Friday, July 3, 2009

Chinese Mango Dessert

mango dessert
Tin Hau's a little underrated. It has some of the best restaurants on Hong Kong island waiting to be explored, if you're willing to venture out of the usual Causeway Bay-Wanchai-Central.

I visited 甜姨姨私房甜品 (Auntie Sweet Desserts) on 13 Tsing Fung Street, Tin Hau yesterday with an Indian friend who adores mangoes, (Indian mangoes are delectable, he says) to have some desserts. Now this place is famous for their 阿旺芒果凍湯丸 (Chilled Mango Dumplings), pictured below. If you've ever tried the regular Chinese
湯丸 tang yuan dumplings that have sesame paste or peanut paste wrapped around with dough served hot in boiling soup; then this is exactly what it is, except the filling is egg yolk and mango and served cold, it's a fresh take on a dessert with age-old traditions. Now, it's worth a try but share it with a few people. The dumplings were acceptable, the dough was soggy and the filling wasn't anything spectacular. The mango soup was too thick and overwhelming, it might as well have been a mango smoothie and not in a pleasant way. The only good part was the tropical fruits laden in the soup that had a nice chewy texture.

The dumplings were made famous from TVB drama 阿旺新傳 (Life Made Simple). Now, the way 湯丸 dumplings is pronounced in Mandarin sounds a lot like 團圓 meaning reunion. So 湯丸 dumplings are often eaten during Chinese New Year when the whole family has dinner together, so this dessert has a very sweet tradition. And in the drama, 阿旺 (Ah Wong) is a mentally handicapped guy who makes these chilled mango dumplings he calls 老婆湯丸 (wifey dumplings),because every dumpling is made out of love for his favorite lady. It's a very, very sweet (no pun intended) drama, one of the most successful that TVB ever made. And the guy who owns Auntie Sweet Dessert used to work at TVB, so his dessert shop is famous now thanks to that connection. The first time I went there a few years ago, right at the peak of the show's fame, the shop was a tiny place that had to set tables and chairs onto the pavement. Now, they've moved to a new location and to bank more on their famous mango dumplings, the tiles on the floor and wall are mango yellow. I took a picture to see just how similar the color of the tiles are to the mangoes, and it's almost exactly the same. And if you notice, even the spoon is yellow!

The chilled mango dumplings in mango soup is HKD$25, but remember to share it with a few people!

Bon voyage,
Jenny Cheng

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