The Mixing Bowl

After trying to settle down at my ‘rather new’ place in KL and having stopped baking for quite a while (not that I ever was a good baker), I finally got to kneading the dough again! And this time, in Hong Kong! I must say, baking is therapeutic, as good as — if not better than retail therapy. ;)
This is a rather small shop along the Shin Hing Street and the workshop space is actually upstairs. Space and slots for workshops are definitely limited here, so reservation if you’re wishing to attend any workshop is of course, recommended.
We were led up the staircases in the rather small space — you could easily bump your head against the staircases, they considerately installed some cushions on the edges of the staircases. Definitely like the small details that they pay attention to.
We took the traditional Hong Kong baking class, which we got to make from scratch the Polo bun, sausage roll and of course — egg tarts, the Hong Kong style! I wouldn’t go too much in details on how the class went, but the instructor was really helpful I have to say. Or at least that he wasn’t making fun of us when we were making up a mess of ourselves! The class lasted around 3 hours, and yes — you have a tea-​time included in there! Time for scones with cream and jam and floral tea is always good time!
They do have a café area downstairs too — a pretty, warm and cute space. Would come back and try their pastries downstairs the next visit :)

Well, I now have a newfound respect for all bakers!
The Unilocal southeast Asia team did an offsite baking class on their second level and it was a lot of fun! Our class focused on traditional Hong Kong pastries. We made 3 different things, though unfortunately I can’t remember their names. There was bread, one of those pastries with the hot dog inside, and egg tarts!
What made the class challenging for me was making the dough from scratch. There’s a lot of physical work that goes into kneading the dough and getting it to that place where it’s neither too sticky nor too dry. I found it hard to figure out exactly how much flour you should put in before it gets too dry!
The class had good pacing and our teacher was very good in helping us move along to make sure we could finish in time. While we waited for our stuff to bake, we even got to enjoy some scones and tea. Yum!
One final touch that they could add is to provide the recipes to all the guests after the class is done, so we can all try them when we go back to our respective homes. But overall, a centrally-​located, lovely place to learn baking. Get a group of your friends together and try a class!

I recently planned a private team offsite here and I’d be chuffed to work with the Mixing Bowl team again.
First off, they have a wonderful website that’s very descriptive and includes detailed information on their vast portfolio of classes. I was ecstatic to find their pricing fit within our budget — at $ 550/​person for a 3-​hour class, I think it’s more than a fair value. I then emailed the info@ address on their site and heard back from Victor within a day. Unlike most of the team building classes in HK, the Mixing Bowl allows you to use Paypal which was a huge plus for me.
Onto the delicious details. The Mixing Bowl specializes in bread making, but they also offer classes such as the Traditional Hong Kong class we took (egg tarts, sausage rolls, and pineapple buns). Not your thing? You can also learn how to expertly make artisan cinnamon buns, scones, matcha donuts, fresh egg pasta, croissants, pies, and macarons.
Their studio is spacious and modern, and the setup promotes maximum interaction with your group. I never thought that learning how to make egg tarts, pineapple buns, and sausage rolls would be easy and fun, but it was! Victor seamlessly moved from guidance on precise measurement to the proper kneading technique. And you won’t go hungry whilst waiting for your goodies to bake, either — we stopped for a proper tea break replete with freshly-​bakes scones, jam, and clotted cream! Mmm, clotted cream.
We all went home happy with big bags of the baked goods we just made together. I look forward to taking another class here now that I’ve discovered my inner pastry chef!

A great find, quiet workspace and good coffee (had the iced latte). The scone was okay, but nothing exceptional. I liked the calm atmosphere and the location a lot. I’d pick this over some of the more crowded, popular cafes in Sheung Wan /​Central.

REVIEW SUMMARY: It took exactly 34 minutes to get our pancake order.
I kept walking by their signs near their street stairs hauling to and from the gym. I bookmarked this spot to visit at some point. Knowing they are supposedly good at pancakes and pancakes seem like a weekend food, we went this past Sunday.
I visited their website prior to arrival and understood this place to be a cooking school and a restuarant. Based on our relatively poor experience, I would say that it is a «cooking school first» and a «restaurant» second, versus being a restaurant that happens to have a cooking school.
Restaurant is cute. White woods, barn door slide to back, cements, cream colors… I liked the décor. Something about the décor says «farm fresh» to me.
There was a big family group of about 8 people wrapping it up and about to leave upon our arrival and then nobody else in the retaurant upon our arrival around 11:30AM. There were 5 (not a typo) employees working behind the counter.
I’m not sure where restaurants don’t understand that customer service can often kill the entire experience. We ordered the Salad of the Day, an order of pancakes and one coffee. Not a difficult order. We asked, really more to confirm, that the pancake order had three pancakes. When we asked this question to the people behind the counter, nobody seemed to know if the order had two or three pancakes. It was almost like a parady… one asked the other asked the other asked the other. And when we confirmed three pancakes is what the menu stated, it almost as if we were overreaching on what we should expect to expect. Just bizarre… almost like too many chefs in the kitchen!
Salad came in about 10 minutes and was OK. It was really the dressing that made the salad, but otherwise it was just a salad (spinach was good, but again, just a salad). The pancakes were very good and made fresh (the homemade quality is absolutley there), but what killed it was the 34 minutes of wait time until the pancakes arrived. No joke. Five people working behind the counter, nobody in the restaurant and it takes 34 minutes to make three pancakes.
We are not important people and we do not mind waiting especially when a restaurant is busy during peak times or is understaffed, but this was unacceptable to us. Not even any communication from the five people behind the counter of «hey, we make these from scratch so it takes a little bit longer to make (kind of like they do with a soufflé)» or «hey, our skillets have been slow to warm up, so our apologies for the delay.» I cannot get those 34 minutes back!
We were very very very tempted to walk across the street to Munchies to get a donut to bring back to eat while we waited for the pancakes.
There are too many other options in the area. We will not be back.

If you’re looking for a pancake fix, hands down best fluffy pancakes in HK. They are made fresh to order and the syrup is also amazing. The cinnamon scrolls are also pretty amazing — freshly out of the oven at 11am daily they are not to be missed.
I’ve also tried their salad and chicken sandwich. Not bad but nothing like the pancake and scrolls. They are called the mixing bowl after all… Definitely want to try their scones next time!

The short version: beautiful and homey space, good food, great service. They offer a wide selection of food, snacks, and drinks, and I love spending my afternoons here. It’s a fantastic place to spend a few hours alone, hunched over a book or working on your laptop. The WiFi is fast and always works, which, surprisingly and unfortunately, is something that you’d think all coffee shops in Hong Kong would have, but it turns out that that isn’t actually the case. Definitely check it out if you have the chance.
The long version:
The Mixing Bowl is situated on Shin Hing Street, which isn’t so much a street as it is a set of stairs between Gough Street and Hollywood Road. It’s about a 5 – 10 minute walk from Sheung Wan station. Getting there can be a challenge due to the stairs that lead up to Gough Street (and then having to walk up even more stairs on Shin Hing Street), but it’s well worth the effort. Stepping into the Mixing Bowl is like entering a (clean and organised) home baker’s workshop, complete with wooden tabletops and a blackboard menu. Soft acoustic music plays in the background, accentuating the homeliness of the atmosphere, and there is a shelf near the back of the café with a couple of cookbooks and other vintage/​antique baking equipment. There’s enough seating for approximately 20 patrons, though the shop isn’t usually full, so it’s easy to spread yourself out and make yourself comfortable. All in all, I can’t praise the general décor of The Mixing Bowl enough. Somehow, Kyle and Victor (the owners) have been able to create a space that is clean, organized, and very welcoming and unpretentious, which is a combination that not many cafes and coffee shops can pull off. It can get a little bit chilly (but I do get cold easily, so take this with a pinch of salt!), but a light cardigan or jumper does the trick for me. I also usually sit right under the air conditioning, so that’s probably also a contributing factor.
The food at The Mixing Bowl is good. While there isn’t anything absolutely spectacular about it, the quality and quantity of each menu item is consistent. I’ve never been «let down» by anything I’ve ordered. The presentation of the food (and drinks), however, should be noted: the staff really go the extra mile to make sure everything looks palatable. They understand that people eat with their eyes as much as they do with their mouths. My go-​to items are the avocado toast (seeded/​rye toast topped with smashed avocado and poached eggs, with smoked salmon on the side for an extra $ 20), which is topped with pistachio crumbs and accompanied by roasted tomatoes, and the traditional cream tea (a Mixing Bowl classic), which consists of two scones (plain/​cranberry, in any combination) served with clotted cream and jam, as well as coffee or tea of your choosing. I usually go for the Blue of London, which is a lovely earl grey tea that tastes and smells a bit fruity and sweet.
The staff at the Mixing Bowl are all wonderful — Kyle and Victor are extremely friendly, and at least one of them (often both!) is in the café at any given time. Their cooking classes are very well-​run and organized, and they give you tons of helpful tips. The staff are also perceptive — Cecelia (the barista) noticed that I wasn’t much of a coffee drinker and offered me a taste of hand-​drip coffee, which she though I’d like because it was more tea-​like and not as strong as most coffees (she was right on both accounts!). The rest of the team is approachable and always ready to help, and I’ve never had a bad experience with any of them before.
If you find yourself in the area, or in need of a respite from the hot mess that is Hong Kong in the summer, make sure to stop by the Mixing Bowl. I, for one, can’t wait to head back.

What a great little find in Central! Clean and comfortable with a great staff, I’d happily return if I were traveling in HK again.
Pour over is my go to brewing method for enjoying coffee and this shop had about 4 roasts to choose from. I went with one of the darker ones at the suggestion of the barista. She brought it out along with a Whiskey glass to pour the brew into. We discussed the flavors of the coffee, where it was from, and the taste differences of coffee in glass vice ceramic (it’s a trend I noticed only in HK after weeks of traveling in Europe and Asia). Honestly, I really couldn’t tell the difference, but I certainly appreciate the gesture to help me understand coffee better.
When business slowed down a bit, the barista brewed another cup of coffee using her own beans she bought on a recent vacation and handed out samples to all the customers in the shop. Talk about great service!
Try it out, you won’t regret it!

If you are looking for a great cup of coffee with a casual atmosphere, Mixing Bowl is an awesome location. Freshly baked bread and pastries, and if you are looking to do a little baking yourself, they offer classes!
I have been here for brunch, afternoon tea and sometimes just stop by for a coffee. The owners, Kyle and Victor, are very friendly and knowledgeable about their craft. Instead of your usual run to Starbucks, stop by the Mixing Bowl!

The Mixing Bowl offers a wide array of baking and cooking classes for children, adults, couples, and parties. Additionally, it’s a great coffee/​tea shop offering delicious baked goods, sandwiches, and great brunch items.
I regularly go for their tea set with 2 fresh scones with jam and clotted cream.