Because of British colonization, Hong Kong has developed a very interesting an unique type of cuisine that is separate from mainstream Cantonese fare.  The cha chaan teng, which I wrote about when this site was called Prospere Magazine is one of them, as are Hong Kong style pastry shops . Specialties include coconut tarts, pineapple buns (this pastry is shaped like a pineapple, but has no pineapple in it) egg custard tarts (inspired by the Portuguese version) as well as a pigs in a blanket like savoury snack that is the size of a hot dog.

Baked grouper and fried rice, a cha chaan teng staple

Mini egg custard tarts.  These are from the Summer Palace restaurant at Hong Kong’s Island Shangri-la Hotel.  Not only are they widely available at pastry shops, but is also a dim sum staple.

Hong Kong milk tea – very strong black tea and evaporated milk. You can’t go to Hong Kong and NOT drink this.  Found at all cha chaan tengs and pastry shops.

Many of the items can also be found in many bakeries and supermarkets that cater to the Asian community here in Canada (and probably the United States), but for some reason, seem to stay within the community. Other than a few Asian-inspired bakeries in mainstream malls, I have not seen gigantic pigs in a blanket or Swiss rolls in “mainstream” bakeries. But then again, I rarely see cupcakes at “western’ bakeries aimed at the Chinese community, at least in Toronto. Seems to me that the bakeries prefer to make whole and sliced cakes.

Gigantic Swiss rolls. This comes in many different flavours, but plain cake with vanilla cream is standard

 Gigantic pigs in a blanket

An interesting note about Hong Kong’s western-inspired pastries is that the cakes are almost always iced with fresh cream.  They often include fresh fruit and is definitely not as sweet as the cakes one would get in mainstream North American bakeries. The cakes are very spongy and stay that way even a day or two after purchasing and the cream remains fluffy and absolutely delicious.