One of the 'not to be missed' food things in HK is the plentifulness of desserts. There's traditional traditional asian "sweet soup" dessert, contemporary asian desserts, as well as westernised desserts (including icecream!).
For contemporary hongky desserts, we went to Honeymoon Desserts ( 滿記甜品). These are seriously - ALL over HK. It used to be good but nowadays, better quality can be found elsewhere. But because of convenience (and the need for a place to sit and eat during the day), we visited this dessert place many times.
One of our favourite honky desserts is the Mango Pompelo and Sago sweet soup. At Honeymoon Desserts, this was just average, but refreshing nonetheless after being in 90% humidity and shopping all day and night. My partner decided to add grass jelly to his. Similarly average though, I think.
Mango pompelo and sago sweet soup
mango pompelo and sago sweet soup with grass
My parents like the more traditional type of sweet soups - such as the walnut sweet soup with tofu pudding and the black sesame sweet woup with thai black glutinous rice. As they don't frequent other dessert places quite as much as my partner and I, I believe that they found the desserts to be OK (possibly a bit on the sweet side though).
Tofu pudding and walnut sweet soup
sesame soup and thai black glutinous riceWhilst Honeymoon Desserts have declined in quality over the years, many good quality new dessert places have sprung up all over town. One of these is called Five generations dessert (五代同糖). Famous desserts at this place includes "sawdust pudding" (木槺布甸) of different flavours. Sawdust pudding comprises of layers of whipped cream and condensed milk (I think) and biscuit crumbs - oreos, in my case. This tastes a bit like icecream... like, cookies and cream icecream, but a bit more creamy - OR it's kind of like an Oreo McFlurry with heaps and heaps of Oreo :). It's supposed to be best tasting when frozen well.
Oreo sawdust pudding
Another famous type of dessert at this place is the shaved ice (Taiwanese style - 雪花冰), which again, can be ordered in many flavours (e.g. chocolate, taro, mango, green tea). Our choice for the day was mango with pompelo. Shaved ice is OMG awesomeness!!! It's sooooooo good!!! Indescribable really. The shaved ice is like an icey icecream, super mangoey (in my case) and the shavedness brings about a really light texture. Healthy icecream accompanied by lots of mango and pompelo shavings and mango juice. Definately need this in Australia!!! *drools*
mango pompelo shaved iceWe also ordered a dessert tasting plate to share between the three of us. From the left, there is the creme caramel, the strawberry crumble, chocolate fondant, and green tea icecream. I'm not a fan of creme caramels, but my friend and my partner absolutely loved it! I tried a bit... it was super creamy and sweet. The strawberry crumble was also okay, but not my cup of tea. What WAS my cup of tea was the chocolate fondant. Perfectly soft centered with the chocolate molten just ooozzzinnnggg out when you crack it open. Very chocolately and very satisfying. YUM. The green-tea iceacream was just normal LOL
Dessert tasting plate
My partner's relatives also took us to a famous authentic traditional dessert place in Sheung Wan called Yuen Kee Dessert (源记甜品). It's supposed to have been a family owned business for 100 odd years (and possibly the oldest dessert place in HK). Being fully traditional, there are some popular contemporary favourites which aren't available here - not even mango with sago. As such, my partner ordered sweet steamed egg (炖蛋). This is eggy, lighter than custard, but super super sweet. Stuff that my partner can eat bowls and bowls of, but I can only like a spoonful.
Steamed egg dessert
I opted for an almond sweet soup. This was not your powered stuff. I could tell that this was super super almondy, hopefully grinded by the shop themselves. It was smooth, just the right thickness, maybe just a touch too sweet - but definately left you feeling warm and good inside. The shop was packed out on the night we were there - so they must still be standing after 100 years for a reason!
Almond sweet soup
Another must visit dessert outlet for us is
Hui Lau San (許留山). We met up with one of our friends who currently lives in Taiwan, and he absolutely loves this place! Must be because of the mangoness. My partner ordered the mango with sago overload. I thought that the sago bits were sitcking together a bit too much - not as nice as it is in other dessert places.
Mango with lots of sago
On another occasion, we ordered a trio of mango desserts. There's the glutinous rice balls with mango in mango juice, mango sorbet with mango bits and birds-nesty type stuff, as well as a mango lo mai chi. Again, this was all very mangoey but average ish.
Trio of mango dessertsWhat I think Hui Lau San is experted on are their drinks. No-one can beat how awesome their drinks are. I LOVE their aloe, mango and coconut sago drink. It's simply THE BEST! It's awesomely refreshing, just the right sweetness, with aloe jelly and the sago and the mango bits being really really amazingness. I could drink this everyday! (but then I'll be like 100kgs) LOL
aloe mango coconut sago drinkOne of the dessert places that my partner and I used to love and go to repeatedly is
Lucky Dessert (發記甜品). This used to be in Causeway Bay behind Sogo, but has since moved. There's a few stores now, one still in Causeway, and one in Mong Kok and a few other's elsewhere. As it was soooo hot that night, and I felt like shaved ice (healthy icecream :P), so I ordered a mango shaved ice. Maybe it was the lack of mango juice everywhere, but this was less yummy compared to the one at Five Generations Dessert, but it was still nice. Served with chunks of fresh mango? Mmmm.
Mango shaved iceMy partner ordered a mango puff. This was ... umm... interesting? I'm quite undecided about this. Yes, the pastry smelt amazing~! and there was soooo much mango in this. BUT... the mango was warm because the whole thing was baked fresh! They need someway of making the pastry fresh whilst keeping the mango cold. That would be perfect. But as it is now, the mango is warm and mushy and not quite how I like it.
Mango puff
So enough of asian desserts, onto icecreams! :) Everytime I go to HK, I simply HAVE to have Häagen-Dazs. Possibly the yummiest icecream place ever! kekeke. On one occasion, I ordered a scoop of chocolate cookie fudge. It was sooo decadent. Chocolatey, with chocolate cookies and super smooth and rich and just deliciousness!!! :)
Chocolate cookie puff
Another time when we ate in at a Häagen-Dazs shop, my partner ordered the "Tiramisu Charm". This comprised of a small Tiramisu cake with blobs of coffee ice cream on top and served with 2 icecream balls (baileys and tiramisu). This was very yum apart from the twig looking thing which decorated the tiramisu. According to the waiter, "it's edible, everything on the plate is edible". However, this twiggy-looking thing is a spaghetti which has been ovened and deep fried and tastes like... yummm... plastic? No - don't eat it. LOL. However, the tiramisu itself as well as the ice-cream blobs were simply awesome!
Tiramisu charmI ordered the "Halloween surprise!". I couldn't not order it. It was in the shape of a burger! Admitedly, it looked more "burger-like" in the photo. The top, middle and bottom layers were sponge cake. Mint leaves scattered throughout with peach bits EVERYWHERE, a layer of chocolate icecream - all sitting on a HUGE bed of strawberries. To be completely honest - I didn't think there was enough icecream in this. Wayyyy too many peaces (which I don't eat) and waaaayyy too many mint leaves. It met the "surprise" element as it doesn't have a description - but as to the "halloween" bit... how is a burger halloween?!?!
Halloween SurpriseAnother chocolate icecream place we HAD to try (as recommended by a friend) was
Awfully Chocolate. This is a relatively new icecream/chocolate cake place in Hong Kong but it's a franchise which is in several Asian countries (e.g. Singapore, Jakarta, Taipei). At the particular branch we visited, they didn't even have the chocolate cake - they ONLY had the icecream. So I guess the menu was - one scoop or two? LOL Surprisingly, for serving just one tub of icecream, there were FOUR (yes FOUR!!!) people behind the counter. So one person to scoop my icecream and one person to collect my money and one person to give me change and one person to... chat to me?
Awfully chocolateWeird service aside, the chocolate "Hei" icecream was simply heavenly! OMG sooooooo chocolatey rich. Dark ish so not too sweet. It was extremely decadent and extremely filling. It's that type of icecream that you can't eat too much of at one time but you'd just keep coming back for more and more. Pretty awfully chocolatey.
double scoop of "Hei" icecreamLast but not least - not really a dessert - was a high tea with several friends. We had this at Spasso, an Italian restaurant and bar on the terrace at Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui.
High teaTraditionally three tiered, the first had carrot cake, cheese cake and scone with Devonshire cream and jam. My partner was the only one of us who had the carrot cake (we weren't fans) and he said that it was really really awesome carrot cake. He also really liked the cheese cake. This was really quite dense and rich and really really cheesey. Not too bad. The scones were light and OK too.
carrot cake, cheese cake, sconesThe second tier was actually my favourite. Homemade pastries (sausage puff pastry), sandwiches (cucumber, smoked salmon) and prosciutto with bread roll. So it wasn't the best sandwiches I've ever had, but a bit of savouriness satisfied me quite well. Especially the sausage puff pastry - YUM (almost as good as the cheesey sausages you get on the street :P).
sandwiches and pastriesLast tier had truffles, choc-dipped strawberries, and chocolate tubs with rasperry and blueberry. The strawberries were not as nice as those you get in Australia. The truffles were super super soft and really really chocolatey and cocoay coated. Mmm... And the fruit choc cups? Well, I actually didn't eat them. I don't do raspberry or blueberry haha. However, my friends said that it was pretty good.
chocolatesHigh tea was served with tea or coffee. I chose an iced mocha. This was..... um........ average?
iced mochaAll up, there's desserts of all kind available in HK - and you can eat them til super late at night. I'm definately missing my mango desserts and
Häagen-Dazs and Awfully Chocolate. Why is Sydney so boring sometimes? *sighz*
五代同堂 (Five Generations Dessert):Shop G11, G/F Elizabeth HouseNo. 250-254 Gloucester RoadCauseway Bay, Hong KongTel: +852 3486 852825-31 Carnarvon Rd.,
Tsim Sha Tsui,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2723 3383
源记甜品 (Yuen Kee)
G/F, 32 Centre
Street, Sai Ying Pun
Tel: +852 2548 8687
Honeymoon Dessert: http://www.honeymoon-dessert.com/en_us/許留山 Hui Lau San : www.hkhls.com
發記甜品 Lucky Desserts : http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=15878
Häagen-Dazs : http://www.haagen-dazs.com.hk/html/eng/front/index.html
Awfully Chocolate : http://www.awfullychocolate.com/
Spasso : http://www.spassoristorante-bar.com.hk/
cream and jam, chocolate sauce and maple syrup
high tea 3-tiered stand
waffles with ice-cream and chocolate sauce
