Wife cake

Once upon a time there was a poor family. One day husband’s father got very sick, and the family could not treat him. Being left with no choice, the wife decides to sell herself as a slave, in order for her father-in-law to get treated. After some time, husband had learnt about it and decided to make a cake filled with sweetened wintermelon and almond, which he dedicated for his wife and sold it out. Suddenly he realized that many people liked it and asked him to make more. He earned a lot of money, so that he could return back his wife. This is the legend about a Hong Kong (HK) pastry, a wife cake.
What do you know of HK besides it being an international financial center, Asia’s World City, and shopping paradise for desperate fans of Gucci, Chanel, etc? In order to explore a real HK, one should go outside of the stereotypical borders of HK, and experience its unique and local culture, one of the ways to do that is trying food. Due to the limited space, in HK the restaurants and shops are small, but it does not make them any worse. My favorite places to go are cha chaan teng(tea restaurants), very Hong Kong-style cafes with yummiest food I have ever tried. Next destination of mine is pastry shops. Walking down the streets you will be drawn by sweet smell of bread, pastries, and sometimes chocolate, which do not let you just pass by them. As soon as I enter this small world of bakery, my eyes run across the abundance of things. The most unique HK pastries are my favorite egg tarts, pine-apple buns, and legendary wife cakes, which make my whole exploration more fascinating. After I buy one each of pastries, I go to the next door, which is cha chaan teng (tea restaurant) to enjoy the pastries with Hong Kong-style milk tea. Visiting a bakery and cha chaan teng is a MUST for me to go to every Saturday. HK is so special, that even cakes have their own stories through which I could learn a little piece of HK culture.