Hong Kong – Must Eats

Today I am flying to Hong Kong, for the third time in less than a year. I just adore Hong Kong, it is Asia’s food paradise as far as I am concerned. The amazing Chinese food combined with the British food and international fare is everything I could want and more. I could die very happily stuffing myself with dim-sum for the rest of my days while basking in their never ending sunshine. As I was planning on where to eat on this trip, it occurred to me that I never actually finished my Must Eats piece from my last trip, so I do apologize for that, but as I always say, better late than never. If you are planning a trip to Hong Kong, this and my last article, 10 Must Eats in Hong Kong will give an amazing array of foods to eat while exploring the city.  After a few days in Hong Kong, I’ll be heading straight to London, so if you want to keep abreast of all my travels follow me on Instagram, or my new YouTube VLOG,

Lin Heung – Our first stop was Lin Heung, a traditional two story tea house where they still serve the dim sum on carts pushed around the restaurant. This place isn’t fancy but its old school charm and cheap prices keep the placed packed all day long. Our flight arrived early in the morning, so we headed straight there from the airport, it’s an easy walk from central station. When we arrived around 8am the place was half full, and we found ourselves a couple of seats. The Tea server prepared our tea and gave us a card to present to the trolley dollies. There are no signs and no English, you can have a look inside the baskets though and decide if you want to try it. We decided just to go for it and took a plate of most of the items that came around. The spring rolls were one of my favourites, as the skins were crispy shards of golden deliciousness, with a juicy meat and vegetable filling. We also enjoyed the the charsiu buns, and wontons. TFB enjoyed the shrimp and liver shoamai but I found them a tad gamey. The traditional rice rolls were also very popular. It wasn’t too busy when we came so we were able to just take what is being offered, but I have heard if you come late it is a free for all with food being snatched from the carts the moment it leaves the kitchen so choose your visiting time wisely. My top tip is to go early (7am-8am), when we passed around lunch time a few days later it was packed. Located at 162 Wellington St, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.

The Pawn – One of my favourite things to do while in Hong Kong is to enjoy one of the many free flow brunches that are on offer throughout the city. There are so many, but I couldn’t resist Tom Aikens’ The Pawn because it also offered British dishes. The three course brunch menu costs 495 HKD, plus an extra 100HKD to add 2 hours of free flow Bloody Marys, wine, and Rose Moet Champagne. After perusing the menu and sipping a glass of champagne the first course brunch platter was brought fourth.  The brunch platter was a mix of starters including avocado toast, crab, spinach and bacon, marinated veggie,homemade ricotta, and the best fat chips I have eaten in a long time. We also had french toast with blackberry caramel and mascarpone. For the main dish you can choose from the selection provided, TFB opted for the The Full English, while I couldn’t resist the Eggs Benedict. The breakfast was especially good, the black pudding in particular was a nice treat. Last up was the dessert platter, a mix of creme brulee, chocolate mousse, cupcake, macaroon, cheesecake and choux buns.  The best thing about this dessert platter was that it was unlimited, so despite being extra full we ordered up a few more of our favourites which included the choux buns and Creme brulee. Paired with the lovely outdoor terrace and the never ending booze we had a wonderful brunch, that was pretty hard to beat and worth every penny. Located at 62 Johnston Road Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Yum Cha – I was very excited to go to Yum Cha after I saw the videos of their amazing dim sum on a fellow food bloggers instagram. The lure of this place is the incredibly cute and adorable animal shaped dim sum. The menu is large and has plenty of other classic dishes too, but the dim sum are the stars. We of course had to get the little piggy buns. These were stuffed with char siu, I cant say they are the best char siu buns we had, that honour belongs to Tim Ho Wan, but they were tasty all the same. We also got the oozing custard dumplings. The little orange buns have eyes, and when you make a hole with your chopsticks and gently push down, you can have him vomit the sweet chocolatey custard. You can see my video on instagram, just be careful not to push too hard, or you’ll cave in his skull like I did (oops). We also tried their sweet & sour pork, this is one of my favourite dishes, and I didn’t get to eat it nearly enough on my last visit so wanted to make sure I got plenty this time round. With a side of chargrilled pineapple this was a really good version, the chunks of pork were so crispy and the sauce had the perfect balance. Overall a place not to be missed, just be sure to come just before opening as the queues are legendary.   3/F, 20-22, Granville Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Desserts – Hong Kong is a great city for dessert lovers, and we managed to try quite a few over the course of a weekend. One store I was dying to visit was the chimney ice cream place. I had missed out on trying the Hungarian pastry when in Budapest, so when I found out that one of the big trends in HK right now are the chimney cakes filled with ice cream  I had to give it a try. There are four kinds of cones available, I went for the milk ice cream topped with popcorn and chocolate sauce. It was absolutely scrummy, and thankfully I managed to finish it before it melted. Located at 9 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s most famous dessert is probably the egg tarts, and although I enjoyed more than my fair share last time,  we  popped to Tai Cheong Bakery to give theirs a go. After tasting he sweet and crumbly pastry is filled with a creamy yolky filling, it was easy to tell why this is one of the most famous places in the city to eat them.  And at only $9 a piece, you could eat about 15 without breaking the bank.  Located at 35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, Hong Kong

Lastly we went to Oddies, for their ice cream and flavoured egg waffle. This was top of my list on my last visit, but there just wasn’t time. There are loads of different varieties of egg waffle including green tea and red velvet but I could resist the allure of the nutella ones. The waffle was piled up with nutella, cookie dough and ice cream and topped with more nutella. This was orgasmically good, TFB hardly got a look in. It is a must try for sure. I hope that this is one trend that makes it to Korea very soon. Located at 45 Gough Street, Central, Hong Kong.