Never Too Sweet

Kung Hei Fat Choi! In the year of the Snake!

Happy Chinese New Year! Kung Hei Fat Choi in the year of the Snake Wishing you all a prosperous, happy and healthy new year! It’s time to say goodbye to the Dragon and welcome the Snake! Do you celebrate Chinese New Year (CNY)?

Being alone in Melbourne with Mr Bao and no family, we didn’t plan anything for CNY and decided to just go with the flow We do miss celebrating with family, having a huge feast together and receiving lots of red packets (envelope with money inside )

Because of CNY, I was inspired to write a post about the HK street food I was indulging in Really sorry, but I didn’t manage to get the price and address of every item, but if you go to HK, these can be easily found on the streets especially in Mong Kok.

Rice Noodle Roll (Chu Cheong Fun) $12HK ($1.50AUD) found at snack food stores

As soon as I arrived in HK, my parents bought me these delicious Chu Cheong Fun otherwise known as Rice noodle rolls. The ones we get at Yum Cha usually have a filling such as BBQ pork (char siu), prawns or beef. But these are plain rice noodles rolls cut into little pieces and covered in the best sauces Hoi Sin Sauce, Sesame Sauce, Soy Sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce and toasted sesame. It’s a really simple dish and very cheap to make and buy, but it’s SO damn good I love the rustic way they wrap the cheong fun in butchers paper and in a plastic bad, and you eat them with bamboo skewers!

Curry Fish Balls $8HKD ($1AUD) found from snack food stores

One afternoon, Dad took me out on a ‘Street Food’ raid in Jordan, and the first thing I got was the Curry Fish Balls. If you grew up in HK, I’m sure you have had you fair share of curry fish balls These fish balls were hot, spicy and super bouncy hehe it’s very hard to find these kind of fish balls outside of Australia. If you grew up in HK I’m sure you have had your fair share of curry fish balls, do you remember when they use to be sold in those carts on the streets? Unfortunately, due to hygene factors theres a lot less of them around on the streets now

“Soup Dumpling” Guan Tang Jiao available from most Yum Cha outlets

Yum Cha in Australia is pretty good so I don’t have much to complain about that ~ but I do miss Soup Dumplings or they are called ‘Guan Tang Jiao’ in Chinese It may seen strange to some but basically the Soup Dumpling is literally placing a dumpling with chicken, mushroom and prawn filling into a bowl of soup. It’s a very comforting dish ~

Retro Vitasoy milk $7.9HKD ($1AUD) available at 7/11 and other convenience stores

Dad then got me this retro Vitasoy milk in a glass bottle that was slightly warmed in hot water. Dad was also telling me how these retro Vitasoys use to be 20c HKD hahaha and now have increased to $7.9HKD ~ I’m not usually a fan of the Vitasoy in the paper packs, but something about the glass bottle really made it taste better, a much stronger soy taste.

Red Bean Icy Pole $6HK ($0.80AUD) available at 7/11 and Supermarkets

On our way home one day, we saw a street store selling ice-cream and other sweets, Dad immediately pulled over and bought two Red Bean Icy Poles These are his favourite ~ if you like red bean desserts, you’ll definitely like this, it’s not too sweet with crushes red bean throughout the icy pole.

HK Style Baked Sweet Potato $15HKD ($1.8AUD) found on the street

This may not look that attractive, but I love these HK style baked sweet potato I’m not sure how they ‘baked’ whether they used charcoal or something else. But the sweet potatoes are a different variety than the ones we get in Australia, I found them to be much sweeter. They occasionally have the purple sweet potatoes too ~ but I didn’t see them this time.

Cocktail Buns approximately $8HKD ($1AUD) available from most HK bakeries

Even though, I love my artisan breads, I occasionally do crave HK style bakeries, the breads are simply different with a much lighter texture. My favourite are these cocktail buns with a sweet coconut filling! Thankfully we can get these here in Melbourne Bread Top and they’re not that bad either ~

Sweet beancurd (Tofu far) $9HKD ($1.1AUD) from Kung Wo Dou Bun 

I’m very lucky because there’s an amazing store that sells Tofu Far, Kung Wo Dou Bun which I’ve blogged about ~ It quite sad because I haven’t found tofu far that I really like in Melbourne, it’s all made from powder and gelatine. While the ones in HK are made from soy milk and has a strong soy flavour.

Egg Waffle $12HKD (($.150AUD) and Pearl Milk Tea $15HKD($1.90AUD) available from  snack food stores

Egg waffles are probably the most famous HK street snack, they’re called egg waffles I assume because of their bubble shape. It’s got a pretty unique texture, I love the ones that are freshly made, super hot, crispy and a pillowy inside Unfortunately, it’s quite hard to find fresh and delicious egg waffles now in HK, but if you’re lucky you’ll find them in Jordan and Mongkok ~

Pearl Milk Tea originated from Taiwan, and many Milk Tea outlets such as Gong Cha, Chatime and Comebuy have opened in HK basically every corner. I personally think they taste better than the ones we get in Melbourne and very similar to the ones made in Taiwan

HK Style Waffle $12HKD ($1.5AUD) found from snack food outlets

These HK Style Waffles go hand in hand with the Egg Waffles Most people either like one or the other like me BOTH hehe These waffles have a very spongey texture and not at all crispy, and you can see it is folded in half, because inside its slathered with generous amounts of peanut butter, condensed milk and sprinkle of caster sugar! It’s SO hard to find HK waffles now most places are very stingy with the spread or have pre-made the waffles and hence, they’re quite dry and stiff. But if you manage to find these, trust me you will LOVE them!

Tai Cheong Bakery

Last but not least Egg Tarts! Egg Tarts! Egg Tarts! I had so many of them in HK this time

Tai Cheong Egg Tarts $5HKD ($0.8AUD)

In my opinion, Tai Cheong Bakery probably makes the best egg tarts in HK ~ I love the biscuit/short bread crust and not the flakey puff pastry (I’m weird ) While the filling has a rich egg flavour and very silky texture. They’re even better when they’re fresh out of the oven, luckily, there are now many Tai Cheong Egg Tarts and most make yummy egg tarts. But if you can I would recommend you going to their main store in Central and see if you can catch some freshly baked ones.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and it wasn’t too random for you Once again sorry for not being able to provide you with the exact address of all the places to get the food. But if you do happen to travel to HK and would like some advice please feel free to email me and I’d be more than happy to help you!