Guangdong, Hong Kong
Mango Pomelo Sago
杨枝甘露
Chilled mango purée with coconut milk, sago pearls and shreds of pomelo, which stay bitter against the sweetness.
eastern-asia
Hong Kong
Explore 82 foods connected to Hong Kong, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
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Hong Kong Essentials
11 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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Traditional foods from Hong Kong.
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Guangdong, Hong Kong
Milk Tea
丝袜奶茶
Strong black tea drawn repeatedly through a cloth sock filter and cut with evaporated milk, served hot or over ice.
China
Mooncake
月饼
A Chinese festival pastry of thin tender skin around lotus-seed paste, salted egg yolk or mixed nuts, stamped with patterns and exchanged at the Mid-Autumn Festival
Hong Kong
Nuomici Coconut Rice Ball
糯米糍
Coconut-coated glutinous rice balls with peanut-sugar filling, the chilled Chinese-bakery sweet distinct from fried sesame balls.
Tainan, China
Oyster Omelette
海蛎煎
Small oysters cooked into a sweet potato starch batter with egg and garlic chives, fried until the edges crisp and the middle stays gelatinous.
Guangdong, Hong Kong
Oyster Sauce
蚝油
A thick brown seasoning made by reducing oyster liquor with sugar and salt, used to finish greens and stir-fries.
Hong Kong
Peanut Butter Condensed Milk Toast
花生醬煉奶吐司
Thick toast slathered with peanut butter and condensed milk, a cha chaan teng snack.
Guangdong, Hong Kong
Pineapple Bun
菠萝包
A soft bun under a crackled sweet cookie crust, whose crazed pattern gives it the pineapple name; there is no pineapple in it.
Guangdong, Hong Kong
Pork and Shrimp Siu Mai
烧卖
Open-topped dumplings of chopped pork and prawn in a thin yellow wheat wrapper, steamed and often crowned with roe or a dot of carrot.
Hong Kong
Pork Floss Bun
Rou Song Bao
Sweet-savory bun topped with pork floss; soft bread with butter and mayonnaise, topped with fluffy, savory pork floss; a cha chaan teng and bakery classic; the combination of sweet bread and salty pork floss is addictive.
China
Potstickers
锅贴
Dumplings fried flat-side down in a covered pan with a slurry of water and flour, which sets into a lace crust joining them together.
Yunnan, Hong Kong
Pu-erh Tea
普洱茶
Large-leaf tea from Yunnan pressed into cakes and aged, either slowly as raw sheng or by accelerated fermentation as ripe shu.
Hong Kong
Put Chai Ko
缽仔糕
Put chai ko, the brown-sugar rice pudding steamed in a small porcelain bowl and eaten off two bamboo sticks, is a named Hong Kong street sweet with a distinctive serving ritual.
China
Red Bean Soup
红豆汤
A sweet Chinese tong sui of red beans simmered with rock sugar, dried tangerine peel and sometimes glutinous rice balls, served warm.
Guangdong, Hong Kong
Rice Noodle Rolls
肠粉
Sheets of rice batter steamed on cloth, rolled around prawn, beef or fried dough stick, and flooded with sweetened light soy
Hong Kong
Roast Duck (Siu Aap)
Siu Aap
Whole duck roasted until the skin crisps mahogany, chopped through the bone and served over or beside rice at siu mei counters.
Guangdong, Hong Kong
Roast Goose
烧鹅
Goose stuffed with a spice-and-soy marinade, sewn shut, inflated, air-dried and roasted over lychee wood until the skin is mahogany.
Hong Kong
Roast Squab
燒乳鴿
Roast squab — crisp-skinned farmed pigeon served whole — a Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta restaurant centrepiece.
Hong Kong
Salted Lemon 7-Up
鹹檸七
A Hong Kong diner drink: preserved salted lemon muddled into lemon-lime soda.
Hong Kong
Satay Beef Instant Noodles
沙嗲牛肉麵
Instant noodles stir-fried with beef in a satay sauce, an enduring cha chaan teng dish.
Guangdong, China
Sesame Balls
煎堆
Hollow glutinous rice dough balls rolled in sesame seeds and deep-fried until they puff, filled with sweet lotus or red bean paste.
Guangdong, Hong Kong
Shrimp Dumplings
虾饺
Whole prawns and bamboo shoot in a translucent wheat-and-tapioca starch wrapper, pleated and steamed in a bamboo basket.
Hong Kong
Soy Sauce Chicken (See Yao Gai)
See Yao Gai
Whole chicken simmered in a master broth of soy and spices kept going for years, hung in roast-meat windows beside char siu.
Guangdong, China
Steamed Fish with Ginger and Scallion
清蒸鱼
A whole fish steamed briefly, drained, strewn with ginger and spring onion, then hit with smoking oil and light soy.
Hong Kong
Steamed Pork Ribs with Black Bean
豉汁排骨
Dim sum spareribs: pork ribs steamed with black beans, chilli and garlic.
Hong Kong
Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf
Lo Mai Gai
The sticky rice bomb of dim sum; glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf with chicken, Chinese sausage, mushrooms, and dried shrimp; steamed until the rice absorbs all flavors; the lotus leaf imparts an earthy aroma; a substantial dim sum item; the sticky rice parcel that opens to reveal a savory treasure.
Guangdong, China
Sweet and Sour Pork
咕噜肉
Battered pork cubes fried twice and tossed in a sauce of vinegar, sugar and preserved plum with pineapple and bell pepper.
China
Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs
糖醋排骨
Short rib pieces braised and then reduced in sugar, black vinegar and soy until the sauce lacquers each one.
Hong Kong
Swiss Wings
瑞士雞翼
Swiss wings, chicken wings braised in a sweet soy sauce that has nothing Swiss about it, are a named cha chaan teng classic with a documented naming story.
Hong Kong
Taro Cake
芋頭糕
Yu tou gao: steamed taro and rice cake, pan-fried at dim sum, a Lunar New Year specialty.
Hong Kong
Taro Puff
Wu Gok
Mashed taro pastry around pork and mushroom, deep-fried until the crust honeycombs into a crisp net.
China
Tofu Pudding
豆腐花
Barely set soy curd scooped in soft sheets, served sweet with ginger syrup in the south or savoury with soy, chilli and pickles in the north.
Guangdong, China
Tong Sui
糖水
A Cantonese sweet soup or dessert, served warm or cold, made with ingredients like red beans, mung beans, lotus seeds, sweet potato or tapioca in a sugary broth.
Guangdong, China
Turnip Cake
萝卜糕
Grated daikon bound with rice flour, studded with dried shrimp and cured sausage, steamed into a block and then pan-fried in slices.
Guangdong, China
White Cut Chicken
白切鸡
A whole chicken poached just to the point of setting, plunged into iced water so the skin tightens, chopped on the bone and served at room temperature.
Guangdong, China
Wife Cake
老婆饼
A flat flaky pastry round filled with candied winter melon and glutinous rice flour, faintly sweet and chewy inside a shattering crust.