Bakehouse (Wan Chai) — Restaurant in Hong Kong Island

bakehouse opened earlier this year and has been a huge success. This little place in Wan Chai is now the talk of the city when it comes to proper bakeries and for good reason - excellent bakery products worth queueing up for.

When the bakery first opened we found small queues at opening time and pretty much anytime we passed by. These queues have only grown in time. Now after a few short months (May 2018), you can expect to find long queues of patrons waiting for a table at bakehouse.

During our most recent visit, we arrived 15 minutes before opening and were 14 deep in the queue for table seating. A separate queue for take-away counter orders lined the other side of the shop. We have a fair number of European bakeries in Hong Kong now but we've not seen this level of fanfare before. It is safe to say that for the time being, you can expect waits no matter what time of day you arrive at bakehouse.

On this morning occasion, we ordered the cinnamon bun which was fantastic. This is a soft roll with a light amount of cinnamon filling and a zesty orange glaze. Ham and cheese croissant is very good as well. The croissants may vey well be the best in Hong Kong, properly layered with perfect flaky outer layers. We lastly tried the chocolate cookie that was just perfect, just the right amount of softness and harder outer layer. The cookie was a nice chocolate with morsels but not too sweet - a divinely baked chocolate cookie.

Breakfast was taken with a flat white and mocha. The flat white was good as expected while the mocha was better than expected, a nice blend of dark chocolate and strong espresso. This one we'll order again during or next visit.

In the end, loads of reasons to be happy with bakehouse and to endure the queues in order to try what is probably the best bakery we have in Hong Kong at this time. It's worth the wait.

Update in Jan 2019

bakehouse has recently introduced additional breakfast, lunch and brunch items to their menu to complement their excellent selection of freshly made breads, pastries and other delicious bakery goods.

We recently visited for Sunday breakfast to try their new menu items, which are served in the small seating area of the bakery. First go round wasn't bad. Food took a bit too long to be served after ordering, around 30 minutes but tasted quite good.

We had the French Toast, which was an excellent serving of eggy sourdough bread with berries and tart cream. We really like this order. We also tried the avocado toast with salmon and found this to be fine, as good as what you'll find in other Wanchai bakeries like Le Pain Quotidien.

In the end, would have preferred more timely delivery of our dishes but enjoyed the new menu items at bakehouse. They bring an interesting addition to the outstanding bakery items on...

From the moment we walked into the bakery side of Bakehouse Wan Chai to check out all the goodies in the cabinet, we were greeted with a warm, welcoming smile—despite the hustle and bustle of the busy morning.

I had heard so much about this place and wanted to get a good look (and maybe a head start) before sitting down for brunch with my girlfriends. We were celebrating a friend’s birthday, and this was her breakfast spot of choice—so of course, she got her wish!

We were looked after by a couple of team members, but the standout was Kahlen, who was absolutely fabulous. She helped us decide between a few dishes we couldn’t choose from, and every recommendation she made was spot on.

We treated ourselves to: • Chicken Curry Pie ($48) • Beef Rendang Pie ($48) • Breakfast Sausage Hash ($148) – chorizo, crispy potatoes, Béarnaise, balsamic shallots, herbs, poached egg • Crispy Chicken Schnitzel Burger ($138) – prosciutto di Parma, creamy Brie, sweet & spicy sauce, toasted milk bun • Doughnuts ($40) – chocolate hazelnut, vanilla custard • Sourdough Egg Tart ($12.5) • Burnt Milk Panna Cotta ($68) – gooseberry compote, honey, lime

We tried it all—and were so satisfied with everything we ordered that we ended up buying extra treats to take home for the kids. (Whether the kids actually received them is another story… not telling! 😉)

The service was just as memorable as the food. Kahlen was attentive, thoughtful, and even helped us pop a candle onto one of our doughnuts so we could mark our friend’s special day.

We’ll absolutely be back with more friends. It’s totally worth the trip from Ma Wan, and we’d happily return again and again for the amazing food and exceptional service.

Thank you, Bakehouse, for starting off my friend’s birthday week on such a high note....

Being the most popular bake house in town, the Bakehouse operates at inconvenient hours for working class who does not work in Wan Chai to visit. Closing at 17:00 with last order at 16:30, you will have to visit on weekends, when there is always a long queue. Therefore, when I finished a meeting nearby in the afternoon, I decided to try out my luck to see if I could get a seat, and I was lucky enough to get a seat for one just slightly before last order time.

At the end, I didn’t order anything on the menu (as 30 minutes won’t be enough for me to enjoy the food without rushing to finish off), instead I got two pieces of pastries - Matcha Brioche (left) and Sourdough Egg Tart (right).

My colleague recommended the Matcha Brioche to me during a previous visit at Bakehouse take-away counter, and I could see why she recommended it! It’s so so good! The pastry itself was fantastic! The egg and butter gave it a rich and tender crumb. And the matcha filling inside was so satisfying! It’s not artificially sweet, but very, very smooth and rich in green tea flavor, delightful!

As for the Sourdough, it’s equally satisfying! The sourdough made a novel tart base. It wasn’t really sour like ordinary sourdough bread. It actually enhanced the taste of the sweet egg tart, lovely! The egg tart was more like Portuguese egg tart than local egg tart, which was a bit sweeter.

I’m so glad that I made this little trip to try my luck! It’s always great to have a proper seat to enjoy some delicious pastry items, instead of eating them on the go, or bringing them home (as they won’t...