Eating adventures continue on Cheung Chau Island.
When I think of Cheung Chau Island, I think of biking, hiking, and eating a bunch of street foods. There are also a lot of really great little shops where you can buy some popular Cheung Chau bun paraphernalia, but I rarely do that anymore because, over the years, I've learned that I'd keep returning to Cheung Chau…
I mean, it is more accessible than going to Macau for me!
Some of the great street foods that my friends and I tried were:
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| We found this little shop right along-side the entrance to the Reclining Rock and Cheung Chau Cheung Po Tsai Cave. It was about that time of the day when we needed a little snack as a pick-me-up. |
1. This is perhaps a continued favorite snack. I usually get it at temple bazaars and around New Territory villages. It's a cracker with some malt sugar between. It's a simple little pick me up snack that is always fun to eat.
At the same little shop, we got a sort of gelatin/pudding type of thing. It contained some sort of vegetable, which my husband was not sure what it was, but it was quite nice, sweet, and chilled. I love when snacks are chilled…after you've been walking around or riding a bike for most of the day…it's just nice to have something cold!
2. The best place to get a lot of street food in one concentrated area is what I like to call the Cheung Chau outdoor food court! This area is along the San Hing Back Street, which is easy to find because a lot of people head here right off of the ferry.
Of course we had to stop by and try some of the giant fish balls. These are always so delicious, have a good pick of flavors to choose from, and are just fun to eat! We actually went back here twice this day, but the first round of giant fish balls were in the flavors of plum, original and black pepper. The second round, which wasn't documented was the Sichuan Spicy flavor. I LOVED that one the most and totally recommend it. It reminded me of the days when I lived in Cheung Du. Really a great amount of spice.
3. Another place we tried seemed the most popular when we were walking along to Tung Wan Beach. I'd always wanted to try this place, but was always too full from snacking on a great many other things. So, today was the perfect day, since there were four of us, to try and taste a bit of everything.
We ordered the deep fried potato on a stick. This was such a great little treat because (see photos above) you could sprinkle seasonings over different parts of the potato. There were fun seasonings like chocolate, Cheung Chau spice, seaweed and curry. We tried almost all of the seasonings and my favorite was probably curry. Curry and potatoes seem to naturally meld well together.
4. Besides eating away, we also got some drinks from the side of the road: sugar cane water, soy milk, and water. Nothing fancy, but there are other fancier drinks/juices available around the island.
5. To the left of the potato-on-a-stick place is another quite popular place for people to line up for snacks at. At the Hometown Teahouse, people often gather to enjoy their famous red bean cakes. These were a nice little sweet treat after indulging in some saltier/savory snacks a bit earlier. The texture of the outer bun was really awesome. Tough I'm not a fan of beans, the red beans seemed like a nice little dessert. It was really good!
6. After exploring the beach area, we started heading towards the Pak Tai Temple. We stopped by the bun place that we usually stop by and picked up a Peace Bun. This little shop is called Kwok Kam Kee and is located right next to the Pak Tai Temple, on one of the side streets.
Word on the street is, if you eat a Peace Bun, it will keep you safe. I guess it is also known as the Safety Bun. The sentiment is really nice. Inside the bun is a lovely healthy glob of lotus paste. The sweetness of the outer bread and the sweetness of the lotus paste are really a great afternoon tea snack to have with coffee or tea!
7. That time came back around when I found myself in need of a cold drink. So, I stopped by one of the vendors at the Cheung Chau food outdoor food court area and picked up a nicely chilled mango smoothie. I always love getting these. I think, it's either the Taiwanese shaved ice dishes or the mango smoothies that I opt for as a nice chilled dessert…Anyhow, I felt like having a mango smoothie and it hit the spot!
8. Walking along waterfront near the ferry pier (I'm not sure if the road is called Pak She Praya Road, but it does connect to this section of road and it is also where we rented our bikes for the afternoon), we stopped by a mango and durian mochi place. We got a giant mango mochi, which, unexpectedly, had the most amazing fresh mango filling! I'm not one for mochi, but this was delicious! I'd definitely come back here again because of the awesome fresh fruit fillings!
9. As the day was winding down, we headed back to the Cheung Chau outdoor food court area and filled our bellies with a bunch more street foods. Our first stop was to try the fried ice cream, which was basically mochi ice cream…deep fried. I personally think anything deep fried is amazing. Like deep fried oreos, deep fried Snickers bars, and deep fried butter (I've been watching a lot of deep fried videos on Youtube recently!)…
10. The last snack of the day was the dried squid, freshly made! We packed it up and took it back onto the ferry with us to munch on. I think the smell wasn't too offensive to anyone, but it was a nice little "chip" like snack to tide me over until dinner time. I love dried squid. I think the ones that I love the most are probably from Ocean Park or Disneyland…ha! This one was quite nice too!
Cheung Chau is such a great place to sample things. It was a great day spent of trying new foods/snacks, which this island is famous for. It was also great sharing these wonderful treats between the four of us!
