Hong Kong is witnessing a gastronomic fusion this Lunar New Year as The Forest Bakery unveils its innovative holiday collection, centred on blending traditional Cantonese delicacies with refined French pastry techniques. The bakery, known for its creative approach, is offering a limited-edition series of products themed around a “East meets West” concept, transforming quintessential festive fare into unique modern treats.
The highlight of the seasonal launch is the luxurious Whole Abalone Mille-Feuille Tart. Priced at HK$68, this decadent pastry features a whole braised abalone, delicately garnished with edible gold leaf and asparagus, perched atop a flaky French pastry shell. The interior is filled with a savoury French-style white sauce integrating chicken, mushrooms, and onions, offering a complex profile that merges the umami richness of abalone with buttery puff pastry. This creation elegantly reinterprets Hong Kong’s tradition of serving premium seafood during the New Year period.
Reinventing Traditional Treats
Further pushing culinary boundaries is the Chinese Sausage and Turnip Mille-Feuille Tart (HK$38), a playful deconstruction of the classic Cantonese turnip cake (lo bak go). Instead of the traditional steamed cake, the bakery’s rendition incorporates shredded white radish, cured meats (Chinese sausage), and dried scallop, which are seasoned and baked within a crisp, buttery mille-feuille crust. This ingenious transformation successfully maintains the sweet and savoury essence of lo bak go while delivering an entirely new textural experience.
For dessert aficionados, the bakery introduces the Taro Earl Grey Basque Cheesecake Tart (HK$38), combining the creamy, burnt caramel crust of a Basque cheesecake with the dense sweetness of taro paste, a popular local ingredient. This sweet line-up is complemented by other inventive dessert tarts, including various lava mochi tarts featuring black sesame and pistachios.
Traditional Fare with a Modern Spin
Beyond the inventive tarts, The Forest Bakery is also offering elevated versions of essential Lunar New Year festive cakes. Their “Five-Times Ingredient” Turnip Cake distinguishes itself by significantly reducing the starch and increasing the proportion of top-tier ingredients—including dried scallop, Chinese sausage, and cured meat—giving the cake a supremely rich flavour profile. Additionally, the bakery offers a sophisticated, low-sugar version of Golden Cake (huang jin gao), designed to accentuate the natural coconut flavour while maintaining the desirable ‘shark fin’ texture prized in premium versions of the cake.
To meet the demand for customary New Year snacks, a range of handcrafted festive fried pastries (yau gei) is also available, including crowd-favourites like seaweed pork floss dumplings, laughing sesame balls, and egg twists. Due to the artisanal nature of the production, the bakery has implemented purchasing limits for these popular items.
Interested customers can take advantage of the early bird discount offers available for online pre-orders placed until January 26th, with festive cookie and butterfly pastry gift sets starting from HK$68. The Forest Bakery is conveniently making its festive selection available at pop-up stores in high-traffic locations until February 16th, including Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing, Maritime Square in Tsing Yi, and Hong Kong International Airport. Reservations and full details regarding the collection can be found on The Forest Bakery’s official website.