Very traditional little shop, nice ladies were helpful with no English, decent prices, tasty bites…read moreto eat, you should try 1-2 of as many as you can

Ming Wah (明華餅家) is the kind of local Chinese bakery does everything well. Located in the heart of…read moreMongkok, they are truly hard to beat: no pretension, awesome prices, efficient service, and above all, delicious products. I honestly wish all bakeries could operate the way they do. There are no English signs and the workers do not speak much English at all. (#1) The place is old school and super local. Instead of grabbing a tray and serving yourself, in this setup the items are out on display in tubs and you point to each one that you want the worker to package for you. There is always a crowd here, so items run out quick. I love their version of the egg tart (蛋撻) and the wife cake (老婆餅) is one of the best I've had. A popular pastry is their hot dog pastry (腸仔包), which is fluffy and almost buttery with every bite. They have an awesome variety of shao bing (燒餅), which they bake and grill almost looking like stuffed pancakes, but they're usually filled with a sweeter ingredient such as bean paste (豆沙), sweetened custard (奶黃), azuki / red bean (紅豆), just to name a few. Everything ranges from $3-7 HKD, which in my book is extremely affordable. Try to target the items you want ahead of time and be sure to bring cash. I wouldn't bother calling ahead of time and I would suggest being patient with the staff when the crowds are fierce. ___________ (#1) If you can't rock the 廣東話, be prepared to point.

Before embarking to Macau for a day trip, we decided to come here for an early 7am breakfast. Since…read moreI didn't get my HK Style French Toast from Australia Dairy Company the other day, I was excited to try it here. Kam Wah Cafe is also famous for their freshly baked Pineapple Bun and Butter. Can't start your day without some HK Milk Tea and Iced Ovaltine. My son said it's a good thing the nai cha in the states are not as good because he was starting to develop an addiction. Lol. For those of you who don't know, it's made with Ceylon leaves, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. The French toast was so damn delicious but a bit indulgent. I do wish I could taste more of the peanuts. My son loved his bolo bao. We also shared a hot bowl of macaroni soup with Spam and lettuce. Thinking back, I regret not trying the Spicy Satay Beef Instant Noodle. I will have to look for this back in the states. The aunties working here are just the most adorable, very kind and welcoming. One of them took the time to help us navigate the huge menu and recommended a few items. I would come back again and again if I could. I have a mad love for these iconic HK Style Cafes aka Cha Chaan Tengs. These affordable quick-paced restaurants were influenced by the city's 150 years of British rule. Aside from the classic breakfast items, they also offer many delicious rice and noodle dishes in the afternoon.

Came here just for their famous pineapple bun with butter! This is a classic HK cha chaan teng…read more(cafe) serving up favourites like satay beef with vermicelli noodles in soup, sandwiches, and of course, a strong HK milk tea. We got here fairly early, so we didn't have to wait for a table. Service was as expected - quick, efficient, and no nonsense. A tell-tale sign of a good HK cafe. The food just hit the spot for me, bringing me right back to my childhood memories of eating this on weekend mornings at our local HK cafe. Note that they don't accept foreign credit cards, so be prepared with cash, Octopus, or Alipay.

Good HK style Chinese Bakery. They open very early. As well, when you walk by you could smell the…read moredelicious baked good smell on the block. Went inside to see what they have to offer. Selection is very standard like any other Chinese bakery (compared to the Canadian ones). I didn't specially make a trip here. It just so happens they are close to the hotel I was staying in. Came here got an egg tart. Very freshly made. Definitely made on the day. Yes it was delicious. I wanted to try their pineapple bun but they charge an outrageous price compared to Canadian bakery. I just felt its not worth it and didn't give it a try. It could be very good.

I first tried a $4.2 HKD slice of cake and that was so bad it put me off from trying the rest of…read moretheir stuff for a while. I later came back to buy a mango cake roll ($35 HKD) for my brother, and that was delicious. A lot of places skimp out on the cream in cake rolls, but not this one. The cake was light and fluffy, not too sweet. My absolute favourite though, was the matcha creme bun ($10 HKD). There's a mango version but it's not as good. The matcha bun is the right amount of sweet with intense green tea flavour. It's big, it tastes great, and its totally worth it. I will miss the bun so much I will dream about it when I return to Canada.

Love, love, love this traditional Chinese bakery in Mong Kok…read more So lucky to have Jacky from This is Asia Tours bring us to this gem on our all day exploration of Hong Kong. Since 1984, the bakery focuses on traditional treats. Loved the banana cake which is light and addictively delicious. The pan fried mochi with sesame seeds is so unique. The shop has a decent line that moves quickly. No surprise that it has been Michelin recommended and featured on Netflix. Next time, I'll try the wife cake.

An tiny store in Mong Kok that sells traditional Cantonese bakery. I came here for the gwong so…read morecake 光酥餅 because it's hard to find it at my local Chinatown. I also had the glutinous mochi cake which was warm, soft and chewy at the same time. There will be s lot of people st the storefront so it can get crowded. Reasonable price. Recommend anyone to get some goodies from here when visiting Hong Kong.

Koi Kei has set the bar on pineapple cakes for me. I am ruined for the rest of my life until I can…read moremake my way back to their shops. You can find the shops in Hong Kong but the prices are more expensive than getting it direct from Macau. There are multiple stores in Macau and from what I could tell, the prices were the same even if you were closer to the ferry. There are boxes of cookie, jerky, etc samples throughout the store and the employees are typically a little pushy to get you in and looking around. I think it's because that's half the battle. Once you're in and you try a sample, you'll walk out with full yellow bags of goodies! Highly recommend: Walnut and peanut brittle which was very light and crunchy vs the American version that feels like you're going to break your teeth! At $15 USD for a generous size box and gorgeous packaging, it was a great souvenir. We got packaged jerky instead of the fresh jerky that you can buy by the pound. The employee said it was the same but the packaged ones come in little 2" sealed chunks. Instructions say to heat it up prior to eating which resulted in a smoky microwave and super hot napalm covered jerky. Pineapple cakes: get the big box. Tender and almost crumbly cake / cookie outside and pineapple filling; you can see the chunks of fruit! Absolute perfection. Shortbread cookies: comes in multiple flavors. My son loved the chocolate chip the best. Some of the packaging at Kee Wah looks similar to Koi Kei but they are not the same. Both are good but Koi Kei is top notch. Can't wait to visit again!

Koi Kei is famous in Hong Kong and Macau. Its originated from Macau and is Macau number one selling…read moresouvenir. They are famous for their peanut candy. One thing I do not understand is that the items in the HK Koi Kei is way more expensive than the Macau Koi Kei. I suggest you get it at Macau. Also the Macau Koi Kei is crazy packed full of people and HK Koi Kei is very quiet. I mean of course if you do not want to travel to Macau then you might as well get it here. I do enjoy their products!

There are a variety of breads, cookies, Chinese pastries, mooncakes, and more. My go-tos include…read morethe almond cookie, salted egg yolk with lotus seed paste pastry, and the traditional wife cake. I used to be a fan of this bakery but the attitude that I get from the staff is outrageous. The store set up is typical of Kee Wah bakeries and the store is packed with customers, making it hard to navigate through the store. The staff don't help either with little to no interest in assisting customers to the cashier end of the store. Do you get the picture yet? When the store is crowded and no one can make turns or walk over to pay without pushing one another, that's a problem. I almost gave up shopping here because I found it annoying. Worst part is, the "greeters" standing at the store front literally just stand there. No "hello" or anything. Once I found all the goods I wanted and made my way over to pay, the cashier acted like she didn't want to do her job. Honey, you're in retail and need to spice up your customer service skills. Needless to say I'm not coming back to this location.

It was nice to have a Kee Wah nearby where I was staying. At least I knew there was an…read moreabove-average Chinese bakery that I can just grab a light breakfast. Sometimes, just having a coconut or pineapple bun was enough for me in the morning. The breads are fresh here the bakery has more fancy baked goods if you needed to do some gift shopping. The place is clean and well-lit. Service was generally attentive and non-obtrusive.

Koi Kei Bakery is a famous Macau souvenir shop chain. It has stores outside Macau in Hong Kong and…read moreSingapore. This is a small location in Mong Kok on Sai Yeung Choi Street. The selection here is smaller than the ubiquitous locations in Macau which you find in just about every street near the Ruins of St. Paul's. Unlike in Macau, they don't offer Portuguese egg tarts here unfortunately. Store is too small I guess. However, they do have a nice selection of snack cakes and desserts. They come prepackaged so they are perfect as souvenir gifts from your trip. What I like about Koi Kei is that you can sample the product. They have boxes of each item that you can try out before you buy. I bought a couple things from here and I liked them both. The phoenix egg rolls are nice and crispy, but the key ingredient are the coconuts shavings inside. Though beware this product does not travel so well. The package I brought back was mostly intact, but there were a few egg roll pieces that were crumbled up. I would also recommend the orange peel cake that they have here. It is not for everyone, but I really like how fragrant it is and the texture of the pastry. It is nice to know that you don't have to make the trek across the water to Macau to get these delights. A trip to this store in Mong Kok will suffice.

Have you seen the TVB series drama based off of this store? I have to say Koi Kei Bakery is famous…read morein Macau. The cookies and products are delicious. Especially their almond cookies and peanut candies. I mean that is what they are famous for. The store is smaller than the Macau stores. Another thing you should be aware is that their prices is more expensive compared to the Macau store. $60 a bag of peanut candy here compared to $40 in Macau. Big difference! Service wise I prefer the Macua location one.

Although this bakery does get some ink, it's definitely overshadowed by a lot of bakeries,…read moreespecially ones on the Island. Heck, it gets overshadowed just in its neighborhood: an area loaded with iconic food heavyweights like Australia Dairy, Mak's Noodle, and Mak Mun Kee. I had already experienced Australia Dairy and I sure as heck wasn't interested in the hotel breakfast buffet. I came super early in the morning (still had some lingering jet lag) and the manager was really friendly, especially since I told him I was from the States. The dan tat is underrated and the price is quite good for a bakery in the area these days. I can't dispute $4 HKD (about 50 cents USD). The tart crust is ridiculously flaky and the egg filling has the right amount of sweetness. The walnut cookie was flaky and buttery. While I didn't take pictures of the store, all of the store pictures at the time of this writing are before recent renovations. The bakery is more roomy and contemporary inside.

When I think of San Francisco, the words "cheap" and "undiscovered" never enter my mind. Yet when I…read morecame across this bakery, 三藩市 (San Francisco in Canto) it was all I was thinking. After trying a few of their treats, it is now one of the few awesome bakeries that are in my active rotation for places I visit most. The place is dingy and trapped from another time. Jordan is no stranger to such establishments; it even evokes a pseudo San Francisco Chinatown vibe as many of the bakeries there are also stuck in the 90s. No matter, these places don't earn the love of the local crowd by looking pretty. They win everyone over with the food and in a big way. What got me hooked to start were their BBQ pork pastries, priced at a cool $4 each. They're flaky, crisp with just the right amount of pork. I would also give it up for their almond cookies, which are made fresh daily and taste heavenly. Buy an entire sack or tin for less than $15 and be happy. Other kudos goes out to their pineapple buns and hotdog buns -- satisfying in a pinch and easy to buy on the go. Lastly, the service deserves a mention. The women who operate this bakery from the morning to the afternoon are super friendly and I've seen them spare a bao or two for the less fortunate outside. It's a hard life out there and the compassion is hard not to recognize. That's the kind of service everyone could use.

This place has, for a very long while, been my definition of fine and high-end pastisserie. Paul…read moreLafayet is a french brand that dedicates herself in bringing authentic French flavor into the local market. I remember my first time walking into the joint in sheer amazement and awe. Every single item in the display cabinet looks like a piece of artwork to me; the macaroons, in various colors, glitter like jewel beckoning for passers by (me including) to take a bite. Skipping the macaroons that they are known for, I shall talk about their creme brulee. Before knowing this place, the only impression on this classic french pudding is sweeten steamed eggs and I have given up in making myself into liking it. It was not until one day I might as well be out of my mind to give this pudding another try in Paul Lafayet have I had my impression turned 180 degree. The custard was so velvety and creamy that I could not believe it is made of eggs; it was more like a very thick cream yet not as oily. The pale yellow mixture is flecked with vanilla seeds and you can tell right away they are using the fresh stuff but not the essence. The crowning glory is the caramel crust on top. Each and every pot of creme brulee will be dusted with demarara sugar and burnt with a blow torch. The sugar will melt and scorch to form a sweet, crispy crust; combining with the smooth and soothing interior, that's a couple made in heaven. I have to admit that the per unit prices of individual items are rather high and it is not a place that you can come often; nonetheless, for the quality of the desserts here, it is totally worth the money to reward yourself and treat yourself with good quality puddings.