Despite being one of my favourite cities in the world, there are some things about Hong Kong that make me want to scream. One of these things is the supermarkets; unless you go to the ridiculously overpriced City’supers or Greats of the world, you get hectic, overcrowded, narrow-aisled supermarkets where choice is limited, yet you still end up paying more than you should. Meat looks like it never belonged to a cow, pig, chicken or sheep; vegetables have a shelf life of either about a day, or far too long to be remotely healthy; and worst of all, you will leave said supermarket with stress levels at an all time high. Of course we can go to the wet markets and buy cheaper, fresher veggies, but lazy bones like me rarely plan ahead and always end up going for the most convenient option.
In these sorts of situations, what’s more convenient (and headache-friendly) than getting fresh, organic vegetables delivered right to your door? Green Little Frog has just hopped onto the scene to do exactly this.
Green Little Frog is a family-run business that, like many others, wants to make a difference to the planet. What’s different about Green Little Frog, however, is that they grow all their produce on organic farms in Thailand, which use only organic soil and clean, fresh air and water to grow their delicious fruit and vegetables, which are then packed up and personally delivered direct to your door within a mere 36 hours of being harvested.
On the day my goodies were delivered, I wasn’t at home, so the courier sent me a personal text message to let me know that the bag was on my doorstep; before I had even set eyes on the goods, I already knew this was true, high-quality service – something that Hong Kong often lacks…
The cute, reusable bag that was waiting patiently on my doorstep was full of beautiful, colourful goodies, including aubergine, courgettes, sweet corn, cherry tomatoes, Thai baby bananas, pineapple, avocados, little gem lettuce, red cabbage and choi sum.
What you get in your bag depends on what is fresh at the time of harvesting, so although this means you aren’t able to fully plan out meals before it arrives, at the same time it’s kind of like opening a present; you never know what you’re going to get! As soon as I laid out all the produce on the table, I immediately ransacked my cookery books, looking for inspiration for what to have for dinner.
It came down to a char-grilled asparagus, courgette, cherry tomato and haloumi salad (adapted from an Ottolenghi recipe, of which a similar one can be found here) to accompany a garlic and rosemary roast shoulder of lamb, followed by a baby banana split with salted chocolate sauce (recipes for which were created by my wonderful sous-chef).
I used the baby gem lettuce, cherry tomatoes and avocados to prepare a couple of hearty salads for lunch the following days and generally had more than enough fruit and veg to get me through the week ahead, without having to fight the crowds at my local supermarket.
Little Green Frog delivery bags come in two sizes (6-7kg at $600 or 3-4kg at $350, to suit the size of your family) and can be ordered as a one-off delivery or a weekly dose of veggies; the cost per delivery obviously goes down the more you order.
Nothing beats having delicious fresh fruit and vegetables at home, especially when you can be assured that they are 100% organic. You may still have to brave the supermarket aisles for other essentials, but be safe in the knowledge that, as far as organic fruit and veg are concerned, Green Little Frog has you covered.
www.greenlittlefrog.com
