Passion by Gérard Dubois has been one of my favorite French patisseries ever since it opened its first location in Wanchai back in 2012. That original shop has long gone but the group has gone on to cement its place as one of the true heavyweights in the local French boulangerie scene, especially when it comes to bread and pastries. I didn’t get a chance to check them out during COVID, mainly because I wasn’t dining out much during that two-year stretch. By the time life returned to normalcy, I then realized the franchise had already been acquired by Cafe Deco Group, and its name quietly changed to Passione.
With my pastry consumption dropping off significantly due to health concerns in recent years, there wasn’t much reason for me to swing by — until this afternoon, when I found myself in need of a quick meal in Wanchai.
Uni squid-ink pasta (帶子三文魚籽墨汁意粉) ($148) – I ordered this thinking it would be squid-ink pasta tossed with uni, sea scallops and salmon roe but when the dish arrived and I started searching for the uni… that’s when I realized the Chinese name didn’t mention uni at all. I guess it was a translation issue.
That said, I thought this was a serviceable pasta dish. The scallops and salmon roes were all there working well together with the al-dente squid-ink pasta. The only wildcard was the kelp sauce, which I thought was a little too spicy for my liking.
Black sesame marble (黑芝麻雲石) ($53) – I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to try my first pastry at Passione since 2022.
Not surprisingly, the black sesame mousse was delicately smooth and flavorful, but the centre of what I thought was marshmallow did very little to provide any contrasting texture or flavor for the dessert. Decent but nothing to write home about.
All in all, a nice return visit that was long overdue. The mission today was simple: finish everything in 45 minutes and get to my meeting on time. And mission accomplished.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop G11, G12 & F12A, G/F, Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai , Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2833-6778
Opening Hours: 8:00am - 8:00pm daily
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