Authentic Shaanxi cuisine is gaining popularity, with two outlets opening in Hong Kong within two years.
From China’s Shaanxi Province, the three co-founders of Chang’An Taste graduated from a Hong Kong university in 2011, and while enjoying all Hong Kong offers, sorely missed their indigenous Shaanxi cuisine, reports the latest InvestHK newsletter.
They then came up with the idea of setting up Chang’An Taste, a fast-food shop with “rou jia mo” (meat burger) as the signature snack. Rou jia mo is a popular street food on the mainland, with its recipe dating back more than 1000 years – probably the world’s first burger.
“To ensure our recipe is as authentic as possible, we visited almost every Shaanxi-style restaurant in Xi’an and Hong Kong before coming up with our recipe, which maintains the traditional Shaanxi flavour yet is accommodating to local taste,” says co-founder Davie Wang.
Chang’An Taste launched in August 2014, in the vibrant street-food scene in Hung Hom. On the first day of business, the meat burgers sold out in just 90 minutes.

Encouraging market response led to the opening of the second branch, in Western district, in May last year. This added another popular Shaanxi snack to the menu – liangpi, Chinese-style cold noodles with chili oil and sesame sauce served in small individual packets to cater for different levels of spice tolerance.
While spices and seasonings for the two shops are ordered and shipped directly from Shaanxi, most of the ingredients in Chang’An Taste’s recipes, including meats and greens, are sourced locally, with the team citing food safety as a priority.
“Hong Kong is not only known for its food variety and quality, but also its efforts in ensuring food safety through collaboration among the government, food suppliers and consumers,” says co-founder Neil Han.
Looking ahead, Chang’An Taste plans to expand by establishing takeaway outlets.