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Lunar New Year is coming up soon, and while we’re looking forward to collecting lai see, spending time with family, and getting a couple more days off to maybe go on a cheeky trip before tackling the rest of the year ahead, these are not the only reasons to celebrate. As with many holidays in Hong Kong, food tends to be the centrepiece of the occasion, and The Baker & The Bottleman is feeding our ravenous appetites with the launch of new pastries and baked goods, some intriguingly inspired by Hong Kong flavours.
The Baker & The Bottleman’s head baker Helene Ng has crafted a collection of three treats to add to their existing pastry lineup, comprising the daring jar choy croissant ($35), the peanut mochi cookie ($30), and the strawberry hojicha puff ($30). Among them, the jar choy croissant is perhaps the most unusual, as it centres around a filling of Chinese pickled mustard greens (known as jar choy or haam choy) with minced pork, garlic, shallots, and soy sauce for a savoury morsel inspired by Cantonese home-cooking.
Likewise, the peanut mochi cookie takes its cues from the Cantonese tong but lut, a dessert of glutinous rice balls in sugar syrup and roasted peanut butter dust. At The Baker & The Bottleman, this classic sweet is transformed into a cookie with a soft mochi centre, dusted in peanuts, sesame, and desiccated coconut for a crisp and chewy bite. Considering there’s already a beloved char siu croissant pocket ($35) on the menu, maybe we will see more Hong Kong-inspired French confectioneries in the near future…
The Baker & The Bottleman is also keeping busy with a limited-time Lunar New Year collaboration with local cookbook and sauce brand A Spark of Madness, which has led to the creation of three festive items. Most notably, there is a Hong Kong-inspired soy chicken with caramelised spring onion sandwich ($78) among the offerings, presenting a riff on the traditional Cantonese dish. Chicken breast is steamed in dark soy sauce and paired with focaccia, butter lettuce, and a trio of signature Spark sauces, including caramelised spring onion, mad honey, and truffle chilli crisp. Other umami-driven creations include the crispy chilli and orange cookie ($35) and crack and corn dog ($48), combining The Baker & The Bottleman’s popular ‘crot’ dog with Spark’s ‘crack’ mayo.
If you’re shopping around for a unique Lunar New Year gift, maybe the bakery-restaurant’s firecracker series, gift boxes, and hampers will catch your fancy – consider ‘firecrackers’ packed with cheesy shortbread crackers, caramel date cakes, and candied pecans, to a giant cookie tin filled with chocolate, or a bamboo steamer scone set.
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