Baking is science. It requires precise measures of the correct ingredients in order to get the best…read moreresults possible. Just like there are professional shops that are dedicated to selling chemical reagents and lab equipment, there is this shop that sells baking and dessert making ingredients and related cooking utensils; you can tell this shop is a pro by the huge varieties of rolling pin and baking tin and everything in between. I think for every baking lovers have experienced this: having a recipe in mind and wanting to implement it. Oh no, I could get only about half the ingredients from the supermarket closest to my home, what should i do with the remaining half?? Worry not my friend, this is the place you should go to. From the basic flour to the dried fruits and nut you put in the batter I Love Cake has them covered. Not only that, the cooking utensils that you will need for your baking are also provided in abundance; so it is pretty safe to say that one trip to this shop and you can have all you need to make your favorite cakes, cookies, muffins...you name them Other than baking items, you can also find things to make chocolate; whether they are gonna end up on a cookie or be eaten straight. Chocolate buttons are easy to handle and takes shorter time to melt; so if you are interested in making chocolate with your own flavor, you can find plenty of resources here to carry out your own experiments. There's a saying, you need the perfect tools to perfect your crafts; with the shop that provides the perfect tool in hand, baking is made so much easier. Even if you are not interested, I am sure you will be eager to try after visiting this shop~

I was so excited when this store first opened. It looked like it had everything I need to bake a…read morecake.... until I realised that my kitchen didn't have a proper oven.. Nonetheless, I came into this store just to look around to see if there's anything interesting. Indeed it was, it was filled with baking accessories, goods, and basically everything you could imagine to bake a cake. Although I didn't have an oven at home, i still miss baking. So knowing that they host baking classes here, my friends and I signed up. A group of us came, i think it costed us about $300 for a class. We chose the macaron class. I have joined these classes before but found that a majority of the time, all the ingredients would already have been prepared and in the end you didn't learn anything at all. This class started on time, there were about 12 of us, which is a little packed and there were some late comers as well. We each had our own area to bake and the teacher started to teach us how to make macarons. From my experience, the teacher was not very patient. He got frustrated at some of the students who did things wrong. Not everyone is a master baker. I think he should realise that. It kinda put us off a little bit. Regardless, at least the macarons turned out nicely. I haven't been back since, maybe because I was a little intimidated by the teacher or perhaps I just got really busy. It's a cool experience, at least with this macaron class, we actually got to measure out everything and did it as if we were baking at home. props to that.

Being married to a foodie husband from a foodie family means one is constantly on the challenge of…read moreone-upping every dinner so one runs out of ideas FAST. With a bit more time on my hands I decided to get schooled by the newest culinary school in town. I've heard raving reviews on ABC cooking studio from a friend who used to live in Japan. I've also visited their Roppongi campus so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of environment. I was invited by a friend for a trial class. Apparently existing members get a free class by bringing in new blood. So the new blood was there to learn Omurice, or the Japanese/western omelette rice. I arrived at the Tsimshatsui location and was welcomed by a bright, spacious space not unlike Muji (god bless Japanese Zen minimalism). Upon signing up and paying for my $200 trial fee, I washed my hands and went to my work station to don my disposable apron. The instructors are trained by Japanese teachers and offered Japanese culinary tips such as the most efficient way to wield a knife (at a slight angle, teetering/dragging instead of pushing down) All the ingredients used are Japanese ingredients and the instructor is happy to show us the packaging for identification/picture taking. The class is well organized and information easy to follow. I was able to bring home a nicely printed copy of the recipe to replicate the dish at home. At the end of the class the instructor would present you with the class packages. If you signed up for a course on-day (which I did) the one-time joining fee of $800 would be waived. For $200, I had a fun morning learning a new dish and having it for lunch. Not a bad deal I must say.

If you want to impress your friends aboard with truly local snack, this is THE place…read more Wong Wing Kee has been around for more than a century, owned by Wong's four generation of family, but the shop here in Sheung Wan looks very classy, neat and clean. The staff here are super friendly, and that is something you will be kinda of surprised to see in HK. They will offer you free sample to try, and there you can tell the difference between their products and others' - strong flavour but not overly sweet or salty. For expats, here is some good news. All products are labelled in their English translation too. I'd never know 腐乳 is preserved bean curd, but here you go. They have almost every local snack you can name, 話梅、陳皮、冬薑、焗蓮子、山楂餅、加應子 (hey, come to the shop and look for the translation yourself...), but also flower flavoured tea bags. Extra bonus if you want to post the snack aboard - they can advise you which snack you can import to US and which you cannot. Very handy advice as I had absolutely zero ideas. If you look carefully in the shop, you can also see a photo of the owner with Prince Charles. Kinda of a big deal you wouldn't expect from a very local shop just sitting around the corner in Sheung Wan!