achieves some of its highest stature in the many sauces of Japanese cooking. GOURMET offers Teraokake Soy Sauce (300ml for HK$36 or 1L for HK$59). The Teraokake brand was established back in 1887. Over its hundred years of Soy sauce production, Teraokake has been recognized for its high quality and famed production process with "Organic JAS" certification. Teraokake Soy Sauce comes in 3 flavours: organic strong flavour, organic light flavour and low-salt flavour. The low-salt flavour contains half of the salt content of regular soy sauce and is suitable for people who have high-blood pressure or kidney problems.

Japanese sake
Drinking sake is part of Japanese culture. Whether eating alone or with a group of friends, Japanese sake is a must-have addition to any meal. GOURMET's Japanese Promotion features 7 varieties of Japanese sake, including: Mizubasho Junmai Daiginjo (720mL for HK$828), Tanigwadake Organic Super Dry Junmai (1.8L for HK$468), Kouzuki Daiginjo (720mL for HK$888), Syunka Irodori Ginjo (720mL for $248), Fukumasamune Sannenshu Junmai Daiginjo (1.8L for HK$1,100 or 720mL for HK$568), Kagatobi Junmai Daiginjo Ai (720mL for HK$338) and Momotose 5 year sake (300mL for HK$228).

Fresh vegetables & fruits
Japan is famous for its fresh, green-house produced vegetables and fruits. The Japanese GOURMET Promotion is offering customers some rare varieties of Japanese vegetables and fruits.

The main variety of Japanese mandarin is the Greenhouse Mandarin orange. Sweet and juicy, with an appropriate sour flavour. It is seedless and can be produced year-round. This Japanese favourite is mainly produced in Wakayama.

Musk Melon is the main variety of Shizuoka Hami melons, which are the leading variety in Hami melons. It is juicy and sweet, yet one vine can only produce one melon, which makes musk melon to be so rare and special.

Grown in Wakayama, the high quality sweet pear, Yamanashi Persimmon harvests in every October. The fruit has brown spot and an orange-red peel; the flesh is sweet and flank, which is also perfect for making dessert.

Green skin pumpkin is a western variety of pumpkin. The flesh is sweet and powderish, with a taste similar to chestnut. The cover is grayish green and Green skin pumpkin is versatile, ideal for cooking soups and can even be used for pastry making. The main producing area is in Hokkaido, Kagoshima and Ibaraki.

MayQueen potatoes, has a powderish flesh usually used for stew. It is originated in Britain but now produced best in Japan, particularly in Nagasaki. MayQueen has a starch content of 14.6% with a yellowish skin and light yellow flesh.

The Sweet potato is popular in western Japan and Japanese sweet potatoes come in a variety of styles. The colour of the skin is russet, while the flesh is light yellowish. The sugar degree is nearly 8%, fairly sweet and powderish, making this sweet treat most suitable for baking and ideal for pastries.

Join us this October as GOURMET brings the classic Japanese culinary experience home to Hong Kong in its Japanese GOURMET Promotion from October 7 to 27, 2005.

GOURMET Lucky Draw
To celebrate the Japanese Festival, a special lucky draw will be arranged from 7 October to 27 October, 2005.

Mechanics:Customers who purchase more than $400 in a single transaction will be invited to join in the lucky draw.

Prizes: More than 70 GOURMET prizes including a HK$2,888 Premium Japanese Fruit Hamper, Japanese cookie box, Japanese Sake, 2 hour free parking coupons and much more.

Results Announcement: The grand lucky draw results will be featured in The Sun and The Standard on 11 November 2005. Winners will be notified individually.

About GOURMET
GOURMET is Hong Kong's first and best boutique style fine food hall. GOURMET features the highest quality and most exclusive international food products in peak seasonality, and some of the most personalised customer services. GOURMET also offers a new, refined, and fashionable concept of fine food shopping in the city centre for consumers who appreciate and enjoy quality and a luxurious lifestyle.

The 15,000 square-foot GOURMET is located in the basement of Lee Gardens I, Causeway Bay. GOURMET offers a comprehensive selection of the highest quality, hardest to find and most delicious premium foods, as well as a range of complimentary services to customers including free parking (with purchase over HK$500), free call a taxi service, porter service, gift-wrapping, and home delivery and more.

Address: Basement, Lee Gardens I, Causeway Bay
Tel: 3693 4101
Opening hours: 10am to 10pm Daily

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Issued by Octagon Greater China Limited on behalf of GREAT
For enquiries, please contact:
Edward Suen / Angela Chiang
Tel: 2534 5023 / 2534 5016
Fax: 2598 0280
E-mail: edward.suen@octagon.com / angela.chiang@octagon.com