‘I make my own milk tea’: Japanese artist on her love for Hong Kong cuisine, topic of her exhibition in the city

‘I make my own milk tea’: Japanese artist on her love for Hong Kong cuisine, topic of her exhibition in the city

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The illustration of a waiter at work in Kam Wah Cafe in Prince Edward, Kowloon – known for its milk tea and pineapple buns – has been fashioned into the promotional image for her exhibition in Hong Kong, scheduled to open at Word by Word Book Store in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island on April 13 and which will run until May 12.

“The Taste of Hong Kong Through My Eyes” will feature a selection of her watercolour paintings depicting Hong Kong foods, many of which were exhibited in Tokyo in 2023 under the title “Have You Eaten Yet?”.

The exhibition is curated by Kennis Chan, who connected with Onodera over food more than five years ago and discovered a kindred spirit in her.

Onodera enjoys a bowl of noodles in Kam Tin, Hong Kong. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera
Everyday foods such as blanched greens are of interest to Onodera. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera
“Because of Onodera-san, I started to notice Hong Kong’s everyday colours – from the wet markets and cha chaan teng to porcelain painting and Beiwei-style calligraphy of store signs,” she says. “I began to rediscover this overlooked yet always present part of our local culture.”

She uses the image of the pineapple-bun-wielding waiter as an example of how Onodera is able to crystallise the small details of daily life in her work. “There’s a stillness to it. She’s able to capture a beautiful moment that many of us wouldn’t have even noticed.

“This is why I wanted to showcase Onodera’s work in Hong Kong.”

Onodera’s illustrations have also been printed on handkerchiefs. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera
Onodera will also host two talks through a Japanese/Cantonese interpreter on April 14 and April 20, sharing her thoughts on her favourite Hong Kong dishes, the relationship between Hong Kong and Japan in the 1980s and 1990s, and the trials and tribulations of trying to recreate Cantonese cuisine at home in Tokyo.
Whether it is a simple bamboo steamer full of pearlescent shrimp dumplings, or a vignette of a teahouse as seen from the streets, there is an honesty and charm to Onodera’s paintings, which she says are purely “records” of Hong Kong life that she wishes to preserve as a visitor to the city.

Often, her sketches will feature everyday people she comes across – cooks, waiters, diners – as well as the adorable cats she encounters on her walks through the streets.

When Lin Heung Tea House closed down in August 2022, she posted a sketch of the restaurant with the caption, “I cried thinking of everyone’s faces and food I ate so many times”.

Onodera says she first fell in love with Chinese cuisine as a child growing up in Yokohama, south of Tokyo – her great-grandfather was a ship’s captain and her grandfather worked in shipping – and on the rare occasions her family dined out, they would invariably try out one of the many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown.
Eventually, she got the chance to travel to Hong Kong in 1998 – a trip to see her idol, the late singer Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing, whose music she had discovered a year earlier. It was a visit that changed her life, and ignited an insatiable curiosity about the city’s food and culture.

Other than during the Covid-19 era, Onodera would visit several times a year, each time finding new inspiration through food and nature.

“It is also to learn about the unpretentious lifestyle of the people of Hong Kong,” she explains. “I would like to know more about home cooking. I want to know why I am so attracted to Hong Kong, especially through food.”

A trio of paintings featuring Hong Kong wet market stalls on display at Onodera’s previous exhibition in Tokyo. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

Onodera last visited Hong Kong just a few months ago, in January, where she met Word by Word’s founder Michael Lui Ka-chun; the two met more than a decade ago at a gallery in Tokyo, bonded over their love of food (back then, Lui was still the editor of Eat and Travel Weekly magazine) and have kept in touch ever since.

“I stayed at a friend’s house, joined her family for dinner, went for a walk in Ap Lei Chau and bought some dry ingredients for the soups I will make in Japan,” the artist says.

During our video call, she proudly brandishes a bottle of sweet vinegar, explaining how she bought it on a visit to Yuet Wo Soy Sauce factory during that trip.
Onodera with some of her work in Causeway Bay. She also likes to draw Hong Kong’s many shop cats. Photo: Jonathan Wong

She also shows off a haul of dried conch and morel mushrooms and shares that she also stocks up on Chinese medicinal herbs and Black and White evaporated milk whenever she comes over, despite the considerable weight it adds to her suitcase.

“I make my own milk tea,” she says, saying that the versions she can find in Tokyo’s few cha chaan teng-style cafes are not quite up to scratch because they use Japanese evaporated milk, which she says is not as rich or creamy. “I also blend my own tea leaves,” she adds.

Onodera has become something of an ambassador for Hong Kong in Japan, her exhibitions in Tokyo flying the flag for the city’s food culture.

Onodera finds inspiration whenever she is in Hong Kong, such as at this snake soup restaurant. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera
Steamed har gao, or shrimp dumplings, are one of Onodera’s favourite dim sum. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

The illustrator says that there tends to be three types of people who come to her exhibitions in Japan. The first would be local fans of Hong Kong culture – “These are people who want to experience a bit of Hong Kong’s atmosphere even if they are in Japan,” she says.

Another would be Hongkongers living in Japan. “They want to see how Japanese people express Hong Kong. I hope these people will not be disappointed. I hope to express the atmosphere and colours that are unique to Hong Kong, not the stereotypical image of Hong Kong,” she says.

The third and final category are simply passers-by – people who happen to stop by the gallery and know nothing about Hong Kong. “I want to convey to these people the charms of Hong Kong that cannot be expressed in travel guidebooks and get them interested in the city,” says Onodera.

Dim sum such as siu mai features often in Onodera’s works. Photo: Mitsuko Onodera

“In particular, many Japanese people are completely unaware of the differences between Taiwan and Hong Kong, so I would be happy if I could give them a taste of what kind of city it is through my paintings. Some of them said, ‘I didn’t know Hong Kong was such a city. I want to visit there.’”

“The Taste of Hong Kong Through My Eyes” by Mitsuko Onodera will be exhibited at Word by Word Book Store (1/F, Foo Tak Building, 365-367 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai) from April 13 to May 12, 2024

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