Battle Egg Tarts

Before I went to Hong Kong, I read that there are two places to go for egg tarts: Tai Cheong Bakery 泰昌餅家 and Honolulu Coffee Shop 檀島咖啡餅店. Since the two stores make their egg tarts differently, some people prefer one over the other. When I did a quick survey amongst my friends who are familiar with Hong Kong, the verdict was split. Therefore, I decided to visit both places and to see which egg tart reigns supreme.

The two stores are located a few blocks from each other: Tai Cheong is at 35 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central 中環擺花街35號 and Honolulu Coffee Shop is at 33 Stanley St, Central 中環士丹利街33號

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Tai Cheong is a just a bakery store without any seating and there always seem to be a line out the door. It is not a long wait, less than ten minutes or so.






















Unlike the traditional egg tart, Tai Cheong uses a shortcrust pastry as the shell. The unique butter cookie-like crust provides more contrast in texture to the soft filling. We bought half a dozen to sample back at the hotel and they were really good.

Since Honolulu Coffee Shop has seating, we simply went and ordered some egg tarts with a few milk teas. The egg tarts here are made more in the traditional method with Chinese puff pastry.

The egg tarts are also really good. The puff pastry is light and crispy and the custard is creamy. They were just delicious.

So which one did I like better? I am going to cop out and say I like both. I can't decide.