Winter in Hong Kong - Snake Soup

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Every year when winter comes to Hong Kong one of the most traditional and enjoyable pleasures for a foodie like me is to go to one of old snake restaurants that seem not to have changed since the 40's and order a delicious hot bowl of incredibly thick "Seh Gan" (Seh means snake and Gan refers to a kind of soup which is much more thick than typical Chinese soup).



Snake soup restaurants are generally easy to spot as they typically have a glass case at the front of the shop filled with living snakes still crawling around in it. Some of them may also have a cage of large geckos and occasionally a glass jar filled with alcohol and preserved rat bodies. I don't advise looking too closely at this if they have it, since it is unlikely to increase the enjoyment of your meal.



The snake soup is always served with several traditional accompaniments, white pepper, crispy Chinese crackers and a type of Chinese herb with a strong grassy flavour whose name I have not yet been able to identify. Once the steaming hot soup arrives you sprinkle it with the herbs, shake over a generous helping of white pepper and throw over some of the deliciously crunchy crackers, then mix it all up with your spoon.



Once you take your first mouthful of soup it is not just the flavours that you will experience, but the wide variety of textures. Hot thick soup, slippery Chinese mushrooms, chunky snake meat, soft snake innards and crispy crackers. A sort of mini adventure for your mouth.

And for tastes? Dense, warming soup lightened by the slight sharpness of the pepper, a subtle yet strong and peristent grassy flavour from the herbs, light crispiness of the crackers and a rich yet not heavy flavour from the snake, somewhere between chicken and pork. If the Seh Gan is good, then expect the pieces of snake meat to be fair sized and the soup to be quite stuffed with ingredients.



There are many places to get snake soup in Hong Kong and the price is usually reasonable, anywhere from $15 - $30 hk dollars typically. One of my personal favourite locations is a very old one on Queen's Road West in the Sai Ying Pun region; somewhere around the 300 number, halfway between Sheung Wan & Kennedy Town.

Chinese Desserts

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It's almost Winter again and when the weather starts to get cooler, I like nothing better than to head out late at night (10pm at the earliest) for some delicious hot, sweet soup!

Creamy, white almond tea, jet black, thick sesame soup or rich, textured walnut. All so good...

And when I want to eat Chinese dessert soups, I don't want to go to any of these newfangled fancy places like Sweet Dynasty or whatever, I want to hit the really old traditional places where they haven't stopped making their desserts in exactly the same way for at least 20 years. My favourite place of choice for a good range of really traditional sweet Chinese soups would have to be Tai Leung Pak Kee . These guys do all of the things you would expect to see in a really traditional Chinese dessert shop including red bean soup and foo jook (beancurd sheets cooked in clear sweet soup) with the option to add lotus seeds, an egg or giant tong yuen (thick glutinous rice dumplings filled with black sesame) to most of the soups. The almond cream is still made from unpolished ground nuts giving it a slightly reddish brown appearance. On Sundays only as a specialty the also offer Coconut sweet soup. Most of the dishes can be served hot or cold, making it a suitable destination even in summer and they do a reasonable daan lai (egg white & milk pudding) and daan daan (egg custard) though milk / egg desserts are not their specialty. My personal recommendation is either the almond cream with tong yuen or the foo jook with lotus seeds hot. Lovely!
















Another great option for sweet soup is Yuen Kee on Centre street in Sai Ying Pun (just past Sheung Wan). Though it has moved location at least once, this institution has been running for over 100 years and most of the staff look like they've been there that long. Here they have some of the best red bean soup in Hong Kong. They are also famous for their almond soup which is incredibly white and light in texture. I always have it with a boiled egg, yummy! However, my number one choice for Yuen Kee is the walnut soup, simply because they make it smoother and creamier than anywhere else I have tried it (walnut soup tends to be a bit grainy).























Sadly, my very favourite place to eat milk desserts, Hong Ning Dairy located on Lady's street, disappeared a few years ago... Their daan lai (milk and egg white pudding) was to die for and the tiny cafe had obviously not been re-decorated since at least the 70's or re-staffed since the 40's, two extra bonuses for going there. My French friend Guillaume claims that they have merely relocated to a back street of Yau Ma Tei, but after four years of searching I have yet to find the apparent re-incarnation of Hong Ning Dairy Milk Dessert Cafe. If anyone should have any information please make sure to share with me!

Of course one can still find good milk desserts at the ubiquitous Yee Sun Milk Dessert cafes. Best choices there are the Seung Pei Lai (double boiled milk pudding) and the Geung Dzap Dzong Lai (ginger milk pudding).