Top Five Desserts in Hong Kong

I just got back from Asia, the majority of it spent in Hong Kong visiting family, and honestly, there was not enough time to eat everything that I wanted to. Food was everywhere in Hong Kong and everything looked scrumptious. I could not stop stuffing my face.

As someone with a sweet tooth, dessert was consumed daily. Here are my top five favourite sweets I ate in Hong Kong:

Steamed Egg Cake (Ma Lai Gao) from Tim Ho Wan

Possibly the best steamed egg cake I've ever had. The brown sugar gave the cake a depth of caramelized flavour, and the cake came out piping hot but perfectly moist and spongey. If only all dim sum places served steamed egg cake like this...!

Double Skin Milk (Shuang Pi Nai) from Yee Shun Milk Company

I've been ambivalent about steamed milk pudding my whole life but this completely changed my mind. The pudding had a clean, smooth milk flavour, so light that it melted on your tongue. Get the original "steamed milk with two films" and you won't regret it.

Hong Kong-Style French Toast (Sai Do Si) from a cha chaan teng in Sha Tin

Hong Kong-style French toast is French toast on steroids. It's usually slathered with a filling, dipped in egg, deep fried then drizzled with a sweetener. My personal preference is a peanut butter filling topped with condensed milk. You may not be familiar with the peanut butter/condensed milk combo, but it was (and still is) one of my favourite things growing up. There are cha chaan tengs all over Hong Kong where you can get HK-style French toast, though make sure they serve the peanut butter/condensed milk version. Down the French toast with some HK-style milk tea and you've got yourself a perfect meal.

Matcha Ice Cream from Sweets House Cha Cha

Matcha ice cream is a weakness of mine, though most tend to be disappointing because they don't have that strong, bitter green tea flavour. The ice cream at Sweets House Cha Cha does matcha ice cream right, plus the sundae comes with a syrup to make your ice cream even more strongly green tea flavoured, if you're so inclined (the answer is always yes).

Truffle Milk Pudding from Jade Dragon

This one is a cheat because it was in Macau rather than Hong Kong, but close enough. I had an amazing meal at Jade Dragon which ended with numerous desserts, all delicious. However, the truffle milk pudding really stood out; it was panna cotta-like with the subtle flavour of truffle shining through. Several weeks later, I still think about this pudding and long for another spoonful.