Tiny Urban Kitchen

Exploring Food from Boston to Hong Kong and Beyond

  • About
    • About Me
    • Tiny Urban Kitchen’s Favorite Equipment
    • Press
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Asian
      • Chinese
      • Taiwanese
      • Thai
      • Malaysian
      • Japanese
      • Korean
    • Appetizers
    • Soups
    • Salad
    • Pasta
    • Noodles
    • Rice
    • Vegetarian
    • Meat
    • Sweets
      • Baking
      • Ice cream
      • Cookies
    • Misc
    • Kawaii (Cute)
  • Travel / Restaurants
    • United States
      • Boston
        • Jen’s Picks
        • Boston
          • Allston
          • Back Bay
          • Brighton
          • North End
          • South End
        • Cambridge
          • Kendall Square
          • Inman Square
          • Central Square
          • Harvard Square
          • Porter Square
          • North Cambridge
        • Somerville
          • Davis Square
          • Union Square
        • Greater Boston
          • Brookline
          • Arlington
          • Belmont
          • Watertown
          • Newton
          • Lexington
          • Concord
          • Burlington
          • Natick
        • Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Berkshires
      • Vermont
      • Maine
      • New York
      • Washington DC
      • Philadelphia
      • Orlando
      • Chicago
      • Las Vegas
      • California
        • Los Angeles
        • San Francisco
        • Napa
        • Sonoma
      • Seattle
      • Hawaii
    • Canada
      • Montreal
      • Canadian Rockies
      • Toronto
    • Argentina
    • Europe
      • United Kingdom
        • London
        • Oxford
      • Italy
        • Rome
        • Piedmont
      • France
        • Paris
        • Bordeaux
      • Spain
        • Madrid
        • Barcelona
        • Catalonia / San Sebastian / Girona
      • Germany
      • Belgium
        • Brussels
      • Switzerland
      • Greece
      • Finland
      • Norway
      • Denmark
    • Japan
      • Japan Guide
      • Tokyo
      • Osaka
      • Kyoto
    • China (Mainland)
      • Beijing
      • Chengdu
      • Shanghai
      • Shaanxi
      • Shenzhen
      • Xiamen
      • Yunnan
    • Singapore
    • Hong Kong
    • Malaysia
    • Taiwan
    • Thailand
    • Australia/New Zealand
  • Michelin
    • Formerly had a star
    • Michelin Recommended
    • 1 Star
    • 2 Stars
    • 3 Stars
  • Jen’s Eating Guides!
    • Boston Restaurants
    • Boston Dishes
    • Tokyo
    • Hong Kong
    • Las Vegas
    • Napa / Sonoma
    • Taiwan (night markets)
    • Taiwanese (casual eats)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part I)
    • Street Foods of Bangkok (Part II)
    • Kitchen Equipment
  • Trip Reports
    • All trip reports
    • Around the World Trip Report
    • New England
    • New York
    • Washington DC
    • Las Vegas
    • California
    • Canada
    • Europe
    • Florida
    • Japan
    • China

Kam Wah Cafe – Hong Kong Breakfast and the Best Pineapple Bun

November 19, 2017 by Jennifer Che 3 Comments

Kam Wah Cafe

Kam Wah Cafe

This is one of many posts that are part of the series Jen’s Guide – Best Places to Eat in Hong Kong for Visitors

If you come to Hong Kong you must experience traditional Hong Kong breakfast from a Hong Kong style eatery called a cha chaan teng, literally “tea restaurant”. These are old school, no-nonsense, casual breakfast spots where prices are cheap, the dining space is cramped, everything moves lightening fast.

There are many, many excellent places around the city. Different ones specialize in different things. Some of them do multiple things well.

I first heard of Kam Wah Cafe because I was desperately searching for the best boloyau, a pineapple shaped sugar encrusted buns served with a slab of ice cold butter. Time after time, website after website, I saw the same few bakeries pop up, with Kam Wah Cafe appearing more than any other place.

Kam Wah Cafe is a family-owned restaurant and has been around since 1973. Chan Tim-wo (son of a baker!) and his wife Chan Fong Chik-mui have forged some long relationships with certain regulars, who have been coming for over thirty years. Through the years they have adapted the cafe to keep up with customers’ preferences, such as tweaking the bolobao crust recipe to make it sweeter or adding savory dishes to get customers to come at other times of the day. The place is always packed, and lines are common. {source}

We visited Kam Wah Cafe with some local friends who had picked it out for us (independent of my research!). I guess the locals also think it’s the best.
Kam Wah Cafe
The famous pineapple-shaped bun comes in two varieties. If you just order the bun without the butter, it’s called a bolobao or polobao (pineapple bun). Once you add the butter, you add the “yau” at the end to becomes boloyau (yau means oil).

The boloyau was fantastic. I love the ice cold slightly salty butter contrasting with the crispy-topped sweet bread. It’s soooo good. I think it’s important that the butter stays cold. The contrast adds to the experience. I loved it.

The eggs tarts are also very good, with nice flaky crusts and a warm, eggy center.

Have you ever had a Hong Kong style French toast? It is really good. It’s similar to the American version, except that they deep fry it and then serve it with butter and condensed milk or peanut butter in the middle. I personally prefer it with condensed milk (or even plain), but the peanut butter version is definitely decadent too.

You can’t leave without trying Hong Kong milk tea, a very strong black tea mixed with evaporated milk. During the times of British colonial rule, Hong Kongers took the British idea of drinking tea with milk (something Chinese people don’t do) and modified it into what we today know as Hong Kong milk tea (or locally referred to as nai-cha, “milk tea”).

You can also try yuānyāng, a 50/50 tea and coffee blend with milk. It’s surprisingly good.

Kam Wah Cafe is super popular and you’ll likely have to line up. However, it’s possible that they take reservations for larger parties. Our local friend was able to reserve a table for our table of 8, so it’s worth calling and trying to reserve if you have a lot of people.

If you only have time to visit one cha chaang taang, I think this one or Kam Fung Bakery in Wan Chai are both excellent choices.

Kam Wah Cafe
G/F 47 Bute St, Prince Edward, Mong Kok,
Kowloon, Mong Kok, Hong Kong

Related Posts
Jen’s Guide – Best Places to Eat in Hong Kong for Visitors
Lei Garden Hong Kong dim sum
I Am Moving to Hong Kong!
Yee Shun Milk Company – double skin milk pudding
Tsuta Japanese Soba Ramen – 1 Michelin Star
Sushi Tokami

Filed Under: Hong Kong, Restaurant, Review, World Travel

« Tsuta Japanese Soba Noodle – 1 Michelin Star – Hong Kong
Tsim Chai Kee Wonton Noodle – Hong Kong »

Recent Posts

  • Arbor Hong Kong May 25, 2022
  • Mono Hong Kong May 23, 2022
  • Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong April 29, 2022
  • Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai March 22, 2022
  • Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong March 17, 2022
  • Petrus Hong Kong March 8, 2022
  • Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong March 6, 2022
  • James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong March 2, 2022

Latest Chinese recipes!

Comments

  1. Frances Fung says

    November 20, 2017 at 12:30 am

    My favorite! I usually go in the morning, when they just open, no lines then. XD

    Log in to Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Pirata Hong Kong - Italian in Wanchai - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    January 17, 2018 at 12:05 pm

    […] surrounded by hundreds (if not thousands) of excellent Asian restaurants serving everything from casual Hong Kong breakfast buns and Beijing style street crepes to gourmet Iberico chashu pork and sushi omakase flown in from […]

    Log in to Reply
  2. Jen's Guide - Best Places to Eat in Hong Kong for Visitors! - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
    May 17, 2018 at 1:58 am

    […] Yuen (Central, TST in Chungking Mansion) for Hong Kong milk tea, and Kam Fung Bakery (Wan Chai) or Kam Wah Bakery (Mongkok) for freshly baked poloyau (pineapple shaped buns with a slab of ice cold butter). I’ve […]

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Welcome to Tiny Urban Kitchen!

JenChe

Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am a Boston to Hong Kong transplant, born and raised in Ohio with parents from Taiwan. Feel free to head on over to the About page if you want to learn more about me, or just explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Archives

Categories

Awards

Saveur
PFB

BostonGlobe

Most Recent Posts

Arbor Hong Kong

Arbor Hong Kong

Mono HK

Mono Hong Kong

Summer Palace Hong Kong Iconic Wine Lunch

Summer Palace Iconic Wine Lunch – Hong Kong

Lucciola The Hari Wan Chai

Lucciola – Italian food at The Hari Hotel in Wan Chai

beef quesadilla

Studio City by Cali-Mex Causeway Bay Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Petrus Hong Kong

Ichiran Hong Kong Ramen

Ichiran Tonkotsu Ramen Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central Hong Kong

James Suckling Wine Central – Hong Kong

Roganic Hong Kong

Birthday at Roganic Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong

Caprice Hong Kong – Four Seasons

France!

Restaurant Le George Paris
Yam'Tcha Paris
David Toutain Paris
Divellec Paris
Breizh Cafe Paris

Kawaii! (Cute)

Norway!

logo
Food Advertisements by

Chinese Recipes

Okra with Chicken
logo
Food Advertisements by

Shop & Support us!

Spain!

Girona Spain
Amelia San Sebastian

Japan!

Bulgari Il Ristorante Luca Fantin
Sukiyaki Imafuku Tokyo
Sushi Ishimaya Tokyo
Disney Sea Tokyo
Tempura Fukamachi Tokyo
Shinjuku Gyoen

Cambridge restaurants

logo
Food Advertisements by
Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress