Innovative Menus Add Spice to Ocean Park’s Halloween Fest
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Beef lasagne
Gourmet Dishes Featuring Themes from Chinese and Western Ghost Stories to Excite Taste Buds
(4 September 2014 – Hong Kong) Halloween Fest, the most anticipated annual event at Ocean Park, is back again this year with a series of spooktacular food creations to bring guests a fun and scrumptious Halloween experience!
From 14 September – 31 October, guests can get a flavour of the creative dishes, inspired from traditional Chinese folk tales of the macabre and Western ghostly legends, on specific event dates, which is sure to embark adults and kids on a “tongue-in-cheek”, as well as “mouth-watering” journey”!
During the Halloween period, Café Ocean transforms into a “Hall of Returning Spirits” for the whole family. The entrance is flanked by imposing spirit guardians with glowing eyes to welcome guests for a spine-chilling meal.
Spooky lanterns hang from the ceiling and sacrificial paper offerings for Chinese funerals lie scattered around the venue as guests make their way to their dining table covered with placements resembling Chinese Ouija board. Over in a dark corner, a person resembling monk recites mantras to the eerie tune of his lute. Waiters and waitresses dressed up as paper dolls await to serve guestswith creepily delicious set menus.
To continue with the eerie Chinese-theme, the innovative culinary team at Café Ocean has created a deliciously derelict Chinese-inspired Halloween Fest set menu, “Freaky Chinese Folklore”, priced at HK$288.
The menu starts off with a Roasted Chicken Salad with Fresh Fruits and Yogurt in a creative cucumber “coffin”, followed with a Traditional Onion Soup, poured out of an earthenware pot used for brewing traditional Chinese medicine by the waiter, into drinking bowls for rice wine, drowning a Roti Pratha voodoo doll.
For mains, guests may choose from a Beef Lasagne topped with a Chinese Lucky Charm written in tomato sauce, or a Grilled Medallion Salmon sitting on a pool of Ratatouille and Tomato Sauce “blood”.
The meal then finishes with a creative “East Meets West” dessert of Mixed Berries and Yogurt sprinkled with crumbed cookies and ice cream that is presented eerily in an edible Chinese incense stick holder.
To offer junior guests a fun-filled Halloween experience, Café Ocean has also created a number of funny faces adorning the kids set menu (priced at HK$168) of Buttered Sweet Corns, Spaghetti with Shredded Chicken in a Tangy Tomato Sauce, Smiley Potato Rings, Cookie, a healthy Orange Juice and a Fresh Fruits Cup for dessert.
Up at Polar Adventure, Tuxedos Restaurant adopts the traditional western Halloween pumpkin theme with a scare-licious set menu – Trick or Treat (priced at HK$318 plus 10% service charge).
An appetizer of Roasted Chicken Salad with Fresh Fruits and Yoghurt is served in a baby pumpkin Jack o’ Lantern, followed by a Purée of Pumpkin Soup garnished with whipped cream intricately laced like a web of a venomous spider.
Main course options include the Broiled U.S. Angus Beef Tenderloin with Brown Toast and Ratatouille drizzled with Red Wine Sauce that brings a cute skeleton to life. Similarly spooky is the Pan-seared Cod Fillet with Mashed Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables and Black Truffle Cream Sauce that dresses up a skeleton for the occasion.
To finish the meal off in gruesome style, the Chocolate Crumb Coated Vanilla Ice Cream served in a Fresh Strawberry Purée dessert looks eerily at you like eyeballs in a pool of blood. The menu is also complemented with a special Halloween Fest Mocktail or a chilled glass of Blue Girl beer.
Tuxedos Restaurant also welcomes junior guests with a special Halloween kids menu (priced at HK$188 plus 10% service charge), which includes Buttered Sweet Corn in Vol-au-vent, Spaghetti with Meatballs in a Tangy Tomato Sauce, Smiley Potato Rings, Cookie, Fresh Fruits Cup, a healthy Orange Juice and finish with a Mini Ice Cream Cup to chill their senses.
Aqua City Bakery, the Park’s iconic bakery located at Aqua City, also gets into the scary spirit by introducing a newly designed Green Tea Mousse Cake with Red Bean (HK$380, to be ordered 48 hours in advance), presented sacrilegiously as an edible Chinese incense stick bowl made of chocolate.
A special Halloween Fest Mocktail (HK$58) will also be available at Tuxedos and Café Ocean for visitors to chill with after a spine-tingling time at the Park.
Nick Lee, Senior Food and Beverage Operations Manager, says: “The concept of Halloween Fest opens an opportunity to offer a wide range of attractions catering to both thrill-seeking young adults and families looking for a fun way to celebrate Halloween.
"To complement their overall Halloween experience, we have specially designed a series of innovative dishes that provide different intensity of experiences to our diners. Using Café Ocean as an example, we injected elements from traditional Chinese ghost stories into our dishes, and complemented the overall dining experience by transforming the restaurant into a “Hall of Returning Spirits” which ties-in with the neighbouring haunted attraction, Chinese Mad-icine Hall, to make the experience even more memorable.”
To ensure guests extend the Halloween spirit after their visit, Ocean Park is launching a range of new Halloween merchandises to bring home. This year’s collection includes eerie glow-in-the-dark T-shirts, light-up toys, accessories, devil-horned headbands and Whiskers, the popular and iconic Ocean Park mascot, dressed up in his own Halloween outfit for the very first time!
Gavin Lam, Senior Retail Operations, says, “This year, we introduced a wide range of light-up accessories, convenient to take around, to provide some modicum of comfort when entering our dark haunted attractions. We also hope our guests will take these products away with them, and remember Ocean Park's unique nocturnal experience during Halloween, as well as the usual daytime fun in the sun.”
Ocean Park Halloween Fest, (852) 3923-2323 or visit www.oceanpark.com.hk.
*Set menus may be subject to 10% service charge.
Building on the tremendous reception of last year’s revolutionary all-day-and-night Halloween Fest, Ocean Park will be transformed into a horror film studio this year, again presenting a galore of fun and scares all day and night for the price of one ticket!
Among the horrifying highlights are: an ultimate haunted attraction, H14, that challenges your innermost phobia; and a collaboration with the team behind the horror blockbuster, Rigor Mortis, to bring to life the film’s eerie dilapidated public estate setting and zombie-making process.
The event will also be staging Asia’s first Doraemon-themed Halloween party, featuring the beloved cartoon character’s favourite gadgets such as “Time Machine” and “Anywhere Door”, where guests can travel with Doraemon on a fun and fascinating adventure.
For the first time this year, Ocean Park will introduce two Transforming Attractions, which offer fun-tastic experiences for the entire family until 5pm on each event day before transforming into the most frightful haunted zones for the evening. Topping the event off is a wide range of Halloween shows to spark the Halloween spirit for guests of different ages.
About Ocean Park
Ocean Park is Hong Kong’s unique home grown theme park with a heritage of delivering family fun and fond memories.
Since its opening in January 1977 as a non-profit organisation, Ocean Park has developed itself to be a world-class attraction connecting people with nature, and recognised for its animal husbandry, research and relationship with the community.
Close to 130 million people have visited Hong Kong’s premier park since its inception, and Ocean Park has remained committed to offering adults and children experiences that blend entertainment with education and conservation.
Part of the proceeds from Ocean Park admission tickets and some retail items will go to Ocean Park Conservation Foundation, Hong Kong to support its wildlife conservation projects. Ocean Park is the 2012 recipient of the highly coveted and prestigious APPLAUSE AWARD, presented by Liseberg Amusement Park.
Recognised by the attractions industry worldwide, the award is presented at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Attractions Expo every other year in honour of a theme park for its excellence in management, operations, and creativity.
Ocean Park is the first theme park in Asia to win this international award since its inception in 1980.
Ocean Park – Giving Back to the Community
As Hong Kong People’s Park, Ocean Park has launched different community initiatives to enable Hong Kong people from all walks of life to enjoy the Park’s offerings.
These initiatives include: 1) concessionary admission for Hong Kong residents on their birthdays, Hong Kong residents aged 65 years and above, and holders of Registration Card for People with Disabilities; and 2) sponsored admission to individuals and members of families receiving assistance from the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme (CSSA), and Social Welfare Department member organizations.
The Park also gives donation-in-kind to charitable organizations, offers special rates for school tours, and spearheads many other community caring projects. During the fiscal year of 2012-2013, Ocean Park maintained a total of 13 social care programmes, with over 550,000 beneficiaries and an aggregate value to the community equivalent to HK$150 million.
CREEPY HALLOWEEN DISHES!
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Beef Lasagne, topped with a Chinese Lucky Charm written in tomato sauce
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