HONG KONG TASTE - THE STUFF YOU WANT

Fish balls on a stick, egg-puff, milk-tea, wonton noodle, little egg tarts, and a pineapple bun stuffed with meat. If you know what these things are, you may be from Hong Kong.


串魚蛋 (chuen yü dan)
Fish balls on a stick are a quick snack. No, this isn't like gefilte fish in New York, these items are springy and chewy, not particularly fishy, and often deep-fried. But they aren't greasy, as the texture is too dense to allow oil penetration. Often there will be curry oil or curry sauce alongside, but if that is missing simply dump hot sauce over them.

鷄蛋仔 (gai daan chai)
Egg-puff is an airy waffle with globular parts. Cheap, sweet, lavishly dusted with powdered sugar. It's what you need to eat when you have a glass of boba tea (波霸茶). Go ahead, have the BIG cup of honeydew with milk and tapioca balls (蜜瓜波霸奶茶 'mat-gwa bo-ba naai cha').

奶茶 (naai cha)
Milk-tea is made by boiling black tea leaves, straining the resultant murky liquid through a cloth bag, and adding condensed milk. This will wake you up. It's a heartwarming splash of pure goodness.

雲吞麺 (wan tan min)
Wonton noodle is an abomination. Dumplings AND noodles? Sweet little innocent Mandarin-speakers won't touch this, as the combination of those items is NEVER done by civilized people, and the broth is flavoured with dried flounder (左口魚 'jo hau yü') besides. Add some ripped greens for freshness, and garnish with garlic chives (韭菜 'gau choi').
Naturally, it is delicious.

蛋撻 (daan taat)
Little egg tarts are what happens when English-style bakeries as interpreted by Hong Kong Chinese meet Portuguese pastries. Delicous, custardy, and small enough that you want to eat one or two more. Great hot and fresh, with boba tea OR milk-tea.

菠蘿包 (bo lo bau)
The pineapple bun is made by combining a soft sweet bread dough with a top-layer of sugar pastry. The name comes from the cracked appearance of that second dough expanding at a different rate than the first. Toasted, slathered with butter, and stuffed with sandwich meat, this is probably the most dangerous snack on the planet. Yet how delicious!
AND it's hand size!


You've been missing these things. But you know that they are available all over Chinatown.  And other than the daan taat at Golden Gate, most people haven't discovered them yet. So go. As soon as school is out, or you are off work, head into the neighborhood and eat yourself a feast.
Might as well have all of them at once.

Life is good.
Live well.
Heh.



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