• Food & Beverages

Leaf Dessert – Traditional Chinese Dessert Open Air Stall on Slope

April 27, 2021

Name (English): Leaf Dessert
Name (Chinese): 玉葉甜品
Category: Food & Beverages
Phone Number: +852 25443795
Address (English): 2 Elgin Street, SOHO, Central
Address (Chinese): 中環蘇豪伊利近街2號
Address Google Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/wbaWemwxHuzFFU8o9
Address longitude and latitude: 22.28322505882847, 114.15273196777636
Nearest MTR Station: Sheung Wan Station Exit E1
Nearest MTR Station Google Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/WCLwM1RFdKnAXXey6
Nearest MTR Station longitude and latitude: 22.286025029959507, 114.15338800080433
How far from the nearest MTR Station: 8 minutes walk from Sheung Wan Station Exit E1
Opening hours:
MON 13:00-23:00
TUE 13:00-23:00
WED 13:00-23:00
THU 13:00-23:00
FRI 13:00-23:00
SAT Closed
SUN Closed
Budget (per person): HKD 50
Recommended Food/Drinks: Cold Green Bean Soup With Seaweed, Glutinous Rice Balls with Sugar, Sesame and Shredded Coconut Topping
Recommended Time to Visit: After 4 pm
Accessibility Note: Easy access, need to walk up a slope

As you walk up the slope at Elgin Street, you will see this traditional Chinese Dessert Dai Pai Dong (大排檔, a type of open-air stall) With its remarkable green metal sheet roof, this premise has already stood for a century and is currently operated by the 4th generation. It also appears as a backdrop in many scenes of local movies. 

“No photography” said the boss, so here is a picture of the shop front from the opposite road

Leaf Dessert operates in an authentic street food stall style, so don’t expect any classy service that you’d receive at a decent restaurant. Instead, the shop lady may appear to be rude as she speaks loudly. Shop owners at Dai Pai Dong tend to serve in an expedient manner. So make up your mind and order as soon as possible. Otherwise, the shop owner may get impatient with you! There is a minimum charge of HKD13 per head. Also, no outside food is allowed.  

Menu

Despite the lack of service and the stringent rules here, its traditional dessert is still worth a try! The followings are some of my recommendations: 

  1. Cold Green Bean Soup With Seaweed 冷海帶綠豆湯

The green bean soup is a fantastic Chinese sweet soup that cools one down in summer. Barley inside adds a chewy texture to the soup. Also, it is flavored with “stinky grass”. Don’t get me wrong, the soup does not smell stinky at all! Stinky grass is actually a Chinese herb, which has a refreshing grassy smell to it. It serves good medical purposes – it releases the excessive heat within you, and clears up your acnes. Good to grab a bowl if you are having pimples after pulling an all-nighter! 

2. Glutinous Rice Balls with Sugar, Sesame and Shredded Coconut Topping 糖不甩

The glutinous rice balls are hot, soft and chewy. It is served with a generous amount of shredded coconut, sugar and sesame sprinkles as toppings. As you chew into it, you may find a hint of ginger. That’s because the rice balls have been boiled in red sugar ginger soup! 

Go and have a try. I’d bet that it’s a one-and-only experience where you enjoy dessert on a hilly slope!

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Mimi Ming

Currently an arts and law undergraduate student at HKU. Enjoys exploring the ambiguity between rationality and sensuality as a city flâneur.