Continued from
Hong Kong March 2016 Introduction
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail I Cha Chaan Teng
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail II Roasted Goose, Noodles, Congee, Dim Sum
Hong Kong March 2016 - Day trip to Sai Kung
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail III Dining at Sai Kung 
Hong Kong March 2016 - PMQ


Prior to the trip, besides researching on Cha Chaan Teng to visit, I also searched for patisserie or bakery cafes that are worth to try recommended by bloggers. Most searches point to trendy concept cafes that specialises in coffee (and pastries). Although those cafes look really stylish and hippy but because I don't drink coffee, I'm not particularly attracted to them.

Luckily, managed to find "teakha ??" which is a cosy cafe that specialises in tea. Besides serving an impressive range of tea like "Cooked teas", "Floral/Herbal teas" and "Brewed teas", the cafe also offers a simple brunch menu and a fine selection of pastries some of which are infused with tea. teakha ?? first started as a little shophouse at an alley at Tai Ping Shan Street (Sheung Wan), and since opened a second shop teakha II at Po Tuck Street in Sai Ying Pun (near Hong Kong University).

Initially I wanted to visit the branch at Tai Ping Shan Street after shopping for dried seafood at Des Voeux Road West. Then as I walked further along the street, I passed by Sai Ying Pun station. I thought since Teakha II is just 5 mins away from HKU station which is one station away from Sai Ying Pun Station, perhaps I could drop by Teakha II to take a look/take some photos and then proceed back to Teakha I for a seat-down afternoon tea.




Followed the directions given in the website and found the shop easily. It started raining quite heavily and so instead of just taking photos, I decided to sit down for some tea although I was still a bit full from heavy brunch and it's not tea time yet.


Teakha II is quite spacious and cozy, nicely furnished with wooden furniture, warm orange lighting and lots of greenery and flowers. Reminds me of Japanese-style cafes :) Very friendly staff as well.

Pastries available for sale were clearly written on a chalkboard and also displayed in the glass counter.



Open-concept kitchen.


Some special menu items available for the day written on another large chalkboard wall.

This cozy area is big enough for a party of 10 to 12 pax.


Some zakka goods/merchandise available for sale.


Books for exchange. Customers can bring in their unwanted books and exchange for any title here.

As it was a weekday and early afternoon, the cafe was pretty quiet, but towards tea time, more people started strolling in.
Although I wasn't hungry, I couldn't resist ordering a slice of cake to try. This Osmanthus & Okinawan Black Sugar Chiffon Cake was highly recommended by the staff.

I love the cake! The chiffon was very tender and light, with a subtle sweetness and aroma from the Okinawan Black Sugar. I thought the Osmanthus flower would be overwhelming but no, it actually blended well with the cake. The whipping cream also helped enhanced the overall taste by adding some moisture and creaminess. Yummy!


The staff suggested a Hojicha Au Lait to go with the chiffon cake. The tea took about 20 mins as it's "Cooked tea" that needed more time to prepare. The wait was certainly worth it! The Hojicha was so fragrant and milky, rich flavour yet not overwhelming, not too sweet with a slight tinge of unique bitterness from the tea. Perfect with the cake indeed. Absolutely love it! How I wish I had more tummy space to try more tea and pastries, or had time to visit again!

I lingered at teakha II enjoying my pastry and tea while waiting for the rain to stop. Thereafter, decided to drop by teakha I at Tai Ping Shan Street as I had some spare time. Instead of taking MTR, I walked all the way, which took only 6km, a good workout for me to burn off the excess calories, and hopefully load in more at teakha I :p


Unfortunately there was some filming going on at teakha I. Also, the whole place is much smaller, didn't have the ambience and comfort I preferred at teakha II.

The staff seemed busy managing the filming crew so I decided to just sneaked in for a few photos. Luckily they didn't mind my intrusion.





There's alfresco seating area but it was quite wet due to the rain.

Before leaving, discovered they have an additional "underground" dining area which seemed very cozy. Next time perhaps.

Overall, I really enjoyed teakha's offering of unique teas and pastries. Next time I return to Hong Kong, I must make time to visit either branch (probably teakha II as the ambience is much better) and try more teas and pastries. For folks who love tea (and don't drink cafe) like me, this tea specialist cafe is certainly worth a visit (or two)!

teakha ??

Continued from
Hong Kong March 2016 Introduction
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail I Cha Chaan Teng
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail II Roasted Goose, Noodles, Congee, Dim Sum
Hong Kong March 2016 - Day trip to Sai Kung
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail III Dining at Sai Kung


My precious impression of Hong Kong has always been mainly food and shopping, probably because the stays were usually short.

This time, I had the opportunity to explore new places and one of them is PMQ, which stands for Police Married Quarters; it is actually a former dormitory for Chinese rank and file police officers (in 1950s), and the historical site has since been revitalized (in 2009) as a creative hub for local design talents. It's stated that there are about 100 design and creative enterprises specialising in areas such as fashion, accessories, home/furniture, food, design services/galleries etc, housed in PMQ. PMQ also organises programs and events regularly such as exhibitions, performances, talks, bazaars etc.


PMQ is located at a quiet area of Soho, Central Hong Kong. Luckily I had data roaming and able to locate the place easily using google map.


Reached there 11 plus, whole place felt serene and quiet. There are two main blocks of 7 floors. Unfortunately most of the shops didn't open till after 1 or 2pm and by then I had completed my rounds (yes, I covered the entire place!).


Even though most of the shops and galleries were not opened yet, I was happy to window-shop, browse the various art installations, and basically just enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and admire the scenery.





There are two street pianos (located at different locations) and visitors welcome to play them :) Resonance of piano music while strolling the grounds. Lovely!



There are many interesting concept shops, cafes and eateries. Oh, the uber popular Japanese ABC Cooking Studio is housed here too.

But I merely window-shopped and browsed through briefly because the prices were *ahem* quite costly.







When I was there, PMQ had this interesting art installation "Hong Kong on Steps". 7 artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, South Korea and Japan collaborated and featured their creative art work on 20 flights of stairs around PMQ.

For visitors, we could partake by taking photos of the art work and upload them on social media like Instagram or FB. Upon completion, we could even redeem a souvenir (by showing the post on social media to organiser). This is certainly an effective way of promoting the place and create awareness for the artists.

There's no specifications on number of steps/photos to cover, but since I was browsing the area anyway, I covered all the 20 flights of stairs spanning 6 stairways, 7 floors! Great workout! Luckily the weather was comfortable, else I would just take the lifts.









Overall, I enjoyed the visit to PMQ, didn't know there's such an interesting place in Hong Kong. It would have been even better if my visit coincides with some exhibitions or bazaar (like upcoming there's a food truck festival), but it's a nice place to visit if you have a few hours to spare and keen in the creative industries.

PMQ - http://www.pmq.org.hk/

Stay tuned for upcoming post on Teakha, a tea cafe specialising in teas and tea-infused food.

Continued from
Hong Kong March 2016 Introduction
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail I Cha Chaan Teng
Hong Kong March 2016 - Food Trail II Roasted Goose, Noodles, Congee, Dim Sum
Hong Kong March 2016 - Day trip to Sai Kung




Loaf On Restaurant is located at a street behind the main seafood street, but it's quite easy to find. Apparently it was awarded one Michelin Star before and the only seafood restaurant in Sai Kung to be awarded. We were ushered to level 3 of the restaurant.

Decided to order a just a few dishes as we intended to try some other food/eateries we came across.

First up, Fish Soup with Potatoes and Tomatoes. I must say this was the best fish soup I've ever tried. The milky broth was so sweet and refreshing without any fishy taste. Perfect for the cold weather as well.

Razor Clams in black bean sauce. I was impressed by how the clams and vegetables were cooked just nicely; the clam meat was chewy and sweet and the sauce slightly spicy and very flavourful. Couldn't resist ordering a bowl of rice to go along (even though we didn't want to over-indulge in this meal).

Steamed Scallops with garlic and glass vermicelli. With this dish, we could taste the freshness and sweetness of the large-size scallop. The glass vermicelli soaked up the juice of the scallop and was so yummy.

Baked Salt and Pepper Abalone. I super love this abalone! Crispy outside and super tender inside! I thought it would be tasteless but the salt and pepper helped to bring out the sweetness and flavour of the abalone. Have never tasted anything so decadent before, almost wanted to order another piece!

Stir-fried Kailan in garlic. This vegetable dish was a little disappointing though. Mainly the stems were served (I guessed this is the usual method of serving Kailan in HK?) which we felt a little too much. And some of the stems were a bit on the tough side.

Overall, an enjoyable and decadent seafood lunch. Service was good, but a little bit on the slow side. Since we were there to relax, didn't mind it given the nice ambience. Probably if there's a chance to return to Sai Kung again, we would try the other seafood restaurants like Chuen Kee (for the experience of ordering seafood from the fish tank displays).

There's a small area for dine-in, so we ordered a milk tea to share, and two types of egg tarts, fresh milk egg tart and Portuguese egg tart, and a traditional bo luo bun.

The fresh milk egg tart was freshly out of the oven and smelled heavenly, tasted heavenly too! The pastry was flaky and crispy and the fresh milk custard so creamy and smooth, as good as the one I had at Honolulu Cafe! The Portuguese egg tart was good but normal, a tad to sweet. The bo luo bun was soft and fluffy with a crispy crust, a pity that it's a bit cold already. If it's warmed up or fresh from oven, I reckoned it would be perfect.

Luckily we dined earlier, because when we passed by the bakery in the late afternoon, there was a long queue and the dine-in area was full.

Anyways, after we had the egg tarts, we spotted this Burger Deli selling burgers. After a week of chinese food, suddenly some greasy burgers and fries sounded so good! But we were too full by then, so decided to walk and shop around before returning later to try the burger.

And so we returned in the late afternoon and shared a Classic Beef Burger and Skinny Fries.

Besides burgers, there are other items like hot dogs, chicken, fish and side dishes.

The beef burger looked good indeed, came with medium done beef patty, lettuce, melted cheese, tomato, onion and pickle.

The burger bun was fluffy and soft, beef patty was succulent and juicy and the generous slice of melted cheese simply enhanced the overall taste of the burger. And even though the fries was supposedly skinny, they weren't at all, they were quite thick and fat, crispy on the outside yet moist and fluffy inside. Thumbs up.


Besides dining, there are also some interesting shops selling knick knacks, household items, sports wear, ornaments etc.

Sai Kung is definitely worth at least half a day visit, and given the chance, we would love to return next time!

Next post, I'll be covering PMQ Creative Hub in Central HK. Stay tuned!