From bread, pastries, custard tarts to coconut cakes and chicken pies, Hong Kong’s traditional bakeries bring sweet carbohydrate heaven to the city.
A cake or pie pit-stop is part of most Hong Kongers’ daily routine, so you don’t have to go far to find a bakery in any neighbourhood – the majority are take away, with customers buying bags of treats for home, work, or if you’re like me, to scoff on the hoof.
Best Area for Bakeries – Wan Chai
Wan Chai is one of city’s oldest neighbourhoods, east of Central, and I would recommend a visit here for some of the finest Hong Kong-style bakeries.
These traditional no-frills joints serve up trays of buttery tarts, sticky glazed buns and airy sponges to an enthusiastic audience, from early morning until evening time, for just a few dollars.
There are plenty of posh cake shops in Wan Chai too – multi-coloured French-style macaroons, towering gateaux and expensive high-end biscuits are on display behind glass counters like works of art.
But for no-nonsense hustle, simple flavours and great value, the old-school bakeries are a winner.
Top 3 Local Bakeries in Hong Kong You Need to Visit
Below are my top picks – these places are justifiably busy and the Hong Kong cake queue is dog-eat-dog, so sharpen your elbows and have your pennies at the ready.
1. Sakurashima
• Sakurashima, 55 Wan Chai Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
For traditional Hong Kong cakes and pastries with a bit of extra finesse, this take-out bakery on Wan Chai Road, one of the neighbourhood’s bustling market streets, is the place to go.
The custard tarts are the best I’ve had in Hong Kong – there are two versions at Sakurashima, one with short-crust and the other with puff pastry, both sweet, eggy and rich, and piping hot.
Another treat are the coconut tarts – syrupy sponge encased in a thin flaky layer of pastry, dense with coconut and with a cherry on top…
Always buzzing, the staff are friendly and trays of fresh breads, buns and pastries are constantly being brought out from the kitchen at the back.
The goodies on the right hand side of the window, as you’re looking out, are the ones to go for as they are kept warm and always taste fresh.
2. Happy Cake Shop
• Happy Cake Shop, 106 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
This tiny take-out bakery stands on Queen’s Road East, which once ran along the shoreline of Hong Kong, before decades of land reclamation built the city further out to sea. True to its name the bakers at the Happy Cake Shop are a friendly bunch, despite dealing with an almost permanent queue out the door.
The best cakes are the fresh sweet buns in baking trays on top of the counter – these have usually recently been taken from the oven so are still warm.
My favourite is a Hong Kong staple – the ‘Bo Lo Bao’ or pineapple bun. There’s no pineapple in it… but the top has a criss-cross glaze reminiscent of the outside of the fruit (sort of).
Happy Cake Shop’s version is light and fluffy and with a crispy, sugary crunch from the topping. Also good are their sticky glazed currant buns, with a hint of sweet spice.
3. Kam Fung Cafe
• Kam Fung Cafe, 41 Spring Garden Lane, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s old-fashioned ‘cha chaan teng’ tea restaurants serve up unfussy comfort staples and Kam Fung Cafe on Spring Garden Lane is one of the city’s best-known.
In the window and by the doorway are shelves of regularly replenished trays filled with warm pies, tarts, buns and sponges to eat in or take away.
Established in 1956 and standing on the western edge of Wan Chai’s network of outdoor market streets, Kam Fung is most famous for its chicken pies, a dollop of chicken stew in thick, sweet, crumbly pastry (pictured above in the top right-hand tray).
My personal favourite here though are their puffy individual sponge cakes which billow out of paper cases – if you’re lucky enough to go on a day where they’ve made walnut ones (I’ve only seen these once), snap up a batch. The glazed plain sweet buns are also surprisingly buttery and moreish.
Cakes here are best washed down with a famous Kam Fung milk tea. Thick, strong, made with condensed milk and served with sugar unless you ask for it without, this stuff is rocket fuel and will propel you through the rest of your day.
If you want to have a go at ordering it in Cantonese, a hot milk tea is a ‘yiht lai cha’ and cold is ‘dung lai cha’.
Whether you’re taking away or sitting in, there are always queues here, but don’t be put off – the staff are briskly efficient and will get to you quickly.
Find Your Perfect Bakery
Hong Kong has some of the tastiest food in Asia and there are so many established traditional bakeries and more opening up every year. For more recommendations for things to do in this amazing city check out my Hong Kong travel tips.
