Rare Hock Chew Dishes, Gong Pian @ Cheong Cia, Sitiawan

As a Penangite, there are a lot of wonderful and delicious dishes available in Penang. On the other hand, there are many dishes which are still not available in our town as well. This is especially so for  Hock Chew dishes and Hakka dishes.

Below post is my trip to Lumut and Sitiawan. This post is not a usual travel post. Instead this is a post that will give you a guide to most of the dishes that are available in Lumut and Sitiawan.

The first post is the mouth-watering Hock Chew creation biscuit in Sitiawan, which is known as “Gong Pian”. To go to this shop, you need to drive to the main road of Jalan Sitiawan from Jalan Lumut.  Once you see Wisma Ganda which houses Courts Mammoth, turn left to the alley which is Jalan Tok Perdana. Just a few metres after turning you will see the shop with the name “Cheong Cia Gong Pian”.

 

There was a Chinese legendary story saying about a boy who was too pampered by his mom. He was too lazy to do anything and all he needed to do was to sleep on the bed and wait for the food to be fed directly to his mouth by his mom. Until one day, when his mom needed to go back to her own mother’s house, she made him a giant Gong Pian that looks like a donut and placed it on his neck so that he could eat them when she was away. However when her mother came back his son had died off of hunger. He only managed to eat the gong pian within his reach but he was too lazy to reach for the rest of it.

Back to the main topic, this stall is a very old and classic family business stall. It has been on business here for decades which has been passed down from generations.

The specialties of this shop is it has various types of Hock Chew biscuit. Below is the price list:

• Hock Chew Gong Pian (Big) – RM1.00
• Hock Chew Gong Pian (Small) – RM0.70
• Hock Chew Fo Pa (Big) – RM3.40
• Hock Chew Fo Pa (Small) – RM1.70

There are 2 types of Hock Chew Gong Pian, one is sweet base and another one is salty base. The sweet base gong pian is made into a donut shape with lots of sesame seeds sprinkled on top of it.

The taste of the sweet base gong pian is like a crunchy donut skin with bread-like texture.

In contrast, the salty base gong pian is hard and crispy on the outside, while inside is stuffed with salty fried onions.

In fact, the salty taste of the gong pian comes from the salted onion fried in lard which makes it undoubtedly so delicious.

Hock Chew Fo Pa (Torch) biscuit, is one of the Hock Chew clan specialties. The biscuits are made of twisted sticks which are then baked until crunchy. It also brings some slight sweetness taste in it. The best part is the biscuits have no preservatives. Surprisingly, after a few weeks the biscuits still remain crunchy and delicious if kept in a air-tight bottle.

These savoury biscuits are one of the oldest favourites brought by the Hock Chew settlers from China. This shop successfully tweaked the original “Gong Pian” recipe to create what you will find sold at their shop today.

Overall, the taste of the Hock Chew Gong Pian is so special and delicious. In fact I prefer the salty base of Gong Pian biscuit compared to the sweet base one. Unfortunately, this traditional making of Gong Pian has gradually lost its presence in Sitiawan. It has become impossible to have one of such store in Penang.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation

Operation hours: 9:30am-5:00pm (Close on Sunday)
Contact: 019-558 9228
Address:12, Jalan Tok Perdana, 32000 Perak.