Portuguese love…

The other day, when I was at this coffee shop, I went over to the shop next door to buy the chai kueh. My girl enjoys it a lot so I bought a few packs at one go to keep in the fridge so I can steam some in the morning for her to eat for breakfast.

In the meantime, I went over to see what they had in the glass display counter at the shop…

…and I saw that they had some lovely looking Portuguese egg tarts…

I remember I did try them before when this shop first opened (they were only RM2.50 each at the time) but even though I did feel they were all right, not quite there but were good enough, I never went back for more. Perhaps I was put off by the price – I could go for a plate of kampua mee for that kind of money then and their very nice char siew pao was less than RM2.00 each (not anymore).

Eventually, we were able to get really good ones at this place not far from my house so we would just buy those from there. For reasons unknown, the people making those awesome egg tarts and everything else disappeared – I have no idea why they called it a day and whether they had gone some place else to do their business. Nobody at that shop would disclose any information whatsoever regarding them.

I saw my foodie friend sharing photographs of the ones he bought here a few times and praising them to the skies so I thought I would give them a second chance. Goodness gracious me!!! They are now RM3.30 each – kampua mee is currently RM3.50 a plate!

I asked for three and the young boy packed them nicely for me to take away. I did not pay much attention to what he was doing, otherwise I would have asked him to take those that were more nicely torched.

The pastry…

…was very nice but I noticed a moist, not so well-baked layer at the bottom. I gathered from those Masterchef shows that this would happen if you do not blind bake your pastry first.

The egg custard…

…was really good, very rich and creamy and not too sweet but I was thinking that perhaps at that price…or maybe for around 20 sen more, they could be a bit more generous with it – they barely filled half of the pastry cup.

My girl tried and yes, she loved it!!! That, of course, means that despite everything that I have said, I will surely buy some more should I happen to be passing by this place again.

And talking about my girl, the other afternoon, she made these English crumpets…

For the uninitiated, “crumpets are English griddle cakes made from flour, milk/water and yeast and are traditionally eaten for breakfast or with afternoon tea.  They’re soft and somewhat spongy in texture and their crowning feature are the dozens of tiny holes that dot the surface…

…allowing whatever you spread on them to soak down into them, making each and every bite an unforgettable one.”

Yes, they were nice – we had them piping hot from the pan with butter and honey but since my girl said she would want to have some for her breakfast the next morning, I only had one – the recipe was good for 8 pieces only and anyway, personally, I think I prefer scones. I wonder when she is going to make some more for me to enjoy.

HONG KONG PUFF is located along Ramin Way (2.291180, 111.826634), beside Sin Kiaw Coffee Shop, right behind the Petronas station at Kpg Nyabor Road (formerly Esso) across the road from the HSBC Building, Sibu branch.