MORE GOOD, the Hong Kong food charity 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 NGO’s 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, MORE GOOD prepared and distributed 15,700+ meals, organized 90+ volunteering sessions, and supported 4 communities per week.
Following a successful year of giving back with MORE GOOD, ANDŌ carries 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 1 rice or noodle dish, 1 main course, and 2 types of vegetables, of which 160 – 200 boxes will be distributed out to communities in need.
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, 1 Michelin-starred Korean restaurant Hansik Goo, 2 Michelin-starred French fine dining restaurant Amber, 2 Michelin-starred modern French-Japanese restaurant Ecriture, elevated Neapolitan restaurant Estro and Simon Rogan’s 1 Michelin-starred and Michelin Green Star recipient, Roganic Hong Kong. More restaurants will be announced in due course throughout the calender 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 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 partici ple 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.