A steak-loving Hong Kong sweet shop founder’s favourite places to eat

Olivia Niddam, founder of The BonBonist, on her favourite restaurant for desserts, the best steak house in Hong Kong, why she has a thing for Arcane, and the Thai restaurant that’s her ‘lunch canteen’

Hong Kong dining & recommendations

Andrew Sun

Published: 12:46pm, 9 Jan 2018

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We divide our weekends. On Fridays, we are at home having dinner with family and friends. We eat a lot of little salads, and then usually have couscous with meat. On Saturdays, I love going out with my husband and friends and discovering new restaurants.

One of my favourite places in town is Arcane (3/F, 18 On Lan Street, Central, tel: 2728 0178). I love the food and the ambience.

Niddam loves the ambience at Arcane in Central.

When we go out in Hong Kong, it’s mainly for Western restaurants. In general, I love Mediterranean and French food, but we also like Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. I [satisfy] my Thai cravings when we go on holidays to Thailand. But Golden Monkey (shop G08, One Island South, 2 Heung Yip Road, Wong Chuk Hang, tel: 3100 0184) is my lunch canteen. They do very nice Vietnamese salads and soups.

Aqua in Tsim Sha Tsui – go there for the view

If I have overseas visitor, then Aqua (29/F, One Peking, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 3427 2288) and Hutong (28/F One Peking, 1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 3428 8342) are the two best options to wow them with the city’s best view. I also love the bar at Felix (28/F, The Peninsula, 22 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 2696 6778).

Pastry chef Nicolas Lambert with Trilogie de Chocolat at Caprice. Photo: Jonathan Wong

I may sell candy but I still love the desserts of Nicolas Lambert of Caprice (Podium 6, Four Seasons Hong Kong, 8 Finance Street, Central, tel: 3196 8860). It is also the place I would go for a special occasion or celebration dinner. What I like mostly is the view, the cheese platter with the amazing selection of cheeses from France served on a wooden plank and, of course, the dessert. We always end up tasting four desserts. We’ve recently been there with my husband to celebrate and the food was amazing.

Porterhouse steak at the Grand Hyatt Steakhouse. Photo: Bernice Chan

As a guilty pleasure, sometimes I just get a craving for steak frites. For me, the best steak house in Hong Kong is the Grand Hyatt Steakhouse (Grand Hyatt, 1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, tel: 2584 7722). But I also enjoy The American Club (48/F-49/F, Two Exchange Square, 8 Connaught Road Central, tel: 2842 7400).

Interior of Caprice at Four Seasons Hong Kong.

What makes the sweets at my new shop The BonBonist (shop 200E, Level Two, Pacific Place, Queensway, Admiralty, tel: 2155 4440) unique is that all our products are sourced from Europe and packaged in a nice transparent box to really show how pretty they are. And we have unique flavours such as chilli bang bang – very spicy in flavour – and piña colada cocktail gummy.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Headline here headline here here

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