What is the secret ingredient in Pat Chun’s renowned Cantonese delicacies?
“Delicious”, “nutritious” and “safe” are the three words guiding Pat Chun’s managing director Trevor Ng in his ongoing journey to carry on his family’s sauce-making legacy. Founded by his grandfather Ng Wai-sum in 1932, Pat Chun is one of the most prominent sauce brewers in Hong Kong, known for sauces and vinegars handcrafted using traditional seasonal fermentation methods.
Innovating to preserve tradition
From its iconic sweetened vinegar sauce to festive delicacies such as turnip cake, rice dumplings, mooncakes and more, Pat Chun is a treasure trove of pantry staples for many Cantonese families. One of its most popular products is pork knuckle stew, a traditional Cantonese dish cooked with sweet vinegar to restore new mothers’ vitality. “We started selling this dish because it was loved by my grandpa’s family and friends,” reveals Ng.
He approaches his business with the same objective as those who came before him at the helm of Pat Chun: to cook for his family. “My target audience is my mother, wife, children and nephews,” Ng explains. “You need to pour a lot of heart and soul into something like traditional sauce fermentation, which takes three years. People who only care about making a profit efficiently can never do it.” This unwavering perseverance distinguishes Pat Chun’s authentic taste of home in an industry saturated with artificial flavours.
This dedication has also translated into a drive to innovate: “Around two or three years ago, my nephews headed abroad to study and still wanted to taste their grandma’s Cantonese dishes. I packed my mother’s food and pasteurised it with top-tier technology, so the boys could take a piece of home with them. They shared it with their classmates, who also loved the food. That marked the start of us selling prepared dishes,” says Ng. Before launching its pre-cooked meals, Pat Chun invested a lot of resources in experimenting with different pasteurisation technologies and air-tight, antibacterial packaging—and it all circles back to preserving the flavours of home.
Engineering a sustainable space
Traditional vinegar fermentation is one of the most complicated crafts in sauce brewing. Together with HKSTP, Ng created a sustainable manufacturing site tailored to Pat Chun’s specific needs—a three-storey space designed by Ng himself. Before taking over his family business, Ng was a seasoned engineer: “In fact, I was involved in the planning of Hong Kong Science and Technology Park’s phase three.”
The success of fermentation is highly dependent on the environment. “The average factory building does not cut it for manufacturing sauces and condiments,” says Ng. “It takes a lot of time and effort to create a comfortable environment for bacteria and micro-organisms to thrive and do their work. After fermentation, we must also age our products under the sun for the flavour to develop. There are not a lot of places in Hong Kong that allow this, but HKSTP provided us with a suitable environment to expand where space is scarce.” HKSTP also provided Pat Chun with the flexibility to build a factory equipped with sustainable systems tailored to the company’s needs. The new third floor features a roof where Ng installed solar panels that provide energy and electricity to Pat Chun’s office building, designed using his engineering expertise to maximise sunlight absorption. Heat recovery is also utilised in boiling water and pre-heating food to reuse heat produced from cooking—a process that Ng sees as integral to the F&B industry becoming sustainable.
Embracing change
Ng keeps an open mind about the future of traditional vinegar fermentation. “Fermentation technology has not changed in the past 2,000 years—so does that mean it should never change? Perhaps not,” he says.
As for the future of Pat Chun, his response is simple. “At the very least, you will typically find Pat Chun's sweetened vinegar sauce in the destinations Hong Kong people relocate to.”