Tan Xiaomi
TO sample some authentic Hong Kong-style desserts, try Sanji restaurant on Dongyuan Road, a dessert restaurant operated by a Hong Kong gourmet.
The Cantonese-style dessert cafe specializes in high-quality sweets.
It is a friendly place perfect for a light late-night snack, full of atmosphere and usually buzzing with locals. Try to go in a group, as tables are large and dessert portions substantial.
The restaurant’s encyclopedia-like menu included everything you might want to try in terms of sweet Cantonese soup. Popular choices such as dumpling soup and boiled sweet potato soup are right out of the childhood memories of many Cantonese people.
Everything from dumplings to savory tofu pudding is made on site, to ensure the taste and quality.
Various kinds of dumplings either in sweet soup or peanut powder are what the restaurant is famous for. Try the leisha dumplings (擂沙汤圆), a kind of sweet dumplings made of sticky rice and filled with the dessert shop’s own black sesame paste or peanut paste. The paste is rich enough to balance the milk-toast and gooey sticky rice. Wrapped in aromatic peanut powder, the dumplings will surely spoil your taste buds.
For a lighter version, try the tangbushuai (糖不甩), which is smaller in size and doesn’t have any paste inside.
The sesame and almond cream soups are particularly recommended for their authentic taste. Made from black toasted sesame seeds and brown almonds, the soups have a texture similar to that of peanut butter. They are very rich with strong sesame and almond aromas. You should taste the two soups separately before combining them for a unique taste.
Another favorite is the mango pudding with sweet and tender tofu at the bottom. The square-shaped tofu flower is scooped and filled with condensed milk in the center, which makes sure every bite is full of sweet-smelling milk.
If you crave a simple but tasty sweet soup, then the mango, pink grapefruit and sago in sweetened coconut milk is perfect. The refreshingly cool and creamy soup is a truly healthy drink.
We also recommend the double-skin milk pudding, a dessert originating from Shunde in Guangdong Province. To make the double-skinned milk pudding, the boiled milk is cooled until a layer of skin forms on top. The skin is then removed and an egg is mixed into the milk before it is boiled for a second time, producing the double skin. The pudding is served with the foam which forms on the second skin. Below the skin is a sweet smelling, crystal-like milk-egg mixture. Eat it hot while the texture is still creamy.
