Contrast (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Contrast is a neighborhood coffee shop and café in Cheung Sha Wan, serving home-brewed coffee, all-day breakfast, and more in a friendly, easygoing vibe. But aside from its coffee and comfort food, it’s their desserts that have helped to earn them a loyal fanbase.

While I was sipping a drink at Springtide (回春) just a stone’s throw away, I decided to pop by afterwards to grab something to go.

Pistachio raspberry burnt cheesecake (開心果紅莓巴斯克芝士蛋糕) ($60) — I didn’t really get a proper look at it since my team members were the main beneficiaries of this sweet treat.

From what I’ve heard, the cake’s texture was a little too soft for their liking. And they weren’t too fond of the pistachio sabayon and raspberry ganache on top either. They felt it didn’t match well with the pistachio-flavored burnt cheesecake.

Well, I’ll take their words for it. After all, they’re the dessert experts, not me. 🍰🍹

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, Easey Building, 512-518 Fuk Wing Street, Cheung Sha Wan, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok / Cheung Sha Wan

Tel: +852 2337-7220

Opening Hours: 9:00am - 6:30pm daily

Springtide 回春 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I had someone important to pay my respects to at Cheung Sha Wan Cemetery this afternoon. Luckily, I didn’t break down in tears like I thought I would.

After that, I slowly walked downhill back towards the heart of Cheung Sha Wan. Instead of heading straight home, I decided to grab a drink to cool myself off. Thanks to the advice from my personal assistant (these days we call them AI), I managed to find Springtide (回春), a small café on the ground floor of The Amused (喜遇).

Springtide is the kind of modern coffee shop that has become a real success story in Sham Shui Po and nearby Cheung Sha Wan in recent years. Their menu blends café classics with lighter options, including salads, pasta, coffee, milkshakes, smoothies, and more.

Banana Hojicha Oat Milk Shake (香蕉焙茶燕麥奶昔) ($58) — I’m not sure whether banana and hojicha are a perfect match but I liked the fact that it wasn’t overly sweet.

Homemade Earl Grey Basque Cheesecake (自家製伯爵茶巴斯克蛋糕) ($58) — Their basque cheesecake comes in two flavors — earl grey and pistachio. Since I’ve had my share of pistachio ones recently, my choice was a quick and easy one.

This was reasonably good. The Earl Grey flavor was pretty strong and slightly overpowered the cheesiness. But I liked that it was not custardy (although also not the melt in the mouth type) like a New York style cheesecake.

The quest for the most delicious basque cheesecake in West Kowloon continues.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 1, G/F, The Amused, 538 Fuk Wing Street, Cheung Sha Wan, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Lai Chi Kok / Cheung Sha Wan

Tel: +852 9814-6323

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 9:00pm daily

Chiching Chiu Chao Cuisine Shenzhen Bay MixC 至正潮菜 深圳灣萬象城店 (Shenzhen, CHINA) ★★★★☆

We were supposed to have our Chinese New Year celebration here, but it was so full that we had to scramble for an alternative plan which turned into a casual Korean dinner at CAAN. It was a little odd to have Korean food to celebrate Chinese New Year, and to make matters worse, we were sitting outside the restaurant with virtually no service. Ordering was done by scanning a QR code. That was not a good start to the Year of the Horse for us.

I eventually decided to come back and check out this restaurant, Chiching Chiu Chao Cuisine (至正潮菜) at Shenzhen Bay MixC (深圳灣萬象城), myself. I had a feeling it would be a good one.

Stir-fried choy sum (生炒菜心) (¥58) — My server thought it was a little odd to serve me greens before the starters arrived, but I said, “Hey, why not?” This was pretty nice and crunchy.

Deep-fried shrimp cake with nori (紫菜煎蝦餅) (¥68) — I could smell the wonderful aroma from a distance away.

I love the crispy crust made with seaweed on the outside, and of course the diced shrimps, complemented beautifully with the honey sauce. Definitely a must-try item here. 👍👍

Deep-fried minced pork roll (潮式炸棵肉) (¥58) — This took a while to arrive. In fact, I was almost done with the other two dishes.

A very traditional Chiu Chao starter with minced pork and water chestnuts trapped inside a spring-roll-like wrapper that was both crispy and chewy at the same time. There was also a hint of coriander that added a lovely fragrance to the dish.

This was a very, very delicious meal. I overheard a guy at the table next to me raving about how good his dishes tasted, and that his family from Chiu Chao made him an expert of course. I’ll definitely bring my family back for another visit.

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: Shop 410, Zone A, Level 4 Shenzhen Bay MixC, 3213 Keyuan South Road, Nanshan, Guangzhou, China

深圳市南山区粤海街道海珠社区科苑南路3213号深圳湾万象城L4层A区410号铺

Closest Metro Station: Houhai (后海)

Tel: +86 (0755) 8660-6809

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 4:00pm, 5:15pm - 9:30pm daily

Map: https://j.map.baidu.com/1e/P2uM