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When it comes to buying Christmas gifts for foodies, try to resist the temptation to buy something you'd love to have yourself. In other words, if your speciality is pastry but your friend quakes at the thought of serving a dessert more complicated than shop-bought ice cream and cookies, there's no use giving them an expensive textured rolling pin used in making puff pastry. Here are some ideas for foodie gifts to get you started on your shopping list.

Inexpensive stocking stuffers

The best place for inexpensive gifts is Shanghai Street - just a short MTR ride from Admiralty. Go to the Yau Ma Tei station, take exit C then walk along Man Ming Lane, heading away from Nathan Road. Walk past Arthur Street and Temple Street, then turn left on Shanghai Street - most of the cookware shops are concentrated in one block along both sides of the road.

One of the first stores you'll come to is Chan Chi Kee Cutlery (316 Shanghai Street, tel: 2385 0317), which has almost every tool and pan a budding pastry chef will need: heavy polycarbonate chocolate moulds (a bargain at about HK$88; upscale shops sell them for double the price), chocolate dipping forks, tart pans in all shapes and sizes, porcelain ramekins and metal moulds for jellies and small cakes. Chan Chi Kee is an excellent shop for its comprehensive pastry tool collection but the other stores on the street all have interesting items that would be hard to find outside the area. Look for vegetable cutters in the shapes of flowers, fish and Chinese characters (including 'double happiness'), mooncake moulds and stove-top (as opposed to electric) handheld irons for gai dan jai ('little chicken eggs'), waffles and egg roll biscuits (at about HK$100, these are great for those who like to attempt some typical Hong Kong street foods).

If you want to give a delicious edible gift, buy the delicious truffle salt produced by Tetsuya Wakuda and available from Waves Pacific. The truffle salt is HK$125 and can be ordered at wavespacific.com

Cookbooks

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