Answers from the workshop bench.

Cast iron is heavier and holds heat for a long time, which suits searing, braising and bread. Tri-ply stainless heats faster, responds to the dial, and handles wine, tomato and vinegar without stripping a seasoning layer. If you cook one steak and want a dark crust, take the skillet. If you reduce a pan sauce every week, take the stainless saute pan. Many kitchens end up with one of each, which is why we keep both in the range.

Fifteen pieces are live on the site: dutch ovens, skillets, grill and crepe pans, saute and stock pots, a carbon steel wok, kettles, bakeware and beech utensils. Every product page carries its SKU, for example PH-SKT-006 for the 25 cm cast iron skillet and PH-DUT-001 for the 26 cm dutch oven. Quote the SKU in your enquiry and we skip a round of questions. We do not list a piece we cannot actually supply.

One working day, Hong Kong time, Monday to Friday. A quotation with freight usually takes two days because we weigh the packed carton before we quote. Send the piece name or SKU, the quantity, the colour or finish, the destination country and city, and the date you need it. If you have a labelling or food-contact declaration requirement, say so at the start. A complete first email saves a day on both sides.

Yes. Wholesale runs start at one master carton, and restaurant groups usually order in mixed pallets of skillets, saute pans and stock pots. Tell us the pieces, quantities and destination port, and whether you want retail-ready cartons or plain ones. We quote in US dollars, ex Hong Kong, and can hold a production run for a stated delivery window once the invoice is settled. Private-label etching and custom enamel colours are available on runs from five hundred pieces.

The factory coat is a starting point, not a finished surface. Wash the pan in warm water, dry it on a low ring for two minutes, then cook something fatty: bacon, roast chicken, fried potatoes. Each hot, oily cook builds a polymerised layer that bonds to the iron, darkens it and makes it slippery. Two months of ordinary cooking beats anything we could ship. Re-season only when the surface turns dull, dry or sticky, or after you strip rust.

Scrub it clean, dry it fully, then wipe a very thin film of a high-smoke-point oil over every surface, inside and out, including the handle. Bake it upside down at 230 degrees C for an hour with foil on the rack below, then let it cool in the oven. Repeat twice for a new pan. The film must be thin: a thick puddle turns gummy and flakes. Repeat once a month or whenever the pan looks patchy. Never season an enamelled pan; the coating is already glass.

When you heat oil past its smoke point on iron, the fat molecules link into a hard, dry film that fuses with the metal surface. That film is the seasoning. It is not a coating that sits on top, so it does not flake off unless you build it too thick or chip it with a spatula. It is also why a well-used pan is darker than a new one, and why the same pan can cook eggs without sticking after a year of regular use.

The chemistry is the same, the metal is different. Carbon steel is thinner and responds to the flame faster, so it is the better choice for high-heat stir fry. It is also more prone to rust if you leave it wet, because there is less iron mass to absorb a knock. Wash it, dry it on the heat, wipe a drop of oil across the surface, and hang it. Repeat after every wet cook and the patina will go black within a few weeks.

Bare and enamelled cast iron works on induction because the iron body itself is magnetic. Tri-ply stainless also works, because the base has a magnetic steel layer in the sandwich. A plain aluminium pan will not, and neither will a copper pan. Test with a fridge magnet: if it sticks firmly to the base, induction will read it. Check the induction line in the specifications table on the product page before you order, and ask us if a piece is unclear.

Enamelled cast iron and bare cast iron are oven-safe to 260 degrees C, and the stainless knobs on our dutch ovens are rated to the same figure. Do not put a cast piece under a grill on maximum with the lid on. Nonstick and ceramic-coated pans are oven-safe to 220 degrees C only, and the coating will degrade faster above that. Never use a glass lid above 200 degrees C, and never take one from the oven straight into cold water.

Our tempered glass lids are rated to 200 degrees C. Use them for simmering on the hob and for low oven braises, not for a 260 degree bake and not under a grill. The real risk is thermal shock: a hot lid set on a cold stone counter, or splashed with cold water, can shatter even though it is tempered. Set it on a cloth or a wooden board. If a lid does shatter in transit, photograph the carton and the pieces the day it arrives and we replace it and cover the freight.

The 26 cm enamelled dutch oven leaves us at about 5.8 kg, the 25 cm skillet at 2.6 kg, and the 27 cm grill pan sits between them. That weight is the point: it is thermal mass, which is why the pan does not drop temperature when a cold steak lands on it. It also means freight is quoted on dead weight, and it means you want the helper handle on the skillet. If weight is a problem for you, the tri-ply stainless range is roughly half as heavy.

Yes, and it is usually surface rust. Scrub it off with steel wool or coarse salt and a little oil until you reach grey metal. Wash, dry it fully, then heat it on a low ring for two minutes to drive off moisture. Wipe a thin film of oil across the whole pan, inside and out, and season it once in the oven at 230 degrees C. A pan with deep pitting that catches a fingernail needs more work; send a photograph and we will say whether it is worth it.

Rust is water plus bare iron plus time, so remove one of the three. Never soak the pan, never leave it in a drying rack, and never stack it in a cupboard while it is still warm and damp. Dry it on a low flame, then wipe a drop of oil over the surface with a paper towel. If your kitchen is humid, keep a folded paper towel in the pan while it is stored. A cast piece that lives dry and oiled will outlast the kitchen.

No for cast iron and carbon steel: the detergent strips the seasoning, the long wet cycle starts rust, and the heat can warp a thin carbon steel wok. No for wooden utensils, which will dry, split and grey. Tri-ply stainless bodies can survive a dishwasher, but the aluminium core edge and the rivets will dull, and we still recommend hand washing. Nonstick pans should always be washed by hand with a soft sponge, because a dishwasher shortens the coating life noticeably.

It depends on how it chipped. A chip from a knock against the sink, another pan or a stone counter is damage, not a manufacturing fault, and it is not covered. A chip that appears on the rim or the interior during ordinary first use, with no impact, is a fault and we will replace the piece. Crazing, the fine web of lines under an intact glaze, is not the same thing and is not a fault by itself. Photograph it in daylight and we will tell you which you have.

Strip it back. Simmer water in the pan for ten minutes to soften the crust, scrape with a wooden spatula, then scour with coarse salt and oil or a stainless scrubber until you see bare grey iron. Wash, dry, and season from scratch with two thin oven cycles. Do not use oven cleaner on enamelled iron, and do not grind a nonstick surface. Sticky seasoning comes from too much oil at too low a heat, so use less oil and a hotter pan next time.

We pack from Hong Kong, normally within three working days of an accepted invoice. Cast pieces travel with corner blocks and a foam ring so the rim never carries the load, and glass lids are sleeved separately. Air freight lands in three to seven days; sea freight takes four to six weeks port to port. The exact service, transit estimate and freight figure are printed on your invoice before you pay, and we quote on packed dead weight because cast iron is heavy.

Keep everything and photograph it the same day: the closed carton with the label, the opened carton as you found it, and the damage in close-up. Email the pictures with your order reference. Do not test the pan on a hob and do not try to glue a lid. We replace the piece and we cover that freight, including the return of the broken item if the carrier wants to inspect it. A claim raised weeks later with the packaging gone is very hard to prove.

Not for a change of mind. Once a pan has been heated and oiled, the seasoning has bonded to the iron and the piece cannot be sold as new, so it cannot be returned simply because you wanted another size or colour. Unused, unseasoned pieces in the original wrap come back within fourteen days of delivery, with you paying return freight. A genuine manufacturing fault is a different matter: we cover that in full, used or not.

You are the importer and you pay import duty, VAT or GST, and clearance charges, unless the invoice says DDP in writing. If a parcel is refused, or the receiver cannot be reached or will not pay duty, the carrier returns it to us and we treat that as a change of mind on arrival: we refund the goods value less the freight we actually paid both ways, and we pass on any duty charged. Tell us early if a consignment is stuck and we will chase the forwarder.

Yes. We give twelve months against manufacturing defect on cast and stainless bodies, and ninety days on coatings and nonstick surfaces, which wear with heat and are consumables. The warranty covers a cracked casting, flaking enamel from a sound piece, a delaminated tri-ply base and a faulty kettle thermostat. It does not cover thermal shock, rust from wet storage, burnt-on carbon, dishwasher damage or commercial-volume abuse. Write with photographs and your order reference and we will assess it.

This site is operated by the Hong Kong trading company named in the company block on this page. That company is the seller on the invoice, it holds the commercial record, and it is the party you correspond with for a claim. We are a trading house, not the foundry: we commission the runs, inspect the cartons in Hong Kong, pack them and ship them. The pieces are designed with our suppliers and made to our specification.

Our ceramic nonstick coatings are PFOA-free, and the stainless bodies are 18/10 food-grade steel with a tri-ply aluminium core that never touches food. Cast iron and enamel are inert once fired. Every run comes with the supplier declaration we hold on file, and we can send the material statement with a quotation if your market needs it for import. If your country requires a specific food-contact certificate, tell us at the enquiry stage and we will confirm what we can supply.

These terms and every contract made under them are governed by the laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, with the Hong Kong courts having exclusive jurisdiction. Personal data is handled under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance: enquiry records are deleted after twenty-four months, order and accounting records are kept for seven years, and claim photographs are stored with the order. Our privacy page sets out the detail, including how to ask for a copy or deletion.

We are a trading house rather than a shopfront, so there is no walk-in showroom and no fixed opening hours. We do hold working stock in Hong Kong, and for a wholesale buyer we can arrange to show samples by appointment or send a sample piece on loan where the order size justifies it. Retail buyers should rely on the product photographs, the specification table and the answers here; if a dimension or weight is critical, ask us and we will measure the actual carton.