| Yuet Wo Sauces |  |
What sort of old shop can stand firm in Hong Kong for nearly seventy years?
Once inside the shop, the smell of sauces fills the nostrils. Minced black bean sauce, sesame sauce, shrimp sauce, shacha sauce; plus garlic that has been pickled for six months – one can certainly find more sauces and snacks here than one can ever imagine.
The Yuet Wo shop was founded in 1945 by Mr. Pong who is now over 90 years old. He came to Hong Kong from Guangdong’s Foshan when he was young. After the war he and a few clansmen started a factory on Texaco Road to make sauces, making wine, vinegar, soy sauce and all kinds of marinating sauces; the back of the shop was used for making sauces, and the front was opened for selling their wares.
The sauce masters at Yuet Wo have been working here for decades and they are mostly Tsuen Wan locals. Every day they share “Yuet Wo cooking recipes” with their customers, for example young mothers, after giving birth, will ask how to prepare pig knuckles and ginger cooked in black vinegar, and they get tips on ingredients and cooking method.
In an age where stress is on modernisation, Yuet Wo still uses their traditional production methods to make sauce – selecting raw ingredients, sun-baking them, fermenting, distilling, and all the meticulous steps, they do themselves manually. It is no wonder that Yuet Wo’s business can thrive even when the economy is in a downturn.
| Date founded: | 1945 | |
| Founder: | Old Mr. Pong, and now managed by the second and third generations, together | |
| Address: | G/F, 33 Tsuen Wan Market Street, Tsuen Wan | |
| Telephone: | 2492 3354 | |
| Homepage: | www.yuetwo.com.hk |
