Awesome Desserts in Hong Kong

It's been a while since I've posted, and it's been even longer since I've posted ones that aren't related to baked goods.  (Well, there are more cupcakes, cookies, and a birthday cake coming up.)  As I was looking through my summer photos today, I came across these.  

This is a little dessert shop my mom took us to.  She had seen a Hong Kong dining show introducing this place.  I don't have an address (no business cards available) and since I don't read Chinese no English name to share.  Sorry.  But I do know it's located next to Newport Theatre which is a famous older movie theatre in the Mong Kok District.

It's a very popular joint among the locals and movie goers.  It's tiny and super crowded, and they manage to maximize every square inch.  If you don't have a full table, you are forced to share.  So a small table for four could seat six most of whom are strangers.  But no one seemed to mind, and in fact it added to the atmosphere.

They had a small menu, but special dishes were posted on the walls.  My mom insisted on trying the "Stir Fried Rice Noodles".  It's actually fresh mango chunks with noodles which I believe is probably some sort of coconut gelatin strips.  

It really did look like rice noodles, but with a firmer texture almost like fresh young coconut flesh.  The mangos were perfectly ripe and the mango puree was so smooth.  The dish was fabulous!!  I could have eaten another bowl of it all by myself. 

My sister Jess ordered the "Steamed Rice Rolls" which were black sesame "noodles" stuffed with black rice and fresh mangos and topped with coconut milk and sesame seeds.  It was served warm and not as sweet as the other desserts.  I liked it, it was very creative, but on a hot Hong Kong night, I preferred the cold offerings.  

My mom also ordered the newest dish "Fruit Salad with Hawthorn".  It was a mixture of fresh fruits including cantalope, honeydew melon, mango, and hawthorn gelatin topped with evaporated milk.  Hawthorn is good for you on hot days.  It helps detoxify your body from the heat.  It is also an appetite enhancer.  Before this trip I've only had hawthorn candy, so it was a treat to try it prepared differently.

As for me, I chose a "Tower of Shaved Ice".  Yum - my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Since my trip to Taiwan a few years back, I've been obsessed with shaved ice.  I have it everywhere I see it, and I still think Taiwan serves the best.  But that's left for another post.  

The shaved ice is served with a variety of fresh fruits.  I chose strawberries and watermelon.  Some of the other options were mango, coconut, cantalope, honeydew, Asian pears, and mixed beans and gelatins (which is the original way to eat shaved ice).  Almost every table had ordered this "Tower".  The ice, though not the finest I've had, was pretty fine and was surrounded by fresh strawberries and watermelon balls.  It was then all topped with watermelon juice and condense milk.  Oh, it was so refreshing and sweet.  I loved every bite and slurp.  (l0l)

As you can see, between the three of us we did a pretty thorough job on the desserts.  Everyone else pretty much ordered one dish per couple.  (lol - We love our desserts).  I can't wait until my next visit, so I can try a few more creative sweets.

Peaches and Grapes from Japan

While shopping at the Elements Shopping Mall in Hong Kong ( same place where I bought the PETiTS cupcakes), my family and I decided to check out the upscale grocery store Three-Sixty.  They sell many foreign products at foreign prices, but we weren't turned off by the prices since there were food items we haven't seen since past travels.  We were actually quite excited and spent over an hour scouring up and down all the aisles.  Plus there were samples available, my family never turns down free food or drinks. (lol)

We came out of there with several bags of goodies, but our prize purchases were two Japanese water peaches and a box of Japanese perfume grapes.  (I'm not sure what the true names are, but water peach and perfume grapes are direct translation from Cantonese).  

I've never had the grapes before, so I was excited to try one.  Both Jess and mom said they don't like them much due to their weird perfume-y taste.  Looking inside the box, I can see the grapes were HUGE.  I don't really like grapes with seeds, and I know big grapes equal seeds.  Bummer.  

But these were very expensive grapes, so I wasn't going to let them go to waste.  As you can see one small box was $336 HKD which is about $48 USD.  At that price if it meant eating them all by myself, I was up for the challenge.  

I bit my first grape in half, so I can pick out the seeds.  The skin was thick and crunched when I bit into it.  The flesh of the grape actually popped out of the skin when I chewed.  And you know what, NO SEEDS!  Yeah, I love these grapes.  But wait, they taste weird.  It did taste kind of perfume-y.  Hhhhmmm, not so good.  

Dad had a few, stopped eating and said he rather have the peach.  Oh man, I was going to have to eat all of it myself.  Great...  But as I was sucking the flesh out of the skin (the skin can be a bit tart), the taste grew on me, and I was starting to enjoy them.  

Watching me eat, Jess decided to give the grapes another try, (our family gives food many chances to change our mind - pork fat candy, I have a feeling we will meet again).  She actually liked the skin more than the flesh.  She felt the skin was the best part being crispy, crunchy, and fruity, kind of like candy.  

Watching Jess eat, mom eventually came around and said she would lend us a hand in finishing.  We knew she couldn't help herself, and we eventually polished off the entire box.   Yum!

Now for the peach.  Ohhhh man, these are so good.  They are much better in Japan (I think Japan exports their rejects), but these were better than any other peach I've had outside of Japan.  If you've had one before, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  If you have not, you must try one at least once in your lifetime.  

When we first had them in Japan some 15 or so years ago, we visited a fruit stand where the shop owner was furious with dad when he tried to pick a peach up.  The owner came over and yell at dad and showed him a sign that said "NO TOUCHING".  Dad was confused since he'd never shopped for produce without touching or smelling.  The owner said by touching even with gentle pressure, we would bruise the fruit and the juices would break through.  Then he guaranteed us that each peach was equally sweet, juicy, and ripe, and it would be the best we would have ever eaten, if not we can come back for a refund.  

We bought one for $6 USD.  Yep, it was outrageously expensive.  We never did get our money back, instead we had bought a whole box to carry back to Hong Kong to share with dad's family.

When we saw they were selling them at Three-Sixty for $45 HKD (about $6.50 USD), it was a bargain, and we grabbed two!  (And went back for a couple more the next day!)

A little advice, when you bite into one, have a large towel available preferably somewhere near your mouth and arms.  It's that juicy!  The juice just flows like a water fall out of the fruit, hence the name water peach.  The skin is thick and can be eaten with the flesh, but this leads to more overflowing of juices due to the force of the bite.  Instead  after the first bite, we chose to peel the skin off, which comes off like peeling a sticker from its sheet.  The juice is sweet and fragrant, very similar to peach candy or more like the Japanese peach drinks.  

A fellow blogger, whose Japanese, told me the peaches are killer with vanilla ice cream.  OMG, that sounds so divine!!   I must try them with ice cream next time.

PETiTS by Deschamps in Hong Kong

While shopping at one of Hong Kong's newest malls Elements, I discovered PETiTS by Deschamps.  It was packed with customers inside and congregating all around the store front were people with forks digging into plastic cups and little boxes filled with cupcakes.  

Store Front Display

I really wanted one, and my sister Jess wasn't one to pass on sweets.  We ventured in and browsed through the cupcakes, cakes, cookies, and chocolates on display. 

 Green Tea Cupcake on Stand

The store itself was quite dark and very modern.  The sales associates were very friendly and allowed me to take photos.  I don't think they baked the treats onsite since the store didn't smell of baked goods.  The cupcakes on the cupcake stands which are the ones featured on their signage were just for show.  

PETiTS' Display Case

But we were definitely more interested in the cupcakes for sale.  There were three fridges filled with cupcakes and cakes.  The flavors included tiramisu, coffee, mango, lychee, Bailey's, white peach, s'mores, cinnamon apple, cookies and cream, caramel, eggy, and many more. 

PETiTS' Display Case

They all looked delicious, and it was so hard to decide.  Then we saw a chalkboard that listed mini cupcakes 3 for $48 HKD, regular cupcakes 1 for $25 HKD.  Well, even though the choices for the minis were less, but they looked just as good, plus this way we could share 3 instead of 2.  How could we go wrong with that?

PETiTS' Display Case

Jess immediately decided on the Bailey's, and the Eggy was too cute to pass up.  Our final choice was Shaddock.  We didn't know what it was, but it had on a chocolate hat and that sealed the deal.

Back at the Hotel

The sales associate boxed our treats in a fancy box and placed it in a fancy bag with a fancy sticker, but all we wanted to do was rip the whole thing open and dig into the cupcakes.  We rushed back to the hotel and immediately dug in.

Eggy, Shaddock, and Bailey's Mini Cupcakes

Well, once out of the box, they definitely looked better than they tasted.  The cakes of all three were quite dry and the flavors were bland but sweet.  Now I'm sure they didn't bake onsite.

Eggy Mini Cupcake

The Eggy Mini Cupcake, though extremely cute with the sunny side up egg frosting on top, didn't have much flavor.  I assume it's suppose to taste like eggs, but it just tasted like a sweet white cake (not even vanilla) with a marshmallow topping.  There was a custard filling, but it wasn't very creamy.  

Shaddock Mini Cupcake

The Shaddock Mini Cupcake was the best out of all three.  We weren't sure what the flavor was suppose to be.  We just assumed it would be a chocolate cupcake, so we were surprised to find it filled with lemon custard with lemon peels.  It also had the non-flavored cake base as the eggy.  The frosting was marshmallowy (not as sticky as the eggy), which was lighter than buttercream but heavier than meringue, but it complimented the tart custard fairly well.  

Bailey's Mini Cupcake

The Bailey's Mini Cupcake was our least favorite.  It might have something to do with the fact that we thought it was topped with crunchy sugar crystals instead it was gelatin cubes.  We didn't taste any Bailey's and once again it was the plain white cake, but with no custard to cut down the dryness.

All in all we were disappointed with the cupcakes, but then we also didn't let any of it go to waste.  And if I ever get to visit them again, I think I will try their regular size ones and give them one more chance to change my mind.  All those customers couldn't be wrong!

PETiTS by Deschamps

Shop 2004, Level 2, Elements, Union Square,

1 Austin Road West, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Tel: (852) 2882 7477