A confession: I've never had 雞蛋仔 before. Having passed by this seemingly popular corner street vendor so many times, I decided to have my first here.

Like many other 雞蛋仔 vendors they offer an interesting array of flavors, like taro, strawberry, chocolate, black sesame, green tea for $10; the original is $8.

Ordered 2 original flavored 雞蛋仔's - one to be eaten on the spot, the other for later consumption, to compare. After I placed my order the man put 2 pieces of gai dan jai that were previously made, set aside in advance - not made to order, in 2 separate paper bags. I don't know whether it should be freshly made or not. The disadvantage of freshly baked, hot goods is that if it is put inside a container/bag/confined space, the steam will moisten, or even worse ruin, the whole thing.

Although it's been left on the rack the gai dan jai was still warm.

At first whiff: the smell is exactly that intense combination of sugar and condensed milk aroma that hovers over those 雞蛋仔 vendors - now it's captured in a bag! Note: the smell is a bit like coconut milk, even though I am pretty sure it's not used?

First bite: It was hollow on the inside, the whole piece of eggette is just crisp and warm - a surprise, as I thought 雞蛋仔s are supposed to have a slightly chewy and soft texture? After a while the gai dan jai did develop a slight chewy texture.

For the other that wasn't eaten right away I had it the next day, and it already became stale - dry and quite crunchy, but the flavor was not affected. I microwaved the rest - it turned softer, even more chewier, but still good.

Will try other gai dan jai vendors very soon, but this was not bad. I wonder if they use charcoal to bake, like some do?