Traditional Cantonese dessert deviates massively from what one may expect at an Italian trattoria or a French brasserie.
In Hong Kong, 糖水 (tong4 seoi2) – literally translating sweet water – typically spells for a visit to a rickety shop with circular tables, stocky chairs, and a sweet air filling up the room.
At these joints, expect homely bowls of soup, featuring typical Cantonese flavours like sesame, ginger, tofu, lotus, tangerine peel, almonds, and coconut. This is where Hong Kong eats after a heavy dinner. These are the places to visit for your next post-meal snack.
The best traditional Cantonese dessert shops in Hong Kong
1. C Dessert
Pass C Dessert on the tram at night and you will know you have spotted this Wan Chai dessert mecca. Whilst more clean and polished than your typical Cantonese dessert shop, the goal here is to order, swallow your dessert, and get out as the line is relentless waiting outside. Their signatures are the sago and nata de coco, mango soup, and sweet tofu bowls, packed with natural sugars and priced reasonably.
C Dessert, Shop 1D, G/F, Newman House, 35-45 Johnston Road, Wan Chai, 2493 3349
2. Fook Yuen (福元湯丸)
The main reason people visit Fook Yuen is for their tang yuen, plump sesame-filled glutinous rice dumplings bathing in a variety of soothing soups. We recommend ordering their ginger soup or black sesame soup and pairing them up with the tang yuen. If you prefer sweeter flavours and a taste of fruit, go for their mango pomelo sago.
Fook Yuen, Shop I-1, G/F, Lei Do Building, 7 Fuk Yuen Street, North Point,
3. Auntie Sweet (甜姨姨)
Bringing a modern touch to Cantonese desserts in Diamond Hill, Mong Kok, and Causeway Bay, Auntie Sweet focuses on the power of fruit to entice customers to come back again and again. Many visit Auntie Sweet (and fall in love with) for their purple sticky rice with mango and durian tofu pudding bowls. The two signatures are not too sweet and perfectly sized to share with your boo.
Auntie Sweet, multiple locations across Hong Kong
4. Yee Shun Milk Company (港澳義順牛奶公司)
Nothing gets more dessert-y and traditional than Yee Shun Milk Company in Causeway Bay. The shop’s barebones interior and old-school touch translates to the menu served for decades. With steamed milk desserts a signature at this location, go for the ginger, steamed egg, or black sesame flavours for a taste of the classics. The shop also sells sandwiches and drinks, but prepare to leave as soon as you finish the food as the line never quits growing outside.
Yee Shun Milk Company, G/F, 506 Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay, 2591 1837
5. Luk Lam Dessert (綠林甜品)
This Sham Shui Po sweet treasure is as traditional as it gets in Hong Kong. You won’t find modern creations or fusion flavours, but the standards: chestnut, sesame, ground almond, stewed snow pear, sweet potato, and stewed papaya flavours are all the rage when it comes to their soups. Go here after you have shopped for your cart noodles at Man Kee to balance out the saltiness.
Luk Lam Dessert, G/F, 77-79 Un Chau Street, Sham Shui Po, 2361 4205
6. Golden Hall Dessert (金滿堂甜品)
Golden Hall Dessert is a veritable Kowloon Cantonese dessert classic, pouring out the mango-y, chocolatey, sesame-y goodness in Wong Tai Sin, Kowloon City, and Ngau Tau Kok. If you intend to visit them, go to their largest store in Kowloon City and order from their potato taro tofu pudding and bean dumpling soup sections for a real taste of Hong Kong sweets. Golden Hall Dessert won Foodie Forks’s Best Dessert Award in 2025, so you just know it is good!
Golden Hall Dessert, multiple locations across Hong Kong
7. Kai Kai Dessert (佳佳甜品)
Nothing is more familiar for the sweet-loving crowd of Hong Kong foodies than Kai Kai Dessert. With a former HQ based in Jordan, the brand has now expanded across the neighbourhood into a more modern space. They count Causeway Bay and Mong Kok as home too. They serve inexpensive bowls of sweet almond soup, black sesame paste, glutinous dumplings with sweet ginger soup, and sago in taro puree with lotus seed, to name a few of their most popular dishes.
Kai Kai Dessert, multiple locations across Hong Kong
8. Tei Mou Koon (地茂館甜品)
Another gem to make this list – with five other locations dotted around Kowloon and the New Territories – Tei Mou Koon brings back the childhood nostalgia with a menu that has resisted changes for decades. The chain recommends you order their mango pomelo sago, black sesame soup, signature almond tea soup, and steamed egg milk custard. Go for the sweet things and stay for the history and tradition.
Tei Mou Koon, multiple locations across Hong Kong
9. Lan Yuen Chee Koon (蘭苑饎館)
Whilst specialising in both savoury Cantonese dishes and sweet soups, Lan Yuen Chee Koon attracts sweet tooths for the latter. They go very classic with the soup flavours, including water chestnut, lotus seed, red bean, and almond tea. But, if you want to copy what the influencers like talking about, get their pistachio nut soup, made extra thick for maximum nuttyness.
Lan Yuen Chee Koon, G/F, Jean House, 318 Sai Yeung Choi Street North, Prince Edward, 2381 1369
