We always have a 'thing' for one of the outlying islands of Hong Kong, Cheung Chau and we can never get bored of going there despite the numerous visits. This place is pretty much a getaway from the bustling urban city, just an hour of journey by ordinary ferry or 40 minutes by fast ferry taken from Central Pier No.5. I would highly recommend tourists visiting Hong Kong to spend one day at this island, as you will definitely see a more humane "人情味" and peaceful side of Hong Kong. I'm sure you will fall in love with this place like us. For more details regarding to ferry schedule and fare, please visit here.
I've split this post into two as there are too many places to eat and visit at Cheung Chau! So please stay tuned for our next post!
I've split this post into two as there are too many places to eat and visit at Cheung Chau! So please stay tuned for our next post!
When you first alight from the ferry, you would probably be attracted by one of the stalls selling huge fish balls. Hang in there! You will find a few stalls in Cheung Chau selling fish balls, so please don't get carried away and assume that the frontal stall serves the best food, as you will soon notice that it is usually the other way round! When you walk further down to a squarish open space area, you will catch attention of three adjacent-joining shops selling one of the best bouncy fish balls in Cheung Chau!
1. 甘永泰魚蛋
I guess we had tried almost all types and flavours at this stall, including prawn, squid, fried beancurd with fish paste, pork and basically anything that can be created into balls! Of which, our favourite has to be the salmon cheese ball! I bet you will be like us, finishing stick by stick unknowingly...
Their fish balls were already cooked, and they would deep-fry it for you upon placing your order.
The readily-packed fish balls are also available for takeaway orders.
G/F, 106 San Hing Street, Cheung Chau
If you are looking for big curry fish ball, visit this shop on the right hand side when you face 甘永泰魚蛋. You will see some celebrities visiting photos in the background. Comparatively, they have bouncier and more flavoursome big fish balls than others on the island.
2. 天然甜品 Tin Yin Dessert
This popular dessert place is famous for their mango desserts and what they have to keep us visiting this place is their peanut ice cream ball - ice cream mochi coated with a layer of chocolate powder with peanuts and sesame! They sell different kinds of typical Hong Kong style desserts such as mango sago pomelo, black glutinous rice and sago, mango glutinous rice dumpling and any Hong Kong-style desserts that you can think of!
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| Black Glutinous Rice and Sago |
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| Mango Sago Pomelo |
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| Signature Peanut Ice Cream Ball |
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| Signature Mango Dumpling |
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| Chestnut , Gingko and Barley with Soya Beancurd |
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| Osmanthus & Mango Roll (left) - mango wrappd with seaweed made of osmanthus fragrans (sweet olive) Mango & Seaweed Roll (right) - fresh mango wrapped with glutinous rice and seaweed as outer layer |
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| Peanut Glutinous Rice Dumpling |
G/F., 9 Tai Hing Tai Road, Cheung Chau
3. 允升甜品
There are too many dessert places on this tiny island. If you are looking for local desserts we feel that these two are the better ones. The mango & seaweed roll '芒果腸粉' served here was a bit different from the Tin Yin Dessert's, instead of stuffing the glutinous rice in between, the mango was wrapped with few layers of smooth seaweed. Serving three different types of seaweeds complemented with mango sauce, this is a must-try dish!
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| Mango Sago Pomelo |
G/F., 3 Cheung Hing Street, Cheung Chau
4. 郭錦記餅店 Kwok Kam Kee Cake Shop
This has to be one of cy's favourite bakeries in Hong Kong! There's an annual Cheung Chau Dajiao/Bun Festival to drive away the evil spirits besieging the island on Buddha's birthday which is the 8th day of the 4th month in the Chinese lunar calendar. The traditional activities of this event include '搶包山' (Bun Scrambling Competition) and '飄色巡遊' (Floating Colours Parade), and Kwok Kam Kee Cake Shop was used to be the supplier of a tower of 平安包 "Lucky Bun" for the Bun Scrambling competition. You can find more details about Hong Kong cultural celebrations here. Apart from the lucky bun, we guarantee that they have one of the best egg cakes in Hong Kong, the melt-in-your-mouth texture and eggy taste could never slip away from our memories!
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| Photo Credit: Hong Kong Tourism Board |
46 Pak She Street, Cheung Chau
5. 根記粥麵店
If you do fancy the unusual chicken organs such as intestine and liver, do check out this place, cy and I seldom eat these but to be honest they were really crunchy and tasty!
We really enjoyed the porridge that they serve here as it is the typical Cantonese style of boiling the rice to blend harmoniously with the water; the ingredients used were fresh and flavoursome as well. Also, we particularly loved the soft texture of rice noodle roll 'cheung fun' and the sauce underneath had lifted it to the next level!
One might judge its food by the hygiene due to the dai pai dong '大排檔' operating style, we could only say we were fine after eating so much!
2 Praya Street, Cheung Chau
6. Seafood Street
The seafood street is just along the coast on the left, you will be seeing many servers fetching for business with few laminated menus with different set dinners. Although, they are almost all the same, you should finish walking the whole stretch until you have found one that got your interest.
7. 故鄉俱樂部 Hometown Members Club
This tiny shop is located on the way to the beach, there's a sign on the main road guiding you through.
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| Red Bean Obanyaki |
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| Sausage & Crab Meat Hand Roll |
What so special about this shop is that they serve really generous portion at cheap prices which the taste of their food was very decent as well!
G/F., 17 Cheung Chau Church Road, Cheung Chau
8. Street Food
There are too many snacks around the island, so ready your stomach for all these!新照記茶餐小食店
Beside Hometown Members Club, do expect to see many different varieties of what Southeast Asian called 'kueh', the traditional '糕點' they sell are more of in Cantonese style. Nowadays, these pastries are rarely seen in Hong Kong already due to the long hours of preparation and low demand.
G/F., 18 Tung Wan Road, Cheung Chau
There's also a snack shop that sells Korean tornado potato next to 新照記茶餐小食店!
I particularly reminisce about the school day snacks such as during the summer we had iced pineapple slice and the traditional Chinese snack of candied fruit '冰糖葫芦'!
You will be seeing sweet and spicy grilled dried squid and all kinds of dried fish around the island, they were really addictive so keep your eyes open for that!
Every time we leave Cheung Chau, it was with exploding, satisfied stomachs as you should not be hungry given the number of calories-worthy food around. This little island is definitely our good spot to 拍拖 :) or to have friends barbecue gathering, hiking, sun and beach and many more activities that you can imagine! Stay tuned for the next post of Cheung Chau to see other than food places what other sites are worth to visit!
To be continued...
