Residents of Quarry Bay have a lot to choose from when it comes to fine western pastries, at least if they head over to Hoi Kwong Street. Just steps away from each other are Teresa Festival, Harvester Cafe & Bakery and the appropriately named Ministore.
Teresa Festival is a good place for birthday and other celebration cakes, as well as assorted cookies, pastries and seasonal bakery items. Popular offerings include tiramisu, strawberry Napoleon, Sachertorte, chestnut tart and a wide variety of cheesecakes, which range from $300 to $360 for a 23cm cake that feeds 12-16. Teresa Festival is at 5B Dragon View House, 7 Hoi Kwong Street, Quarry Bay, tel: 2565 1368.
A few shops away is Harvester, which sells part of the beautiful range of pastries made by Glace on Wellington Street in Central (tel: 3101 4886). On a recent visit, Harvester had Glamorous, which paired sweet, light coconut cream with caramel, Blackjack (an updated version of the traditional Black Forest gateau), Teacup (ginseng, oolong and tieguanyin tea with tea sponge), Snow White (sponge cake, soy milk and cream) and the Louvre (white chocolate and macadamias). The pastries sell for $30 to $35. Harvester is at shop 1B, Hon Way Mansion, 11 Hoi Kwong Street, Quarry Bay, tel: 2110 4882.
If you prefer to make your own desserts, go across the street to Ministore. The shop is only about 100 square feet, but the shelves are filled with a huge array of bakery ingredients, including powdered and liquid food colourings, yeast, glucose, fruit concentrates, cream cheese, mascarpone and silver dragees. There are even more esoteric items such as chocolate transfer sheets, baker's ammonia and bread improver, and the Elle & Vivre unsalted butter seems to be the cheapest retail price in Hong Kong ($10 for a 200-gram pack). There's also an array of good quality, well-priced chocolate, including Valrhona. Owner Amelie Sit started the business for a simple reason - she likes to bake - and she can often be found whipping a mousse or mixing a pound cake and baking it in a small countertop oven. She also carries baking tools and pans, and even some equipment such as countertop ovens, scales and hand-held mixers. Ministore is at 6A Hoi Kwong Street, Quarry Bay, tel: 2561 0814.