Hong Kong Egg Tart

The Hong Kong egg tart uses a flaky puff-pastry or cookie-crumb shell, filled with a custard of egg, sugar and milk or evaporated milk and baked until the filling sets smooth as pudding and the crust turns crisp, split into the puff-pastry and cookie-base schools.

The egg tart inherits the British custard tart, adapted by Hong Kong bakeries and touched by the influence of Macau's Portuguese-style tart, before growing into the signature sweet of cha chaan tengs and Chinese pastry shops; its making technique is listed in the Hong Kong intangible cultural heritage inventory.

Best freshly baked and eaten warm, the smooth custard melting against the crisp shell, it is a must for afternoon tea and morning tea and a common closing sweet at Hong Kong banquets.

The two pastry bases, the pudding-smooth custard, and a flavour that draws on British and Portuguese roots yet is wholly localised, are what set the Hong Kong egg tart apart.