The above picture might not look like much, but the unassuming little piece of nougat you see before you is SERIOUSLY the best nougat I've ever eaten!
Chewy but yielding rather than jaw-breaking, sweet but not sickeningly so, with a light layer of chocolate on top, and crunchy but not overbearing peanuts....it all adds up to nougat perfection.
Let me add that normally, I'm not a nougat kind of gal. I was a nougat Goldilocks - the different brands I tried before were all either too chewy or too crunchy/splintery. Unexpectedly, I've discovered the nougat that was just right.
There is a little story behind my nougat revelation:
In December, a close friend from college held her wedding celebrations in Hong Kong. A few of our mutual friends (my group of girlfriends) came from China, US and Thailand to attend the wedding banquet. As I had some free time, I met up with the ladies to shop, eat and get our hair done. You know, the stereotypical things that women do when they get together.
A, who had flown in from Bangkok, asked if we could go to this bakery to buy nougat. Sure, we all said; as we are all Asians, we understand the foodie obsession and think nothing of traveling far for delicious eats.
A: "It's called Door Door and it's in Mei Foo."
The rest of us: "?"
Now, understand that despite having been born, grown up and now returned to Hong Kong for 9 years, I had never heard of this place. In addition, Mei Foo is far off the usual tourist radar - it's a non-descript private housing estate about half an hour by MTR train from the usual shopping districts.
A then went on to explain that every time her Thai friends visit Hong Kong, they make a pilgrimage to this small family-owned bakery and cafe to buy the nougat. One of our group, Y, actually lived in Mei Foo but had never bought nougat at Door Door, so she offered to buy some and bring it over the next day.
The next day, Y came laden with heavy carrier bags of nougat. There were a few types:
1. Original peanut (shown in above picture)
2. Chocolate crispy (chocolate Rice Krispies sandwiched between original peanut nougat)
3. Coffee (a mocha style nougat with maple undertones)
The clear winner was the chocolate crispy nougat, as the crunchy chocolate krispies cut through the chewy sweetness of the nougat. It's incredibly more-ish - so much so that I went myself to Mei Foo the next week and bought 4 boxes of nougat to give to other friends, though unsurprisingly, I ended up eating a lot of them myself.
They also have a (healthier?) prune and cashew nougat which I haven't yet tried...not sure if it'll be a tad too healthy for my liking!
The moral of this little story is that if people from another country are willing to visit a previously-unheard-of little bakery out in the suburbs, then you would be a fool not to give it a try too!
Door Door Bakery (多多麵飽西餅)
G/F 65 Broadway Street
Mei Foo Sun Chuen
Kowloon, Hong Kong
they now have "cashew nut and plum too"
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