I am so lucky to know a chef from Fuqing hence all I get to try all these traditional Fuzhou treats.
Fuqing is located by the sea hence the abundance of seaweed and fresh seafood.
The first item I tried was the famous Roasted Sesame Seaweed Cake 福清紫菜餅.
It didn't look appealing but it was so good that I asked for another one.
Best eaten hot when the filling is nice and warm and the pastry is crisp with a chew.
The seaweed and pork filling was so tasty but the pastry is quite chewy like a pretzel so you will get a jaw ache but it was worth it having two!!!!
The next snack was fried shredded taro balls which are made with grated/shredded taro dipped in batter.
The one I tried had fresh scallops in it which takes it to the next level.
Another popular dish I tried was the sweet potato dumplings 福清蕃薯丸.
These were traditional Fuqing sweet potato dumplings filled with meat and seaweed.
The meat inside tasted like a good quality meatball mixed with seaweed.
I found these dumplings very similar to Polish meat filled potato dumplings with a sweet tasting potato pastry.
It is interesting that they eat this in a soup style with rice vermicelli.
As well as sweet potato dumplings, they also have fuqing fish balls 福清魚丸 which are big and filled with pork.
I loved the fishy taste and it is served in a clear fishy broth.
海蠣餅 A Fuqing deep fried treat made with seaweed, julienne veg and oysters.
It is interesting how this is on the Japanese menu as well.
Another amazing soup was the 海蠣豆腐湯 which is a oyster and tofu thick soup with seaweed.
The oysters were so flavourful even though they were covered in potato starch to keep it silky.
The tofu was really tasty that I had it with rice.
You will find that the oysters in the Fuzhou area are much smaller compared to the ones I had.
I finally got to try the Fuzhou triangle cake 福州三角糕/Fujian Taro Kueh/芋粿 which is basically mashed taro with some flour.
Words can't describe how delicious it was because if you love taro then you will definitely like this.
The cake is crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, similar to Chinese Taro pudding without any meat.
I was surprised they also have buns 福州肉包 in Fuzhou which I managed to try.
They were soft and fluffy and the filling was surprisingly nice although I couldn't quite figure out the exact filling.
I thought I have almost tried pretty much everything for fuqing food but it turns out that they have sweet items as well such as the sweet potato gyozas/dumplings 福清番薯餃 which are filled with crushed peanuts.
They were interestingly nice as they were fried hence the crispy chewy pastry and then you have sweet peanut filling inside that is not overly sweet with a Chinese five spice aftertaste.
Braised noodles 港頭海鮮燜面 / 港头海鲜焖面
I don't know what these noodles are in English was it was delicious noodles with a bite in thick sauce with a strong seafood taste and creaminess from the Chinese cabbage.
On a sweet note, I also got to try this Fuqing cake 福清禮餅
It tasted like a mince pie in flakey pastry without the currants and fruit peel similar to an Eccles cake.
It was sweet but not cloying with cinnamon.
What intrigued me was that they use cinnamon as ingredients in Fuzhou!
地瓜甜包 Sweet potato parcels
Delicious fried chewy parcels filled with crushed peanuts.
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