Neighborhood Gourmet


Neighborhood Gourmet is a Hong Kong variety food reality television series produced by TVB, hosted by Kitty Yuen and King Kong Lee. Each episode Yuen and Lee tour a different neighborhood in or around Hong Kong to scope out the most unusual and best food offerings in that neighborhood. Midway through each episode, two new artistes tag along with the show's two main hosts to sample food during the viewer recommendation segment of the show. These two new artistes will also assist the host during the end cooking competition segment. Series 1 began broadcast on May 3, 2011, TVB Jade weekdays during its 10:30 to 11:00 pm time slot with a total of 29 episodes. Series 2 began broadcast on November 18, 2012, TVB Jade Sundays during its 8:00 to 9:00 pm timeslot with a total of 18 episodes. Series 3 began broadcast on April 26, 2015, on TVB Jade Sundays suring it 7:35 to 8:30 timeslot with an expected 18 episodes total. This series will be filmed abroad focusing on each countries specialty cuisine instead of neighborhoods, but the shows format will remain the same.

Format

In each episode, hosts Kitty Yuen and King Kong Lee explore a different neighborhood in and around the Hong Kong area, sampling unique food offerings and providing their commentary on the food and the atmosphere of the establishments. They also visit food establishments recommended by viewers through blog messages. Towards the latter half of the show, they visit a local restaurant and meet the chef and owner. During their conversations with the chef, they inquire about the uniqueness of the dishes they have sampled, then select a dish to replicate. The chef provides a brief cooking lesson, and with assistance from their side, both Yuen and Lee compete to see who can best duplicate the chef's dish. The outcome is determined by 10 randomly selected passers-bys who taste both dishes and vote on which they prefer by choosing between Yuen's or Lee's cartoon panel. The one with the most votes wins, and the loser receives a punishment decided by the chef.
;Segments:
  • Neighborhood introduction - The two host introduce the neighborhood of each episode.
  • Street sweep - The hosts food tour around the neighborhood.
  • Neighborhood recommendations - The hosts randomly ask locals on the street for good eats recommendations.
  • Restaurant spotlight - The owner and chef of a local restaurant shows their best offered dishes.
  • PK challenge - The hosts choose a dish from the "Restaurant spotlight" segment to duplicate as their competition dish.
  • Choose the winner - 10 Randomly chosen people are asked to taste both teams dishes and choose their favorite. The team with majority points wins.
  • Comments from the chef - The chef from the "Restaurant spotlight" segment critiques the loser on why their dish lost.
  • Loser's punishment - The loser is given a punishment by the chef of the "Restaurant spotlight" segment.
Series 2, the broadcast time was expanded from 20 minutes to 45 minutes per episode. The segments remained the same as the first series with more restaurants featured and the addition of the celebrity guest segments.
;Added segments:
  • Celebrity guest - A Hong Kong celebrity introduces their three favorite dishes from three different restaurants in that neighborhood. Both host try all three dishes and choose which is their favorite. They then go the chosen dish restaurant.
  • Spotlight on the chosen restaurant - The hosts and the celebrity guest go to the chosen restaurant and are introduced to more food offerings from that restaurant. The hosts try each dish and critiques their comments.
Series 3, the show is filmed partially abroad in the nearby Asian countries of Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korean. Each country is featured across a number of episodes, with each episode focusing on a specialty dish from that country instead of neighborhoods. A Hong Kong celebrity tags along with the host in minimal scenes to sample food with them and also serve as the "punisher" during the PK challenge results. The series also finds restaurants of that country's cuisine available in Hong Kong. Both host's are given foreign country assistant's abroad and Hong Kong assistants when they're in Hong Kong. Each episode's final competition sometimes takes place at the country they are visiting and sometimes in Hong Kong at a food establishment that specializes in that country's cuisine.

Series 1

  • Title: Neighborhood Gourmet
  • Broadcast: May 3 - June 10, 2011

Series 2

  • Title: Neighborhood Gourmet 2
  • Broadcast: November 18, 2012 - April 14, 2013

Series 3

  • Title: Neighborhood Gourmet 3
  • Broadcast: April 26, 2015 - August 23, 2015

Assistants

Assistants are new or unknown artistes who tag along with the hosts. A male assistant teams up with Kitty Yuen while King Kong Lee has a female assistant that teams up with him. TVB uses this as a way to promote the new or unknown artistes.
In the first series the assistants accompany the two host almost throughout each entire episode.
In the second series the assistants only accompany the hosts during the viewer restaurants recommendation and final dish replica cooking competition segments.
During the third series, the series is filmed partially in an abroad country and Hong Kong. When the hosts are in the abroad country they have two new or unknown artistes that is local to that country. When they're in Hong Kong, two new Hong Kong artistes accompanies them. Final dish replica cooking completion takes place sometimes in the abroad country and sometimes in Hong Kong at a restaurant themed to that country's local cuisine.
;Series 1
EpisodeKitty YuenKing Kong Lee
1Jacky LeiVanko Wong
2Alan Wan"Kibby" Rosella Lau
3Jacky Lei"Kibby" Rosella Lau
4Jacky LeiVanko Wong
5Jacky LeiVanko Wong
6Alan WanVanko Wong
7Jacky LeiVanko Wong
8Jacky Lei"Kibby" Rosella Lau
9Alan WanVanko Wong
10Jacky LeiVanko Wong
11Jacky Lei"Kibby" Rosella Lau
12Jacky LeiVanko Wong
13Jacky LeiVanko Wong
14Jacky LeiVanko Wong
15Jacky LeiVanko Wong
16Jacky LeiVanko Wong
17Jacky LeiVanko Wong
18Alan WanVanko Wong
19Jacky LeiVanko Wong
20Alan Wan"Kibby" Rosella Lau
21Alan WanVanko Wong
22Alan WanVanko Wong
23Alan WanVanko Wong
24Alan Wan"Kibby" Rosella Lau
25Alan WanVanko Wong
26Jacky Lei"Kibby" Rosella Lau
27Jacky Lei"Kibby" Rosella Lau
28Alan WanVanko Wong
29Bosco Wong
Jacky Lei
Alan Wan
Chrissie Chau
Vanko Wong
"Kibby" Rosella Lau

;Series 2
EpisodeKitty YuenKing Kong Lee
1Penny ChanDevily Leung
2James NgKimmy Kwan
3Penny ChanKimmy Kwan
4Alan WanGemma Choi
5Alan WanGemma Choi
6Penny ChanKimmy Kwan
7James NgGemma Choi
8James NgGemma Choi
9Penny ChanDevily Leung
10Penny ChanKimmy Kwan
11Alan WanKimmy Kwan
12Penny ChanGemma Choi
13Alan WanKimmy Kwan
14Penny ChanGemma Choi
15James NgGemma Choi
16James NgDevily Leung
17Penny ChanDevily Leung
18Nancy Wu
Penny Chan
Evergreen Mak
Gemma Choi

;Series 3

Viewership Ratings

;Series 1
;Series 2
;Series 3

Reception

The pairing of Kitty Yuen and King Kong Lee was well received by viewers. The comic relief and chemistry of the two host lead many to speculate that they were in a May–December romance, which Lee flatly denied by telling reporters that Yuen was too old for him. While Yuen joked with reporters that the two might have a chance to be a couple.
The popularity of their collaboration also lead TVB to cast both as the male and female lead of an upcoming drama called Love as a Predatory Affair , which started filming in May 2015.