Wonton noodles is a popular Cantonese noodle dish with many regional varieties found throughout Southeast Asia. Traditionally, it consists of chewy egg noodles and wonton dumplings, combined and served in a flavorful chicken, pork, or seafood broth.
The dumplings are usually filled with a combination of minced pork and shrimps, lightly flavored with sesame oil, soy sauce, and grated ginger. The stringy thin egg noodles are the most common variety found in many versions of the dish. The choice of garnishes is region-specific and is influenced by common culinary traditions of the particular area where wonton noodles are found.
MOST ICONIC Yùn tūn miàn
View moreOne of the most famous Chinese desserts is the classic egg tart, a delicious pastry consisting of a flaky outer shell with a creamy, but firm egg custard in the center. The origin of this traditional Chinese dessert is vague. It is believed that it grew out of Chinese contacts with western culinary traditions, but it is also likely that some form of an egg custard existed before the influence of the West.
Chinese egg tart variety is believed to be a cross between the classic British egg custard, which is much creamier than the Chinese tart, and the famous Portuguese tarts, known as pastéis de nata, which are especially popular in Macau.
MOST ICONIC Egg tart
View moreSiu mei refers to a style of Chinese cuisine that is primarily characterized by roasting meat on spits over an open fire or in a rotisserie oven. Originating from Guangdong province in southern China, this culinary tradition is particularly prevalent in Hong Kong.
The term siu mei translates to "roast flavor" in Cantonese. Some of the most prominent and beloved examples of siu mei include char siu, siu yuk, soy sauce chicken, and white cut chicken. These dishes are typically served with rice and vegetables and sometimes with noodles.
VARIATIONS OF Siu mei
MOST ICONIC Siu mei
View moreA typical Cantonese dish originating from the southern parts of China (including Hong Kong) known as rice noodle roll is a small roll prepared with a wide strip of rice milk that is usually filled with vegetables, beef, pork, or shrimp. The dish can also be made without any fillings, when it's commonly known as chee cheong fun, literally translated to pig intestine noodle, due to the fact that the noodle is rolled tightly, resembling the small intestine of a pig.
Rice noodle roll is usually served either as a variety of the popular dim sum or as a snack, and it is common to pour some sweet soy sauce over it prior to serving. Because it is a popular snack in China, regional varieties are not uncommon, so in Cantonese cuisine, it is often prepared as dim sum, in Vietnamese cuisine it's mostly eaten for breakfast, and in Southeast Asian cuisine, it is served in two versions - dry or wet, accompanied by a sweet black sauce called timzheong.
MOST ICONIC Cheung fun
View moreHar gow is a Cantonese dumpling characterized by a delicate, translucent wrapper enveloped around a shrimp filling. The dish was created out of necessity when the owner of a small, family-style teahouse from Guangzhou came up with an idea to buy the shrimp from local fishermen and use it to make dumplings that the locals would love.
The idea was a great success, and since the beginning of the 19th century, shrimp dumplings were a staple in many teahouses. Today, har gow dumplings are a part of dim sum where they are commonly paired with sieu mai, a Cantonese dumpling with pork and mushrooms.
MOST ICONIC Har gow
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Dou fu fa is a popular Asian dessert consisting of creamy tofu topped with various savory or sweet garnishes. It is made with coagulated soy milk to create a tofu product with a mild taste and an incredibly soft consistency. Like other varieties, soft tofu probably originated in China, but it has soon spread out to other Asian countries where it still represents one of the most versatile sweet treats.
Even though it is mainly enjoyed as a dessert, usually topped with sugary or ginger infused syrups, in some regions, especially in northern China, it is topped with savory complements and enjoyed as a creamy snack. Dou fu fa, with its numerous versions and local names, is mainly sold by street hawkers or served as a part of traditional dim sum meals.
These Chinese dumplings known as jiaozi, consisting of a thinly rolled piece of dough which contains either meat or a vegetable filling, are one of the most popular and most commonly eaten dishes in China and East Asia. They can be served either as an appetizer or as the main course, always with a side of soy sauce-based dipping sauce.
Traditionally, jiaozi are always eaten for Chinese New Year. Depending on how they are cooked, jiaozi dumplings can be classified into three categories: boiled, steamed, and pan-fried, but when it comes to folding techniques, there are many, and the most popular one is known as pinched-edge fold, which results in crescent-shaped jiaozi, the most popular shape in China.
VARIATIONS OF Jiaozi
Shumai, literally translated as to cook and sell, is a staple of dim sum cuisine consisting of an open-topped dumpling filled with steamed ground pork, and sometimes finely chopped shrimp or Chinese black mushrooms. When it's cooked, shumai is often garnished with a single pea, a fish egg, or a small piece of carrot on top.
It originated in tea houses along the Silk Road in Cantonese China, and since then, the dish has spread throughout the world. In China, there are numerous regional variations of this flavorful delicacy, but it is also extremely popular in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines.
VARIATIONS OF Shumai
MOST ICONIC Shumai
View moreOriginally a Cantonese specialty, tong sui (lit. sugar water) is a type of sweet soup or a custard-like dessert made with a base of either water or coconut milk. Extremely popular throughout the country, these sugary treats are nowadays found in tong sui shops but also at numerous food stalls, freshly prepared by street vendors.
Tong sui desserts are available in a myriad of different colors and an unlimited selection of flavors, ranging from the simple fruity varieties and tofu puddings to the gaggingly bizarre ones such as guilinggao - powdered tortoise shell jelly or hasma - a sweet soup made with frogs' fallopian tubes!
VARIATIONS OF Tong sui
MOST ICONIC Tong sui
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Pineapple buns are golden, crispy-crusted, sweet pastries originating from Hong Kong. Despite their name, they don't contain pineapple, but are named after the chequerboard pattern of the crust that visually resembles the skin of a pineapple. An important part of Hong Kong's cultural heritage, they are made with only four ingredients - flour, lard, sugar, and eggs.
Crispy and sugary on the exterior and soft on the inside, it is a favorite food of many locals due to its inexpensive price. The buns are usually eaten for breakfast or in the afternoon with tea. One popular variation known as boh loh yaau is commonly consumed with milk tea and served with butter inside the bun.