While it's great to be home, a part of myself starts missing the hectic walk at Hong Kong and of course the foods there. The souvenirs that bought back from Hong Kong and Macau could have my family and I enjoyed for few months.
Partial Hong Kong and Macau souvenirs
(Jenny Bakery's Butter Cookies, Kee Wah's almond cookies and walnut cookies, Koi Kei Bakery's almond biscuits, peanut sweet, wife cake.)
(Jenny Bakery's Butter Cookies, Kee Wah's almond cookies and walnut cookies, Koi Kei Bakery's almond biscuits, peanut sweet, wife cake.)
After the blog entry about wife cake that I bought back from Hong Kong and Macau, here's another review about the almond cookies 杏仁饼.
1. Koi Kei Bakery (鉅記手信)
The most favorite almond cookies that I have tasted is from Koi Kei Bakery 鉅記手信; Macau.As featured in the famous TVB Drama named 巨輪, the owner of Koi Kei Bakery (鉅記餅家) is very particular about the quality of cookies/ pastries. The resulting quiche is mouthwatering with lovely crumbly pastries.
The taste：Each of the cookie has crunchy toasted almond bits, perhaps it's the reason of the almond cookies of Koi Kei Bakery 鉅記手信 having strong aroma of almond. As I bought the handmade and vegetarian type, the cookies were free of pork lard ingredient.
The packaging: While the pastries from Koi Kei Bakery 鉅記手信 are great, the service is great and the staffs are generously providing the samples for tasting. The staffs help to wrap the plastic handles with bubble wrap which enables me to hold the heavy bags easier and more convenient. The thick packaging itself is great and nice.
2. Kee Wah Bakery (奇華餅家)
Kee Wah has an extensive number of franchises in Hong Kong, including at Hong Kong International Airport. We dropped by one of the franchises at Central MRT station. Anyone still remembers the popular Hong Kong TVB Drama 家好月圆 (Moonlight Resonance)? The show was produced especially for Kee Wah Bakery’s 70th Anniversary.
Kee Wah almond cookie and Koi Kei Bakery 's ginger candy 姜糖
The ginger candy was given by my colleague. Strong ginger aftertaste!
The ginger candy was given by my colleague. Strong ginger aftertaste!
The logo of Kee Wah on the almond cookie were merely seen.
The soft, flaky cookie with some almond bits.
The soft, flaky cookie with some almond bits.
The taste：Kee Wah's almond cookie does not have the coarse amount of almond bits of the almond cookies from Koi Kei Bakery. It's similar to the Koi Kei's which has nice crunchy texture, except that it's more tender, smoother due to less crunchy toasted almond bits.
The packaging: As shown in the 1st photo, I would say that the packaging is quite nice, but I prefer Koi Kei's.Well, the price of pastries bought at Macau are more expensive than those bought from Hong Kong.
3. Hang Heung Cake Shop (恒香老餅家)
The taste：I'm unsure if it's due to machine-made, Hang Heung's almond cookies are harder to bite compared to Koi Kei's and Kee Wah's. The pork lard aftertaste covers the almond taste. I don't really like this version, and after trying all, I would vote the signature almond cookies from Koi Kei Bakery as the champion.
The packaging: A classic packaging with red color and pink flowers as decoration.
Stay tuned for my next blog entries about the cookies that I bought from Hong Kong and Macau
