🍽️ Kway Chap

Rice sheets in gravy with braised sides.

Shantou Kway Chap is a Chaoshan breakfast classic in Shantou. Rice sheets steamed from rice milk are cut into triangular pieces and simmered in a thick, savory braising gravy until they soften and almost break down, soaking up the master stock. The bowl is then dressed with braised sides such as stewed pork intestine, braised pork, marinated egg and dried tofu, ladled with gravy and scattered with scallions. The soul of Shantou kway chap is the aged braising pot: salty, savory with a returning sweetness, while the rice sheets are soft and starchy yet still whole. At dawn in Shantou's old quarter, queues form at kway-chap stalls, and a bowl warms and fills you completely. It is the everyday way Chaoshan people begin the day and the natural first stop for visitors entering Shantou's breakfast culture.