HK & Macau 2024 (3/9) – Obsess

At some point during the trip planning phase, Hong said, “eat some egg tarts for me!”

She was referring to the Portuguese egg tarts that Macau was famous for, because we hadn’t been to Macau.  Those are usually brought up in contrast to the Hong Kong style egg tarts, which further branch into flaky crust and cookie crust varieties.  Phil and I joked about trying a few of each kind and how much that would worsen our diabetes… And somehow that joke turned into an obsession that led us to look for egg tarts every day of the week. We ended with eating 19 different egg tarts, averaging more than two per day!

You’d think this is a highly subjective matter but Phil and I agreed on pretty much every aspect of our weeklong tasting. Some observations:

• Flaky crust is the best and cookie crust is the least satisfying
• Portuguese is the middle of the three styles.  While it’s got the flaky crust, the torched tart filling doesn’t quite measure up to its HK counterpart
• Fame isn’t worth much; the most delicious stuff comes from no-name places
• Depending on the bakery, the HK egg tarts may be served cool or warm, but the Portuguese ones are always kept in a heater and served piping hot.  Wouldn’t be surprised if somebody burns his tongue in Macau everyday.

The following is the complete list of what we ate on the trip.

Flaky Crust Hong Kong Style

(F1) Gentle Bakery, Monster Building, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. HKD$6.5.  Super flaky crust with jiggly eggy filling.  1st of our 19 egg tarts on the trip.

(F2) Dragon Ball Bakery, across the street from Monster Building, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. HKD$6.5. “Too eggy” with a texture close to steamed egg.  Light in flavor.  Crust not very flaky. 3rd of our 19.

(F3) Honolulu Coffee Shop, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. HKD$11. Late in the day, did not feel fresh.  Not flaky and filling  was on the gelatinous side. 4th of our 19.

Note: Honolulu is an HK legend and I had remembered it for 10 years as having the best egg tarts in the world. What we had this time was not even remotely close. It was late in the afternoon and we got some of their last few remaining egg tarts, which probably contributed to the experience. Nevertheless, you’d hope that a reputable eatery would discard its food when quality falls below a certain threshold.

(F4) Happy Bakery, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. HKD$8. The most robust and flaky crust of them all.  Sweet and jiggly filling.  One of the best. This was an unassuming local bakery that we just happened to walk by while looking for morning coffee. 5th of 19.

(F5) Shine Island, Jordan, Kowloon. HKD$7. Very flaky and melt-in-the-mouth crust.  Light on sugar.  Smooth eggy filling. 12th of 19.

(F6) Kam Wah Cafe & Cake Shop, Mong Kok, Kowloon. HKD$7. “Flaky” crust really tasted like cookie, with no flakiness.  Filling bland and jello-like.  Overall unimpressive. Major bummer for what was supposed to be a top bakery. 14th of 19.

(F7) Crescent Bakery, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. HKD$10. Crust flavorless and filo like, hard to bite through and incoherent with the tart filling. 17th of 19.

(F8) King Bakery, Hong Kong Airport. HKD$15. Nice flaky crust with medium-sweet bouncy filling.  Real solid overall and more impressive considering the airport location. 18th of 19.

Cookie Crust Hong Kong Style

(C1) Gentle Bakery, Monster Building, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong. HKD$6.5. Sugar cookie crust.  Good filling identical to the flaky kind. 2nd of our 19 egg tarts on the trip.

(C2) Hung Wan Cafe, Mong Kok, Kowloon. HKD$6 (?). The only reason we came here was because of Stephen Chow’s The Lucky Guy filmed at this cafe.  Good thing we didn’t dine in or order more stuff. The egg tart was pretty dry and bland on flavor. 13th of 19.

(C3) Red Tea, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. HKD$7. On the dry side but filling was reasonably tasty. 15th of 19.

(C4) Crescent Bakery, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. HKD$6. Lightly flavored pie crust; filling with moderate texture. 16th of 19.

(C5) Cathay Airlines (Premium Economy Cabin), HKD-SFO flight. Free. An hour after I said, “okay no more egg tarts for the next 12 months,” the flight attendant stopped by with a tray of hot paper boxes. It was surprisingly delicious, especially considering the mid-flight constraints. Flavor was great and the “cookie” crust had an almost-flaky texture. Impressive. 19th of 19.

Portuguese Style

(P1) Yeng Kee x Snoopy, Senado Square area, Macau. MOP$12. Hot.  Loose filling almost like scrambled eggs. 6th of 19.

(P2) Cuppa Coffee, by Lago Nam Van, Macau. MOP$12. Flaky crust.  Tasty. Wonderful filling consistency. Didn’t hurt that it was also served in a nice cafe with a view. 7th of 19.

(P3) Pasteralia Koi Kei, Taipa Village, Macau. MOP$10. “Was ok” was the only thing I wrote down. Note that Koi Kei was everywhere in Macau like Starbucks is in the US. We tried this in one of their busiest locations. 8th of 19.

(P4) Lord Stow’s Bakery, Taipa Village, Macau. MOP$11. Lord Stow was the original and the biggest name in Portuguese egg tarts, and the line showed!  A portion of the congestion in Taipa Village had to do with people waiting to try their stuff. Scrambled egg filling.  Overall good but not great. 9th of 19.

(P5) Starbucks, The Venetian, Macau. MOP$14 (MOP$28 for 2). These were tiny, about 1/3 of the regular egg tart size and super expensive.  Classic Starbucks. Chocolate drizzle on top.  Looked like a mess.  Tasted ok but not great. 10th of 19.

(P6) Shine Island, Jordan, Kowloon. HKD$9. Our favorite Portuguese egg tart was found in HK! Creamy milky filling, light on sweetness, very flaky crust. 11th of 19.

HK & Macau 2024 Index

1. Visit
2. Move
3. Obsess
4. Pilgrimage
5. See
6. Watch
7. Shop
8. Eat
9. Play