Waffle or doughnut vendor | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Waffle or doughnut vendor

Waffle or doughnut vendor
Submitted by Andrew Suddaby
Authors: 
Andrew Suddaby

This man and his wife were selling delicious waffles - or were they doughnuts?

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Monday, August 3, 1981
Gallery: 
1981 Andrew Suddaby's photos
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Submitted by OldTimer on Fri, 2015-09-25 08:23.

Hi Andrew, it cost no more than 10 cents during your 1957 service in HK.  Its popular name in HK is yauhjagwai (sorry no accent keys in my keyboard).  What I learned about this name back then corresponds to the "oil-fried devil" folklore discussed in the Wikipedia site.  It goes well taste-wise with rice congee with meat; and for simple cheap breakfast, small cooked cubes of pig blood curd are also used and were sold mostly at roadside stalls.

The partial words in the front seem to say they welcome big order buyers.

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Fri, 2015-09-25 13:48.

Hi Oldtimer, I'm not sure whether the cubes of curdled pig blood would have been to my taste in either 1957 or 1981, when this photo was taken - or for that matter even in 2015 - but the yauhjagwei was very good!  Food from street vendors is often very good but to an unaccustomed palate rather daunting.  How about deep fried chicken heads on sticks avidly eaten by children in Bangkok?

Submitted by OldTimer on Fri, 2015-09-25 21:13.

Greetings Andrew.  May I say that when we were young, our taste and choice were influenced by our parents and our exploration.  My grandma steamed pig brains with Chinese herbs and spices and the little boy found it tasty.  In autumn, restaurants on Lai Chi Kok Road by Boundary Street displayed snakes in cages and their menu included deep fried field (wheat) birds - head (much smaller than chicken) and body together, and the latter tasted good too.

Yes, yauhjagwei tastes very good.  On your next trip to HK, may I also say this:  My current neighbour, an Englishman and more senior, keeps asking me to buy him some after I introduced it to him two years ago.  He said despite his age and after several major medical operations, he is no longer concerned with the health aspect of its consumption and smiles (just like in your photo) when I bring him some.  However, my wife has put a limit on his intake. 

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Fri, 2015-09-25 23:42.

Hi Oldtimer. I'm afraid, that as I shall not be returning to Hong Kong, my choice of Chinese foods is restricted to the offerings of our local Chinese restaurants in England - and I don't expect them to be 'experimenting' with their menus in the near future. Years ago in France, we were served, unknowingly, with some sheep brains.  I immediately realised what it was but told the children that it was a new sort of mushroom and they ate it quite happily. You'll have to smuggle some yauhjagwei in to your pal.  Wives are very good at knowing what is good for us as opposed to what we like to eat! 

Submitted by tngan on Sat, 2015-09-26 00:13.

Hi There,

You must be talking about 禾花雀, (a southern delicacy).  They are tiny birds which looked a bit like common sparrows.  They are banned in Hong Kong for quite a while as they are endangered.  However I have also tasted it a few times when I was a kid.  I remember some restaurants might stuff the tiny birds with chicken liver before frying or roasting them.  What I remember is, you usually eat the whole thing in one gulp, including the bones.

T

Submitted by OldTimer on Sat, 2015-09-26 00:50.

Yes, Tngan, that's the name for the birds.  Thanks for the feedback.

Submitted by Andrew Suddaby on Sat, 2015-09-26 01:51.

I'm not sure whether that would be a worse experience than eating the large deep fried beetles that we also saw being enjoyed.