You've Probably Never Heard of the First One: A Super Comprehensive Guide to Hong Kong People's New Year Gifts and Souvenirs for Homecoming
The Spring Festival is a very important traditional festival in China. As the festival approaches, many friends start preparing New Year goods to get ready for the Lunar New Year. This year, I specially selected some unique Hong Kong specialties as souvenirs for visiting relatives back home. You can take a look for reference~
Hong Kong local brand 'Hong Kong Royal Patisserie' has launched many new Lunar New Year gift boxes this year, with a buy-3-get-1-free offer. Who wouldn't be tempted! Most of the New Year gift boxes also contain a pair of blind box spring couplets, making them perfect for gifting. Their New Year gift boxes include butterfly pastries, cookies, and egg rolls, all in original flavor or popular Earl Grey tea flavor!
The newly released Dragon Year gift boxes are especially eye-catching! They sold out almost immediately upon release at their stores, and I had to visit several shops to get one. Friends who love butterfly pastries and egg rolls must not miss them~
'Hong Kong Disneyland' has been decorated with a Spring Festival theme, full of festive atmosphere! This year, they have also launched two Dragon Year limited-edition plush toys: one is the Dragon Year Duffy and Friends mini plush blind box, and the other is a regular-sized plush toy! During the Lunar New Year, visitors can also step into the magical kingdom of Arendelle, as the world's first and largest Frozen-themed land—World of Frozen—officially opens!
It's again the annual time to buy New Year goods and dried seafood. My family always visits 'Yuen Kei Seafood' on Sheung Wan's Seafood Street before the New Year to buy some abalone, fish maw, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, and shiitake mushrooms. The abalone is of excellent quality, very chewy, with a rich abalone sauce. If I need to give gifts to relatives, I always choose the gift box sets—they look good and taste great!
Additionally, I need to buy some dried oysters for soup. 'Dried oyster' sounds like 'good things' in Cantonese, making it very auspicious and a must-have dish for Cantonese people's 'New Year's Day meal'.
Hong Kong specialty 'Chan Yee Chai' is suitable for both personal consumption and as a souvenir. Their top-selling bird's nest cake lives up to its reputation—the powdered cake is wrapped with bird's nest shreds, sweet but not greasy. Each box contains 6 pieces that are ready to eat, though the shelf life is only 5 days, so consume quickly. Next is the barley biscuit that melts in your mouth with a crispy texture. The original almond cake has a complete almond kernel in each piece, making it very fragrant to chew!
As the Spring Festival approaches, chocolates are prominently displayed in major Hong Kong supermarkets. 'Ferrero Rocher chocolates' are priced at 86 yuan per box at large discount supermarkets. I usually buy the 24-piece tricolor chocolate gift box, which includes three series: original Rocher, rich dark chocolate, and coconut white chocolate, each with 8 pieces—perfect for gifting~
Friends who don't like very sweet chocolates must not miss 'MUJI Hong Kong and Macau Exclusive Chocolate'. There are Tieguanyin tea chocolate, Ruby Red black tea chocolate, and 72% dark chocolate, priced at 28.5 HKD for 8 pieces. Each piece of chocolate has an exquisite pattern. The taste is similar to regular chocolate, but the tea flavor is more prominent, making it quite special.
