Egg Tart (Hong Kong style)

The egg tart (danta) is one of the most widely eaten pastries in the Chinese-speaking world, a product of the British colonial encounter with Cantonese cuisine that has since taken on a life entirely its own. Hong Kong egg tarts are eaten year-round at dai pai dongs, cha chaan tengs, and bakeries, either as a standalone snack or at the end of a yum cha meal.

Two distinct pastry styles exist, and devotees of each regard the other with mild suspicion. The older Cantonese style uses a biscuit-type shortcrust pastry shell — firmer, denser, slightly crumbly, with more of a biscuit character. This is sometimes called the 'Guangzhou style'. The Hong Kong style uses a puff pastry shell with multiple thin, buttery, flaky layers that shatter lightly when bitten. The puff-pastry version became dominant in Hong Kong over the second half of the twentieth century, partly because the layered texture is more dramatic.

The custard filling is the same in both: egg yolks, sugar, evaporated milk (or fresh milk, or a combination), and sometimes a small amount of double cream, combined and strained until smooth. The custard is poured into the unbaked or partially baked pastry shells and baked at moderate heat until just set — the surface should be smooth and slightly wobbly when moved, not puffed or cracked, and the centre should have a barely-there tremor that indicates it will set fully as it cools. Overcooked custard becomes grainy.

Egg tarts are best eaten warm, within minutes of leaving the oven. A properly cooked tart eaten warm — the custard still soft, the pastry still crisp — is a different experience from a cold one. Bakeries typically bake in shifts through the day; knowing the schedule at a particular shop and arriving at the right moment is the local insider move.

Macau has its own variant, the Portuguese pastel de nata, sold at Lord Stow's Bakery in Coloane — a slightly more caramelised, eggy, rustic cousin of the Hong Kong version.