Abebe Bakery Seoul (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

Abebe Bakery Seoul is one of the city’s most viral dessert sensations in recent memory, famous for its decadent, Jeju Island-inspired cream-filled donuts and artisanal buns. Originally from Jeju Island, the bakery has built a loyal following with its soft, chewy breads filled with rich, inventive pastry creams.

I first came across the bakery while researching for my upcoming trip to Seoul. What I didn’t realize was that it had recently arrived in Hong Kong, soft-opening its first shop near K11 Art Mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The shop offers a colorful selection of cream donuts and cream buns, showcasing ingredients from Jeju Island. Favorites include Jeju matcha and Wimi Hallabong, a vibrant local citrus fruit. Other signature flavors include Dirty Chocolate and Pistachio.

The main difference between the cream donuts and cream buns is their texture and preparation. The donuts are lightly fried and coated in sugar, crumbs, or cocoa powder while the buns are baked, dusted with Castella cake crumbs, and almost always have a thick, ultra-chewy layer of traditional Korean rice cake (mochi) at the bottom.

Black sesame cream donut ($38) — I’m a sucker for anything with black sesame ganache, so this was a no-brainer.

The black sesame crumb coating and rich black sesame pastry cream made this a dream treat for any black sesame lover. The only slight drawback was that the donut seemed to be lightly fried only on the outside, so it tasted more like a bun than a classic donut.

Food Rating: 5.5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop W, G/F, Ocean View Court, 31-43 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 9:30pm daily 

Mugen Ramen Tsim Sha Tsui 無限ラーメン 尖沙咀店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I was seeing my hairstylist on the National Day holiday to get my hair done this morning. Things got off to an early start, and I was finished by around 2pm just before most restaurants closed for lunch.

I decided to take a short walk to Hook Fook Street to check out the dining options and found exactly what I was looking for — Mugen Ramen (無限ラーメン). Just a simple, satisfying bowl of ramen.

Mugen Ramen is an incredibly popular ramen brand from Osaka, famous for its unique, ultra-creamy beef-bone paitan broth (牛骨白湯). Much like my favorite chicken paitan ramen, Mugen’s rich, collagen-packed beef broth is whipped until the surface becomes smooth, airy, and velvety white, almost like cappuccino foam.

Rich beef broth ramen (牛骨白湯) ($98) — This came with spring onions, green onions, bamboo shoots, aburi belly and thin sliced wagyu sirloin.

The broth was the obvious star here. It was absolutely packed with collagen making it thick and creamy without feeling overly oily. 

The rich, velvety beef broth coated the noodles perfectly.

Aburi pork belly (火炙叉燒) — Succulent and full of flavors.

Thinly sliced wagyu sirloin — It wasn’t as well-marbled or as generously portioned as it looked in the photo. Nevertheless, the beef was pretty soft and tender.

Marinated soft-boiled egg — This was extra but it was well worth the price tag. Just beautifully done.

Now I’m really regretting all those times I walked past their Shinsaibashi store on Shinsaibashi-Suji Shopping Street without stopping in.

Food Rating: 6.9/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 2 Hau Fook Street, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Tsim Sha Tsui

Tel: +852 5528-3469

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 11:00pm daily 

GYU + bar by Miyoshi (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★★☆

I first noticed GYU + bar by Miyoshi during its soft opening at Hysan Place a few months ago. Now that the Kyoto-based wood-fire-grilled wagyu specialist has officially opened doors in September, I thought it was time to pay it a long-overdue visit.

With its open kitchen and charcoal grills right at the heart of the action, I asked for a seat at the bar so I could get a closer look behind the scenes. 

Interestingly, my neighbors who were initially seated right next to me, found it too hot near the grill and asked to move elsewhere.

Wagyu tartare, egg yolk, smoked mayo, burdock — The three-course set started off with a small serving of wagyu tartare topped with egg yolk gel, smoked mayo and crispy burdock. I was instructed to mix everything together so that each bite would include a bit of every ingredient.

This wasn’t bad at all. The crispy burdock noodles paired reasonably well with the raw wagyu, but a little more smoked mayo (or perhaps some sort of jelly?) to bring it all together would have made it even more delicious.

A5 Wagyu rump, mashed potato, baby spinach — This was the sole reason I came here, baby! As always, the aroma of charred beef smelt so good.

My server didn’t even ask how I wanted my A5 wagyu rump cooked, so I trusted that they knew exactly what they were doing. And they sure did.

The four slices of well-marbled wagyu were charcoal-grilled to perfection (around medium) giving them a lovely smoky finish. The juicy, meltingly tender beef was served on a bed of baby spinach, alongside a thick slab of silky-smooth mashed potatoes, with a spiced sauce au poivre providing the finishing touch. For me, the succulent chargrilled wagyu alone was well worth the price tag.

Pain perdu — Dessert was brioche French toast served with a little black sugar and strawberry sorbet. A lovely sweet ending to lunch.

I’ve got some catching up to do at work this afternoon, so it’s time to head back to the office and suck it up.

Food Rating: 7/10

Price: $$$$

Address: Shop 401-404, 4/F, Lee Garden One, 33 Hysan Avenue, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Causeway Bay

Tel: +852 2116-0593

Website: https://www.gyubar.com.hk/

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:30pm, 5:00pm - 11:00pm (Sun - Thu), 11:30am - 3:30pm, 5:00pm - 11:30pm (Fri - Sat)