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Holly Chik

Bernice Chan

Chinese New Year pudding, or neen goh, is a festive food that symbolises good luck and a brighter future, which is why it’s a must-eat during the holidays.
While the traditional sticky pudding is typically made with cane sugar and glutinous rice flour, Hong Kong chefs continue to introduce new and intriguing flavour combinations.
We tried some of the latest flavours created for the Year of the Rat.

Lung King Heen 
This year, three-Michelin-star restaurant Lung King Heen has a burdock and snow fungus pudding with red dates and jasmine (HK$418/US$54).
Chef Chan Yan-tak foregoes the usual ingredient of water chestnuts in Chinese puddings for burdock to give this new year dessert added texture, and adds snow fungus to boost the immune system. The pudding is sweetened by red dates, which are good for blood circulation, and it has a subtle jasmine tea aftertaste. You’ll definitely want more than one slice.
4/F, 8 Finance Street, Central, tel: 3196 8888

Green Common
Nutrition comes first at Green Common – for the festive season, the plant-based dining and grocery chain has launched a nutritionist-designed vegan sweet pudding. The peach gum water chestnut pudding with chrysanthemum bud (HK$208) has a rich, honey-like flavour. The crunchiness of the water chestnut is nicely complemented by the jellylike peach gum, which is high in fibre and protein.
Jade Wong, nutritionist and senior project executive at Green Common, says they reduced the amount of sugar by using the natural sweetness in the ingredients of the pudding, which contains 14.4g of sugar per 100g serving. The daily intake limit on sugar recommended by the World Health Organisation is 50g of sugar, or 10 sugar cubes.
Shop 1, 1/F, Nan Fung Place, 173 Des Voeux Road Central, tel: 2110 0055

Cuisine Cuisine
This year, Cantonese restaurant Cuisine Cuisine at the IFC Mall location has a ginger honey and sea coconut pudding (HK$328). The golden-coloured pudding does not use ginger juice – it features ginger honey, preserved ginger and candied lemon ginger – and the result is a subtle, gingery taste that isn’t too spicy or overwhelming.
“During winter, people usually consume ginger to keep warm,” says Chau Kin-yan, head chef of Cuisine Cuisine at IFC Mall, who was inspired to create a festive pudding with health benefits. The colour gold represents prosperity and wealth in Chinese culture, and sea coconut is said to help nourish the lungs.
3101, Podium Level 3, IFC Mall, Central, tel: 2393 3933

Ming Court
Michelin-starred restaurant Ming Court at Cordis Hong Kong blends citrus and tea into its newest pudding flavour – kumquat and tangerine peel pu’er tea pudding (HK$268).
“I wanted to create a relatively light flavoured New Year pudding,” says chef Tse Sun-fuk, who used kumquat and pu’er tea as the key ingredients. The result is a bouquet of subtle, refreshing citrus flavours.
To serve at home, slice the pudding into pieces, and steam for two to three minutes. If you’re dining at the restaurant, pair it with Ming Court’s tangerine pu’er, or bo lei, a fermented Chinese tea also featured in the pudding.
6/F, 555 Shanghai Street, Mong Kok, tel: 3552 3028
Woman has hit with song urging son to find Lunar New Year love
Other New Year puddings to consider:
Two-Michelin-star Ying Jee Club has a new year pudding featuring coconut milk and Ceylon tea (HK$238).
Shop G05, 107-108, Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road, Central, tel: 2801 6882
The egg custard glutinous pearl pudding (HK$288) is back at Hoi King Heen in the InterContinental Grand Stanford. The rich, smooth egg custard contrasts with the chewy, gelatinous black pearls that give the pudding its dotty appearance.
B2/F, InterContinental Grand Stanford, 70 Mody Road Tsim Sha Tsui East, tel: 2731 2883
For a healthier option, The Royal Garden has a deluxe low sugar red date pudding (HK$308). The dates are peeled and diced before being mixed into the pudding. Executive chef Ho Wai-sing has not only cut down the sugar used in the pudding, but uses red dates, which are packed with vitamins, protein and calcium.
The Royal Garden, 69 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, tel: 2733 2840





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New Chinese New Year pudding flavours: healthy, low-sugar, vegan, gingery – we put them to the test

Ming Court at Cordis Hong Kong blends citrus and tea into its newest pudding flavour.

Burdock and Snow Fungus Pudding with Red Dates and_Jasmine. Photo: HANDOUT[FEATURES 2020]

Cuisine Cuisine Ginger Honey and Sea Coconut Pudding.Photo: HANDOUT[FEATURES 2020]

Peach Gum Water Chestnut Cake with Chrysanthemum BudPhoto: HANDOUT[FEATURES 2020]

Chinese New Year pudding is a festive food that symbolises good luck, which is why it’s a must-eat during the holidays.

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The main spread of vegan dishes served at Garamanjaku in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2020 FEATURE]CREDIT: CHRIS DWYER

Chef owner Kiyoko Yamashiro in her garden in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2020 FEATURE]CREDIT: CHRIS DWYER

Dining tables in the living room at Garamanjaku in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2020 FEATURE]CREDIT: CHRIS DWYER

The finished smoothie in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2020 FEATURE]CREDIT: CHRIS DWYER

Handout image shows chef Hiroyasu Kawate from the Halekulani Hotel, and its restaurant, Shiroux, in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2019 FEATURE]CREDIT: Halekulani Hotel

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY ALASTAIR HIMMERIn this picture taken on June 22, 2015, an elderly women troupe of singers and dancers from Kohama Island in Okinawa wearing traditional local costumes perform at a herb garden on Kohama Island, Okinawa Prefecture. They joke about knocking on heaven's door, but a Japanese 'girl band' named KBG84, with an average age of 84 have struck a blow for grannies everywhere by becoming pop idols. AFP PHOTO / Toru YAMANAKA (Photo by TORU YAMANAKA / AFP)

Ingredients for the plant smoothie in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2020 FEATURE]CREDIT: CHRIS DWYER

Handout image shows pork trotter with a crispy sea snake from the Halekulani Hotel, and its restaurant, Shiroux, in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2019 FEATURE]CREDIT: Halekulani Hotel

Handout image shows Motobu Beef, Bone Marrow from the Halekulani Hotel, and its restaurant, Shiroux, in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2019 FEATURE]CREDIT: Halekulani Hotel

The kitchen at Garamanjaku in Okinawa, October 08, 2019.  08OCT19[02JANUARY2020 FEATURE]CREDIT: CHRIS DWYER

Lifestyle

Food & Drink


Hong Kong chefs continue to introduce new and intriguing flavour combinations for their Chinese New Year puddings
Plant-based dining and grocery chain Green Common has even launched a vegan sweet pudding with a rich, honey-like flavour



From Lung King Heen’s burdock and snow fungus pudding with red dates and jasmine to Cuisine Cuisine’s ginger honey and sea coconut pudding, here are some of the newest Chinese New Year puddings available in Hong Kong.


Where to eat in Hong Kong

Lunar New Year

Veganism and vegetarianism

Chinese culture