I come from a family where none of the girls cook, or even know how. My mother grew up believing home economics was a form of female repression. This combined with the fact my grandfather was a cook – but definitely not a chef – rendered the Wong girls useless in the kitchen.

So we ate out a lot, as in every meal. If we ate in, it was takeaways or leftovers microwaved from previous meals. My diet growing up was a combination of salt, MSG, butter and chemicals from melting plastic containers.

In Hong Kong, the majority of us eat out at least once a day, and over the last 20 years, I’ve seen restaurants here graduate from mediocre chain imports to world-class dining in every genre. But still Hong Kong doesn’t get the international kudos that many other foodie cities do. Why not? For my final “Under the Table” column, I asked my friends in the industry how we can make Hong Kong a better city for dining.

I’m not sure Wagamama would have been a huge international success if it had started in, say, Paris instead of London. London at the time was short of cheap and modern dining spots and Wagamama, as a minimalist-chic-eats alternative, became an instant talking point in London’s media. It was the (English-language) food press that spread the word worldwide and helped make Wagamama a household name. If you look at other globally known restaurants, the majority of them are located in big English-language media hubs: New York, London and, increasingly, Singapore. I believe a lot of this has to do with international publications getting the word out.

But before we do that we need to fix a few things. Hong Kong needs to build some national pride. I think we’re over the dim sum trolleys, Chris Patten’s egg tarts and the Hong Kong Tourist Board’s push on muddy water-tank seafood. We need to start thinking like other dining capitals of the world, whose number one food export is their chefs.

Bo Innovation’s Alvin Leung knows this. He is Hong Kong’s representative at every major food event from the Sydney International Food Festival to the Bangkok Food Festival, delivering nouveau-Hong Kong cookery and attention-grabbing tours de force such as his vile “Sex on the Beach” (an edible condom filled with a gummy cream and laid on a “sandy” mushroom-dusted plate). But he is getting Hong Kong a lot of attention outside our borders and we should applaud him for his wok-and-shock efforts.

Hong Kong needs to support (read: fund) our home-grown talents if we are going to play with the other big boy foodies. Apparently, Hong Kong chefs leave if they are offered 50 cents more elsewhere. They also give the middle finger if they are asked to stay on one more hour than they were expecting. “Better training would give them pride,” says Gerald Li, owner of Liberty Exchange. “[Being a chef] is a career not a job. At the end of a shift, Makoto [Liberty’s executive chef] stays to scrub the kitchen. That is in his training.”

The number one cost for many restaurants is the rent. I’m not so naïve as to expect rents to be lowered to encourage good dining. But the matter does need to be addressed. One of the reasons why we have so many Italian and Japanese restaurants is because their formula has proved successful time and time again. Meaning A+B=$$$$. Food costs are low in these restaurants (even in Japanese cuisine) and dishes can be sold for many times their cost. Profit is driving our menus.

Rent is also the reason why we don’t invest in the décor of our city’s restaurants. We have a culture of signing short-term leases, five years or under. “You only have a short amount of time to recoup your money,” says Alan Lo of the Press Room Group. So why would you bother to make multi-million dollar structural changes and invest in luxurious furnishings, if, in under five years time, you have to give it all back?

It’s got to be said that you are delusional if you start a restaurant with the goal of getting rich. The amount of time and resources that go into running an eatery is overwhelming, and often results in little glory. You have to love the whole shebang – service, entertaining, cleaning, taking care of people. People in this line of work slave seven days a week, give up their holidays and weekends and take shit from their customers. They do it because they can’t imagine themselves doing anything else. And when the customers notice that kind of commitment, the reward is financial, but that should never be the goal.

Stop copycatting. For this to happen, chefs need to exercise their brains and owners need to encourage this and not make menus based only on budgets. But, most importantly, diners need to be more adventurous and stop requesting Caesar salads, seafood over carbs and molten chocolate cakes. We need to evolve our menus. I’m encouraging everyone to order something less familiar before the owners take it off the menu and swap it for Campbell’s soup.

Lose central purchasing. TBLS Chef Que van Dong says the reason why you see the same ingredients everywhere is because of central purchasing. Central purchasing is a hotline chefs call to order their food. If you are not a big buyer (eg. Maxim’s) then to hell with you. You’ll get the wiltiest celery stalks, waygu beef only (because they are not carrying any other types) and the occasional floppy fish fillet. This is mostly because central purchasing deals with suppliers who give them the best deals. So the Hong Kong diner gets to eat ingredients with the lowest costs. This is also why we don’t see an extensive variety of fish, game meats and vegetables on menus. If central purchasing doesn’t have a relationship with a farmer that sells heirloom tomatoes, then you are going to get the same watery cherry tomato as everyone else. Chefs, pick up a basket and go to the wet markets or order direct from the supplier. We beg of you.

Invest in our bread basket. Return mineral water bottles for wash and reuse. Print the name of local farmers on the menu. Eat in lesser known areas to avoid paying for rent not food quality. Be nice to your server – tip them. Put down the camera and dine rather than document. Encourage good restaurants by telling a staff member that you like what they are doing. Run from menus that start with Caesar salads.

And, remember, you know what good food is. You’ve tasted it. I’m talking to the diner, the chef and the owners. Stop compromising for dollar signs. And, if you do, we, Hong Kong diners will reward you with our loyalty.

Angie Wong