This year's Wine and Dine Festival will move from the usual venue at Central Harbourfront to over 400 restaurants across the city throughout November, the Tourism Board has announced.

The event was held virtually for the first time last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and a hybrid format will be continued this year.

The board's executive director Dane Cheng Ting-yat said the HK$15 million festival aims to promote the fine dining experience in Hong Kong to the world.

Cheng said: "This year, we are trying something different by bringing the event further to the community into the neighborhood, taking our residents to enjoy the wining and dining scenes in Hong Kong."

Cheng said it's difficult for the event to be held at the Central Harbourfront as people cannot take off their mask to eat and drink at a large-scale gathering under the current anti-epidemic rules.

People can buy the tasting pass online - www.discoverhongkong.com/winedinefestival - from Tuesday and join the City Wine Walk to visit over 50 restaurants and bars in Kennedy Town, Central, Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui, where they can enjoy drinking and tasting dishes with special offers for a limtied time.

The HK$500 digital tasting pass comes with 10 tokens, special discounts and two wine glasses, while the cheaper HK$250 pass has five tokens.

People can use the tokens at the participating restaurants and each drink or dish costs between one and three tokens. They can buy an extra token at HK$50 each.

The first 100 people to have visited 20 restaurants or bars will get a free wine tasting kit and HK$1,000 Future Cruise Credits for any four-night itineraries on Royal Caribbean's Spectrum of the Seas.

People can order tasting kits, priced from HK$250 to HK$750, on the event's website from next Tuesday. The tasting kits containing liquor in glass tubes will be delivered to their homes.

Nine programs will be livestreamed on the event's website from November 6 to 7 and November 13 to 14.

The programs include renowned wine critic James Suckling teaching tasting Bordeaux's en primeur, a Bordeaux-accredited tutor on the art of blending and a special set of five Medoc Grand Cru Classe wines for HK$400.

World class mixologist Antonio Lai Chun-nam and professional chocolate connoisseur Katie Chan will livestream a program at Johnny Walker Bar on Genting Dream, operated by Dream Cruises. Fifteen lucky individuals who watch the online class will get a four-day-three-night cruise package with a double balcony suite.

More than 400 restaurants are offering discounts of up to 30 percent, including 60 Michelin-starred restaurants to provide special menus for a limited time.

The board also invited 18 Chinese chefs to create menus based on customers' preferences. Those who want to try the special "Chinese Omakase" can make a booking for HK$1,000 to HK$3,000 each on the event's website from next Tuesday.

Festival organizers want to try something different this year, says Tourism Board executive director Dane Cheng, inset left, with wine critic James Suckling.

Wine and Dine goes citywide