As Hong Kong welcomes another Lunar New Year, a familiar question returns to many dining tables: how to honor tradition while embracing something new.
At The Park Lane Hong Kong, the answer comes in the form of a thoughtful collaboration with the century-old Hang Heung Cake Shop, transforming time-honored flavors into a festive fusion menu at PLAYT.
For more than five decades, The Park Lane Hong Kong has been a quiet witness to the city’s evolving food culture, while Hang Heung has remained a household name synonymous with traditional pastries and preserved delicacies.
This Lunar New Year, the two brands come together not to reinvent heritage, but to reinterpret it—allowing classic tastes to appear in unexpected yet familiar forms.
Leading the culinary exchange are Chef Matt Chan and Pastry Chef Roy Lau, who weave Hang Heung’s signature preserved meats and pastries into PLAYT’s buffet offerings. The result is a menu that bridges Cantonese tradition with Western techniques, reflecting Hong Kong’s own culinary identity.
Among the savory highlights are Yum Kun Chiang with Hang Heung preserved sausage, Buffalo mozzarella pizza topped with preserved duck leg, arugula and tomato sauce, and spaghetti tossed with preserved sausage, chili flakes, olives and tomato sauce. Lunch selections also include pan-fried cuttlefish cake with preserved sausage and Chinese celery, as well as crispy duck stuffed with mashed taro and preserved sausage.
Dinner brings heartier dishes to the table, such as steamed giant grouper with preserved duck leg and Chinese mushrooms, Eight Treasure Duck with preserved sausage, and Chaozhou-style deep-fried rolls filled with preserved sausage. Each dish draws on recognizable flavors while presenting them in a contemporary context.
The dessert station continues the dialogue between past and present. Inspired by Hang Heung’s iconic pastries, the pastry team has created playful, East-meets-West interpretations, including wife cake gelato, mini walnut cake with Nutella chocolate, mini egg roll paired with passion fruit ganache, and mini biscuit chicken pie.
Beyond the collaboration dishes, PLAYT maintains its wide-ranging international buffet selection, with snow crab legs and sushi available at lunch, and fresh oysters and Chinese stew soup featured at dinner, offering guests a well-rounded festive spread.
Adding a gentle ceremonial touch, a mini wishing tree stands at the entrance to PLAYT during the holiday period. Guests are invited to write their blessings and hopes on custom cards and hang them on the tree, a simple gesture symbolizing good fortune, prosperity, and togetherness for the year ahead.
In a city where food often carries memory, this Lunar New Year collaboration is less about novelty and more about continuity—an invitation to savor familiar flavors in new expressions, while honoring the stories that have shaped Hong Kong’s dining culture for generations.
marco.lam@singtaonewscorp.com
