Interview with Onno Schreurs

Hailing from the Netherlands, Onno Schreurs is the managing director of Diningcity.com for Hong Kong and China. Operating in 35 different countries worldwide, Diningcity.com is an online dining guide that provides online reservations, similar to Toptable in the UK or OpenTable in the US. In 2010, Schreurs brought Restaurant Week to Shanghai, where it proved to be a success with all the participating restaurants booked out within a day and a winter edition that included more locations soon followed.

However, in Hong Kong, the concept of Schreur's Restaurant Week has not been without controversy. Some question its legitimacy, wondering how HK Restaurant Week can be comparable to New York's more famous version when NYC Restaurant Week is organised by the New York tourist office. One vocal critic even went so far as to label the event on her Twitter account as a "scam" that was created by a PR agency to promote the restaurants represented by the same agency, which stirred up a heated debate on the social media site.

In response, Grebstad Hicks Communications, the PR agency in question, has stated that DiningCity is the organisation behind HK's Restaurant Week and they are merely the agency hired to promote the event. They further add that the HK Tourism Board has in fact both acknowledged and helped promote the event. To clear the air, Asia Tatler Dining talks to the man himself.

Asia Tatler Dining: You have extensive experience with hospitality in Europe in the past. What drew you to China and why did you choose to start in Shanghai?

Onno Schreurs: I see the opportunities in the China market. I chose Shanghai because it is one of the most challenging cities in China. You get excited when you start something there because the city has over 20 million people. Everything is possible.

ATD: Can you explain the concept behind Restaurant Week?

OS: The most important basic of restaurant week is online reservation and fixed price menus for lunch and dinner. If you don't have these basics, you can't call it a restaurant week. Everybody can just collect a few restaurants and set the price for a single menu, but you don't call it a restaurant week. Restaurant week is all about the prix fixe concept.

ATD: We had Springalicious, which is a similar idea, in Hong Kong only in April. How does your Restaurant Week compare to it?

OS: I think Springalicious and our concepts are very different. I don't really focus on fine dining: what we provide to diners is experience dining. Restaurants are turning more casual nowadays in terms of the dining environment and the food. People don't have time for fine dining and they prefer strange combinations in food and casual dining that are more interesting. Even Michelin is giving stars to casual restaurants, especially in some new cities. Experience is the most important part of Restaurant Week and experience dining is what we do.

ATD: How did you pick the restaurants who would participate in Hong Kong Restaurant Week?

OS: First I asked my friends who work in the food industry to give me a list of their favourite restaurants, and then we started approaching the restaurants. Sometimes it's not easy to find the right contact for the restaurants, as we are quite new.

As this is our first event in Hong Kong, we will start with a few restaurants first, take it from there and improve the concepts every six months.

ATD: What's your favourite restaurant in Hong Kong so far?

OS: I think Lily & Bloom is very interesting and I like their concept. Other restaurants that impress me include Hoi King Heen at InterContinental Grand Stanford and I also like the restaurants in Sheraton Hotel. There are many restaurants in Hong Kong that I would like to try.

ATD: We know that your next step is to bring Restaurant Week to Beijing and Macau. Apart from that, do you have other plans for diners in our region?

OS: Lots of other events will be coming. We have Hungry Monday, an event which allows diners to try a restaurant on Mondays for a special price. As it is usually quieter in a restaurant on Monday, restaurateurs are willing to offer a good deal to attract customers. We will also have a Hotel Restaurant Week that is going to be very interesting too, but that's for later.