Baking for a Good Cause

Yummy assorted cookies from iBakery

Last spring I was introduced to delicious matcha cookies and the social enterprise that made them, called iBakery. Operated by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the bakery was started in 2010 to train and employ people with disabilities.

The rectangular cookies had such a great green tea flavour, and my great aunt loved them so much that I kept buying boxes whenever I passed by their pop-up store in Windsor House.

It was their first collaboration with Hyatt Regency Kyoto, that gave iBakery the recipe. And then a few months ago, Hyatt Regency Sha Tin presented them another recipe, this time for yuzu madeleines.

They are similar to the traditional French recipe that calls for lemon, but instead they are replaced with yuzu that isn't as tart. These are available at their current pop-up store in Hopewell Centre in Wan Chai.

I also tried their tin box assortment of cookies. It featured seed and raisin flavour, hazelnut, cashew nut, double chocolate, wholewheat almond and chocolate cashew nut. The box was also beautifully decorated with a colourful parrot hand drawn by someone at Tung Wah Group of Hospitals.

iBakery's bakery is actually in Kennedy Town, though each time I visit the store, the cookies I want -- particularly the green tea and biscotti ones -- are not available! The store there sells the basic baguettes, sliced bread, and basic Hong Kong-style pastries, as well as some cookies.

Nevertheless it's a good cause to support, particularly in helping people with disabilities learn a skill and have a job they can be proud of.

Shop 2, G/F, Block 2, Centenary Mansion

1 Victoria Road

Kennedy Town
2816 5233

iBakery Gallery Cafe

Tamar Cafe at Tamar Park

Admiralty
2352 2700

iBakery Express (Tamar)

Promenade at Tamar Park

Admiralty
2511 8230

iBakery Express (HKU)

Run Run Shaw Podium, Main Campus

University of Hong Kong

Pokfulam
5402 4546

Pictures of the Day: Hello Kitty Madness

The first Hello Kitty design from 1974. Happy Birthday!

The other day I was in Causeway Bay a decided to go to Windsor House to pick up more of those delicious green tea cookies made by iBakery. When I got to this mall, what did I see? A feline with a giant oval head and a red bow on her left ear.

I immediately contact YTSL and she just happened to be in the vicinity and rushed over.

Hello Kitty flying a plane...

Needless to say she was in kitty heaven -- and she was in good company. There were lots of people ranging from kids to women in their 50s and 60s all wanting to take photos with Hello Kitty.

Even though there were signs that said "Do not touch", they were fondling her face when posing with her...

The small exhibition and pop-up store on the ground floor celebrate Hello Kitty's 40th birthday until June 8. And the statues they have set up are mostly of the retro kind -- the cat wearing overalls, sitting on a yellow plane, and a baby version of her with Dear Daniel.

There's also a strange one of her with strawberries over her ears and on her stomach...

And behind glass cases are some memorabilia, with the oldest one from 1974 -- the date of her birth -- is a change purse with Hello Kitty sitting in between a bottle of milk and a goldfish in a glass bowl.

Inside the pop-up store are lots of Hello Kitty merchandise, from towels and stuffed toys of the cat's likeness, to chopstick designs from every year, handbags and stationary items all reasonably priced.

An antique now -- Hello Kitty change purse

Most surprising was that YTSL didn't buy anything! But she did go back again and take more photographs of her feline friend...

Windsor House

311 Gloucester Road
Causeway Bay

Green Goodness

A proud baker at the launch of the iBakery pop up store

A friend of mine, Chan Chun-wai is a long-time food and travel writer. His Facebook updates show pictures of him traveling all over the place from France to Iran and everywhere in between, which makes many of us envious of his job.

But despite his jet-setting lifestyle he does things for the local community, such as promoting social enterprises and supporting friends who open cafes and shops.

Most recently though he was able to combine his two passions together -- travel and food for a good cause.

He travels to Kyoto frequently, so much so that he has become a Kansai Tourism Ambassador. How you get that status I'm not sure, but seems like a glamorous title.

The green tea cookies produced by iBakery in Hong Kong

Chan often stays at the Hyatt Regency Kyoto and one day the hotel's general manager invited him to try some green tea cookies and Chan though they tasted great, having a strong matcha tea flavour and also there were no preservatives in them.

The GM said that he was interested in promoting the cookies in Hong Kong, but not necessarily for profit, just as a way to make people aware of matcha tea and the cookies from Kyoto.

So Chan said that he'd think about it but didn't come up with an idea right away.

After some weeks of pondering, Chan remembered that he liked to support iBakery, a social enterprise started by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. The bakery employs people with disabilities (about half of the total staff) to produce a range of cookies to sell.

Food and travel writer Chan Chun-wai thinking green

Then Chan came up with the idea of having iBakery produce the green tea cookies and selling them. Head pastry chef Yasuda Shunji from the Hyatt Regency Kyoto came to Hong Kong to teach the staff at iBakery how to make the cookies, and the matcha also comes from Japan.

The cookies, about eight rectangular pieces per pack are selling for only HK$48, and packaged in a green box with "leaves" on top.

If you're in Hong Kong, there's currently an iBakery pop up shop at 1/F, Windsor House in Causeway Bay which is open from 11am to 9pm.

The cookies have a fantastic intense matcha tea flavour. One or two pieces maximum for me, but great to share with friends and support people who are working hard to become more independent in their lives.

ibakery.tungwahcsd.org

Facebook.com/ibakeryhk