Hong Kong's Top 10 Hidden Street Food Items
So you can tell your curry fishballs from your siu mai, your egg puffs from your waffles: But what about these lesser-known Hong Kong street foods?
With 3,420 licensed “light refreshment restaurants,” or snack stalls in the city, Hong Kong has a range of unique street food that's a challenge to find anywhere else in the world.
1. Sweetheart cake (老婆餅)
Sweetheart cake (or lo por beng, meaning “wife cake” if translated literally) is a round cake with winter melon filling wrapped with a layer of puff pastry. There’s a love story behind this delicacy: Legend has it there was a wife who sold herself into servitude for money to buy medicine for her in-law. Her husband created this cake to earn money to buy her back.
Where to find it: Yuen Long is known for its sweetheart cakes. Check out the historical Hang Heung Cake Shop (G/F, 64 Castle Peak Rd., Yuen Long) for some traditional flavors.
2. Put chai gou (缽仔糕)
This palm-sized pudding cake is Hong Kong’s equivalent to the cupcake. Molded and served in a little porcelain bowl, this chewy and sticky steamed rice cake is made from either white or brown sugar, with plenty of red beans too.
Where to find it: Try Sai Ying Pun’s Cheuk Yuet Bakery (183 Queen’s Rd. West, Sai Ying Pun).
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