Real name Kent Wong, Uncle K has enjoyed recent virality with his exploration of the neighbourhoodly side of Hong Kong eating
It was fortuitous that Kent Wong, known by his foodie moniker Uncle K, grew to become a big name within Hong Kong’s online food ecosystem.
In almost every video he has shared online, Kent dons his ever-familiar browline glasses and baseball cap and sets off into a restaurant, possibly well-known or perhaps not, and details, with enthusiasm, how good the food is. English and Chinese subtitles match his Cantonese narration.
From noodle shops in Tok Kwu Wan and San Po Kong, dim sum in Tsuen Wan and Shek Kip Mei, and cha chaan tengs in Kowloon City and Tai Hang to fancy Western dining in Central and Admiralty, Kent has eaten everywhere and goes anywhere, documenting more than 200 restaurants in such fashion.
“ At the beginning [of this project], I did not want to become an influencer or foodie,” Kent tells Foodie. It was a school project his daughter was creating in 2023 that first introduced him to the worlds of video and editing.
“I Googled how to edit videos and film videos. We went out to eat to film a video [for Xiahongshu]. For the first video, I wore my glasses so people don’t recognise me.”
The video documented Kent and his daughter on a visit to Honbo’s now closed Wan Chai location. “It was five minutes long and very boring.” Yet this invigorated him to create more. “After the pandemic ended, I wanted to help drive more business for restaurants now that people are coming back to Hong Kong. I kept going.”
Kent’s first narrated reel in his roaming Hong Kong restaurant series, released Nov. 11 last year, covered a cart noodle shop in Sheung Shui and earned him more than 3,500 likes and 250,000 views. Uploading two, sometimes three, videos a week, he quickly shot to local fame, with more than 140,000 followers on Instagram as of today.
Much to the chagrin of his fans, this is not his full-time job. “I have been working in logistics for the last twenty years, doing import and export from the US, Europe, and Asia to and from Hong Kong.”
“ I need to go everywhere in Hong Kong to my customers. After meeting with my customer, I will ask them if there are any good restaurants around here and check them out.”
Kent does not discriminate. He has visited plenty of cha chaan tengs, bing sutts, dai pai dongs, and impromptu dim sum haunts, but also five-star Western hotels and fine-dining establishments in Hong Kong for meals. He has also featured numerous restaurants in Shenzhen and Japan. “There is no limitation of where I go, as long as it is affordable.”
From instant virality in late 2024 to today, the Instagram foodie sees his account as a “win, win, win situation.”
Kent explains, “I help the restaurant with business, people like my video, and people go to these restaurants and feel happy.”
He has collaborated with other Hong Kong-based Instagram foodies, such as Lukian Wang and Spoon Chan, covering street food and Indonesian restaurants respectively. Kent notes of more future collaborations on the horizon.
Ultimately, his online food journalling has become a family affair. “Creating these videos has improved the relationship with my daughter a lot,” he adds.
“She is proud that her dad is a content creator. When she is FaceTiming with her classmates, she will say to her friends that her dad is famous and [explain] how they make the videos together.”
This personal achievement feeds into Kent’s ultimate goal of promoting Hong Kong everywhere. “I think Hong Kong restaurants need to do more promotion with videos online to show more people to come to Hong Kong.
I want show the world that this is Hong Kong with our great restaurants. The inclusion of English subtitles allow me to connect with everyone, not just in Hong Kong.”
Riding the wave of his online popularity, with many seeing him as a source for true foodie finds, Kent is penning a book to cover his personal recommendations across the city. “The book will be covering Hong Kong in a map of the best places to eat.”
He is aiming for an early July publication date to release his edible verdicts ahead of the Hong Kong Book Fair hosted at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, with both Cantonese and English editions available online and to order on Amazon.
Scope out where Uncle K is heading next to eat on his Instagram account
