September 12, 2025
We took a cab to the Wan Chai neighborhood this morning to try a famous tea shop for breakfast, My Cup of Tea. The kids got their first taste of true Hong Kong dining as we were led into a small, cramped dining room and directed to share a table with another couple. The kids were confused at first but soon made themselves comfortable. Kyle and I had traditional Hong Kong milk tea, Len had a scrambled egg and salted duck yolk sandwich (he didn’t know about the duck yolk), Ollie had a crispy bun with butter and condensed milk and Kyle a Crispy bun with pork belly and egg. These crispy buns were more like fully toasted bread and disintegrated when you bit into them– the kids loved them but Kyle and I prefer the softer pineapple buns.
After breakfast, we went to a nearby playground for a bit but it was already heating up outside. There were huge trees that periodically dropped fruit the size of figs and we narrowly missed getting hit. Len was having a tough time this morning so we cut our playground time short to get on the subway back to the Central neighborhood. While riding, I told the kids I was going to take them to a store to buy snacks and that it would blow their mind. Ollie goes, “No way a store could blow my mind!!”
At Donki (a huge Japanese discount store that sells thousands of different kids of snacks and drinks) they admitted that their minds were blown. Len was thrilled to pick up more seaweed snacks that he always mentions when he talks about “snacks from America” which is ridiculous. Ollie chose some Mario chocolate coins and I grabbed a few things for surprises for later on in the trip. Then we walked up the hill through the wet market to get more giant grapes and blueberries. Our last stop before we went back to the hotel was to the Bakehouse bakery where we’ve gone each day in Hong Kong for laminated pretzel sticks, egg custard tarts, custard donuts and an iced latte. We also picked up an onion and cheese scone and a cinnamon pecan roll to try.
I went to an afternoon yoga class while Kyle got started on homeschool with the kids at the hotel. After my class, Kyle and I swapped kid duty so he could go to the gym while I watched the kids swim at the hotel pool. After showers and another session of homeschool, we left to go meet our friend Wendy for dinner! She and her husband Nolan also live in Hoboken and have kids the same ages as Ollie and Lenny (and they have a third, Margot, who is 1). Nolan was in Shanghai for work and Wendy tagged along as she has family in Shanghai and they snuck in a weekend in Hong Kong to hang out with us.
We had a dim sum/ Cantonese dinner and appreciated having Wendy there to more easily translate the menu but to also order some more adventurous dishes. She ordered a “small winter melon soup” for the table that had us all chuckling when it came out as it was humongous and served inside of an actual winter melon.
Next we raced to get to the peak tram to try to get to the top in time for the 8pm light show. We missed most of it but could see some of the action through the tram windows. At the peak, Kyle and I realized how much has changed since we were last here 15 years ago. The peak used to be a great opening with a railing at the edge and food vendors all around. Now, we were bummed to see a huge shopping mall at the top where you then had to pay again to access the roof which provided the best viewing spot. There was even a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant in the mall! Definitely an entirely different vibe than we remembered.
On the roof, the boys got yelled at a few times by security for running around and pushing each other. By the third security reprimand, Kyle told them they will have to stay in Hong Kong jail if they keep it up and they calmed down a bit after that. After taking a few pictures and wading through the tripods and selfie sticks, we made our way back down to the tram. The boys were clamoring for dessert so we stopped at a candy shop in the mall. Len grabbed what he thought was a push pop but ended up being a sour candy spray– like the old binaca breath spray that we grew up with. He was in tears when he realized his treat was not edible but slightly drinkable. We let him get a backup candy and he chose candy wafers that melt in your mouth which were a favorite of mine growing up and always reminded me of communion wafers.
It was after 10 by the time we rode the tram back down so we called an Uber to head back to the hotel with the kids. Wendy was grabbing a car of her own to meet a friend over in Kowloon but we have plans to meetup early tomorrow morning for an adventure with her and Nolan.
