“A nostalgic snack in Hong Kong”
Steamed red bean sticky pudding, Put Chai Ko 砵仔糕, is one of the traditional local snacks in Hong Kong since the early days. The pudding cake is usually palm-size, and is sweet in taste. It is soft set and able to hold its molded shape outside of a bowl.
Put Chai Ko is simply an ordinary sweet food to many Asians, but it seems so popular and well-liked by the people in Hong Kong. And yes, I liked it, too. Loved its soft sponginess, but I could only get the desired consistency of the Put Chai Ko from this mobile food cart in the Central district.
I ever read a blog where the writer commented that this steamed pudding was tapering off in Hong Kong. Yes, it wasn’t widely available nowadays, but I was glad I found this. The food cart was located just by the road side at the busy T-junction of Wellington Street and Lan Kwai Fong.
Selling at the food cart by the road:
This Put Chai Ko I had is brownish (Made with brown sugar) which I preferred over the white colour (made with plain sugar). This palatable snack was one of the best snacks to me.
The taste of sweetness was just right, and definitely having the best perfect soft set & moist consistency. It was neither overly wobbly nor too firm for the palate. The red beans were plentiful, too.
Don’t go there in the morning. The business starts only from 1pm to 3pm.
For more precise direction: Click on My Note Book on The Web
For more Put Chai Ko? Here’s another location.
Put Chai Ko sold in the shop located in Sham Shui Po (深水埗):
We came to know about this from a TVB program, introducing the owner’s the traditional hand-made cooking method, and on its hardship of sustaining this low-profit business (which includes some background histories of heritage issue) that brought the fame to their shop. Convinced by the story at that point of time, we strived to make it there to try out.
We travelled to Sham Shui Po, 深水埗, by MTR. This shop was conveniently located around the MTR station. As expected, there was small crowd queuing up. I happily joined the crowd, carrying with me an elevated expectation towards their Put Chai Ko.
Oh well, maybe it was just my personal preference. I found it merely palatable. I thought the pudding was set a little bit firmly for my liking. It was dry. Red beans were found way too few, too.
It was kind of….. disappointing.
Having said that, if you liked firmer consistency in Put Chai Ko, this shop probably is for you. Besides, they are also selling another popular local snack, steamed white sugar cake (白糖糕).
In Sham Shui Po, this is also the place for many other delectable local food. I loved the flaky egg tart selling just in a random snack stall here!
wah i dont dare try this leh! sounds…. WRONG. u know? lol red bean and pudding?!!?
Hey, it is in fact a Kueh lar… How to translate Kueh into English, so it is called as sticky pudding. No worries lar, very nice snack it is… :)
About a decade ago, I ate once from a shop in Sham Sui Po (recommended in the HK Tourism booklet) and is really yummy. I too read about the Wellington St selling from 1-3pm only but could not find it until last trip in Dec….it may not be the original seller anymore as this cart is selling other kueh besides the red bean ‘put chai kou’. (Hi, do they sell other kueh?)And sad to say, it does not taste good. Am going to HK again. Will look for the Sham Sui Po and taste again to see if their standard has deteriote. Cheers
Hi, sorry for commenting on such an old post but hopefully you still see it! Do you think put zhai gou would sell well in Singapore? :)
Hi,
Don’t worry. I do see it.
Hmm… I think Singapore has similar ones, both sweet and savory, selling quite ok but not must-have delicacies. The savory one more popular.