In Search of Hong Kong's Huang Yue

Hong Kong has long been known as a food paradise. If you want to find the taste of Hong Kong, try the famous egg tarts, pineapple butter buns, silk-stocking milk tea, wonton noodles, and clay pot rice. If you want to experience the local lifestyle, gather with friends for yum cha—morning tea—and order small bites like shrimp dumplings, siu mai, chicken feet, and char siu buns. However, it's undeniable that land in Hong Kong is extremely expensive, with high rents, and especially given the impact of the pandemic over the years and the closure of borders, many local Hong Kong enterprises have struggled to survive.

Against this backdrop, a rising local star in Hong Kong has attracted significant attention in recent years. Its popularity has been growing online, sparking many discussions in the food circle. More and more reports and shares about this brand have appeared in Hong Kong's television stations, newspapers, and magazines. This local star is Hong Kong's Huang Yue. This year, Huang Yue also received investment from the Eagle Group and launched a new brand—Ming Yue—focusing on children's food.

A Unique Boss Who Takes an Unconventional Path

The founder of Huang Yue, Dr. Yan Yunbo, is a well-known figure in Hong Kong's hotel industry. He worked at The Peninsula Hotel for many years, spearheading important projects there. He single-handedly developed The Peninsula's boutique store into Peninsula Products Limited and successfully introduced the Peninsula egg custard mooncakes to the Hong Kong and overseas markets, creating a legend of hot sales for many years.

Speaking of the original intention behind founding Huang Yue, Dr. Yan talked about inheriting and promoting traditional Chinese pastry culture. Indeed, traditional Chinese pastries have faced many limitations in development due to factors such as packaging, quality control, and management methods. Dr. Yan very much hoped to create a new brand to vigorously promote Chinese pastry culture and establish the image of a high-quality Hong Kong souvenir brand.

He hoped to make good use of Hong Kong's high-level production conditions by building his own factory and equipping it with international-grade production facilities. He aimed to create a refined pastry experience for customers using excellent food quality, superb professional skills, and a luxury hotel-level attentive service attitude.

Two Giants of Pastry Art as Mentors—Inheriting Chinese Pastry Craftsmanship

Dr. Yan met Master Ye Yonghua, the creator of the egg custard mooncake, while working at The Peninsula. When Huang Yue was founded, Master Ye greatly admired Dr. Yan's philosophy. Dr. Yan repeatedly invited Master Ye to come out of retirement and serve as Huang Yue's chief pastry master. Master Ye Yonghua is a titan in Hong Kong's mooncake industry. He invented the egg custard mooncake over 30 years ago, and it remains wildly popular, earning him the title 'Father of Egg Custard Mooncakes.'

In 2019, Master Ye's only formal successor, Master Li Yongguan, also joined Huang Yue. Together with Master Ye, they serve as Huang Yue's pastry masters, focusing on product development and quality control. Master Li Yongguan worked as the head of the pastry department at The Peninsula Hotel Shanghai for over ten years, founding that department. He is skilled in both Chinese and Western pastry arts and is a two-Michelin-star pastry master, with innovation and refinement as his lifelong pursuits.

Signature Product: Lava Mooncakes Win Top Gold Award for Four Consecutive Years

In 2022, at the latest Monde Selection—the World Food Quality Evaluation Award—Huang Yue's lava mooncakes won the Grand Gold award. Monde Selection is known as the 'Nobel Prize of food' and is an extremely fair and authoritative world-class food award. This is the fourth consecutive year that Huang Yue's products have won the highest gold award, demonstrating the team's persistence and dedication to quality, earning international recognition.

Pursuing High Quality to Enter the Souvenir Market

Huang Yue's commitment to high quality and high pastry art has paid off. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, the mooncakes they launched were met with an enthusiastic market response. Yan Yunbo said, 'Last year, Huang Yue produced over 300,000 boxes for the Hong Kong market. Sales were so brisk that all were sold out a month before Mid-Autumn.' Besides festive mooncakes, Yan Yunbo is also actively entering the souvenir market. 'From my many years of experience in the hotel industry, even though Hong Kong has high-end hotels and restaurants, the souvenir market has not kept pace. There aren't many high-quality food products. In fact, "Made in Hong Kong" is a golden brand, and there is a gap in the market. So we offer high-quality products at mid-to-high-end prices.'

He cites the honeycomb egg rolls as an example: ingredients include eggs, butter, and sugar. The market usually uses shortening or margarine instead of butter, but Huang Yue uses top-grade French natural butter, which is dozens of times more expensive but healthier and leaves a lingering fragrance. In addition, Huang Yue continually innovates and develops new products. Yan Yunbo and his team consulted historical documents to create the Tang Pastry series, adapting sweet desserts from the Tang Dynasty capital Chang'an to modern health-conscious preferences. It took two years to develop. 'Tang pastries have a cute appearance. Combined with other Western-style pastries, they form the Wedding Pastry series, offering a different choice for engaged couples beyond traditional Tang or Western pastries.'

Yan Yunbo has a vision: he hopes that in two to three years, Huang Yue will become a brand representing Hong Kong. 'The goal of Huang Yue Hong Kong is to become Hong Kong's number-one souvenir brand, truly representing Hong Kong.'