# Bubble Waffles: The Unique Hong Kong Snack Popping Up All Over the World > The story of Hong Kong's bubble waffles, a street snack that grew into a global phenomenon and now turns up in cities around the world. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/vafly-v-puzrkakh-unykalnaia-honkonhskaia-zakuska-kotoraia-poiavliaetsia-po-vsemu-myru/ - Language: en - Published: 2025-10-27 - Categories: Culture, Historic Sites, Leisure, Restaurants, China, Food & Drinks --- When I decided to write about the origins of Hong Kong's bubble waffles, also known as "egg waffles," I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. This seemingly unremarkable, cheap street food can be found all over the city, crisp on the outside with every "bubble" soft and fluffy inside. In Cantonese they are called "gai daan jai," and their texture is best described as a cross between a cookie and a sponge cake. I began my search by visiting Shanghai Street in Kowloon. Lined with kitchenware shops, it is a popular spot for anyone looking to buy a bubble waffle iron. "These days we all import our irons from China," one shopkeeper told me. "Choi Tung Shing might be your best bet." It was a smart suggestion. Choi Tung Shing is one of the oldest forges in Hong Kong, best known for the handmade ovens used to roast Cantonese pork and goose. But even there, the owner struggled with my request. "I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find anything about Hong Kong bubble waffle irons in my father's old sketches and records," says Leung Wing Cheung, the third-generation owner of a century-old kitchenware shop and factory. "Are you sure you want to write about bubble waffles? Why not char siu (barbecue roast pork) or something more noteworthy?" ## What's so special about Hong Kong egg waffles? ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-157-1-2025.jpg) I used to feel the same way, until 2016, when I quit my full-time job and moved to London. There, in the cold of winter, I opened a stall at a street market selling Hong Kong bubble waffles under a tarp that was too small to shield me from the constant rain. It was a response to a bad experience with gai daan jai a year earlier, when I tried a reinvented egg waffle at another London street food market. The "new" bubble waffle was rolled into a cone and stuffed with colorful ice cream and toppings. I took a bite and instantly felt cheated. It was a soft pancake masquerading as a bubble waffle. From that moment, I decided to bring my own version of gai daan jai to London. Back in Hong Kong, I took a crash course from a retired street waffle vendor. Nine months later, I opened my business in London. The first customer arrived. "A bubble waffle from Hong Kong?" a Korean traveler asked. "Yes, like bubble wrap," I nodded. My iron wouldn't heat up in the cold London winter. The waffle wouldn't come off the metal in one piece. It took me 30 minutes and a lot of apologetic smiles before I could complete my very first order. The patient customer took a bite and was satisfied. I was thrilled. At the time I thought the experience was purely personal, but later I realized I was part of a global rise of our humble city waffle. In the past few years, bubble waffle shops have popped up all across Europe, drawing crowds and racking up plenty of Instagram likes. They have also made their way to the United States. In 2018, a bubble waffle shop was invited to open a stand at the Super Bowl. Unlike many Cantonese dishes such as char siu or dim sum, which, with a few exceptions, have stayed largely unchanged, Hong Kong egg waffles have transformed and are now winning fans far beyond the streets of the world's Chinatowns. ## How was the first bubble waffle invented? A few years after my year working as a bubble waffle vendor, I returned to Hong Kong ready to learn more about the history and stories behind the Hong Kong snack we had all grown so used to. I was amazed at how quietly the humble waffle had woven itself into the history and culture of our city since it was invented in the 1950s. "Over the past decade, there has been a growing need to understand our local identity in Hong Kong," says Siu Yan Ho, a lecturer in food literature and cultural studies at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. "More and more people are talking about food, not just as a food review, but about the relationship between the community and our food. Studying the history of food is closely tied to the history of the city. Egg waffles embody the Hong Kong way of life in the 1950s and illustrate the transformation of the city over the years." And yet I still couldn't find any concrete documentation of the egg waffle's backstory. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-157-2-2025.jpg) "One reason is that it's too ordinary a food. The kind that doesn't convey any particular message or status," says Siu. The most likely origin story, according to Siu's research, is that the food was born out of necessity in hard times. "Hong Kong bubble waffles were invented after the war, when the economy was bleak," he says. "Businesses were looking for ways to reinvent and make use of their meager supplies. A grocery store owner probably invented them to use up unsold eggs. With flour and sugar, ingredients easily found in shops, the egg waffle was born." And what about the shape? Siu has a theory for that too. "Its unique shape was meant to make it look more nutritious," he says. "Being economical and nutritious were two priorities in Hong Kong at the time." ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-157-3-2025.jpg) The iron was cast not to look like bubble wrap but, most likely, to mimic dozens of mini eggs. In those days, a bubble waffle would break into 30 separate pieces, with each bubble sold individually rather than as one large waffle, as it is now. "People couldn't afford a whole egg waffle," says waffle iron maker Leung, who was born in the 1950s. "In the '70s there were more street vendors, and demand for bubble waffle irons grew. Vendors usually bought several irons at once, since the irons were constantly being confiscated." ## Street vendors and the economy It's said that the rise and fall of Hong Kong's street vendors mirrors the state of the city's economy. In the 1960s and 1970s, the city went through another economic crisis, along with an influx of new immigrants from mainland China. Many of the unemployed turned to street vending to make a living. Among them was Li Sui Yuen, who, as it turned out, is my own bubble waffle teacher. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-157-4-2025.jpg) Li came to Hong Kong in the 1970s from mainland China and soon took up bubble waffles. "The competition was fierce, but my gai daan jai were so good that even I loved eating them," he says. "In the last few years before I retired, I only opened for business now and then. Word spread quickly, and people would come to buy gai daan jai from me." He made his bubble waffles the traditional way, cooking over charcoal instead of the electric griddle most shops use nowadays. But it was a hard way to make a living, given the legality of selling on the street. To improve hygiene and tidiness, the government stopped issuing new licenses to street vendors in the 1970s, making new sellers illegal. The city began cracking down on old licenses more aggressively in the 1990s. "Being a street vendor took a toll on my heart. I was always afraid of getting caught by the hawker control team," he says, showing me the scar where a pacemaker was fitted into his chest. Now retired, Li's face lights up when he talks about bubble waffles. He can still recite every ingredient and step without hesitation. "To make a good waffle, you need good ingredients, good technique, and good weather too. Gai daan jai made in a Hong Kong winter are especially crisp and tasty because of the low humidity," he says. "But if you don't heat the iron well enough in winter, your waffle will stick to the pan and won't come off easily. That's why you should always hold your palm over the stove to check the heat." I tell him it's a shame we never covered this chapter during our early egg waffle lessons. "You have to experience it to understand the theory behind it. Now you know what I mean," he nods with a mischievous smile. I show him photos of the new kinds of bubble waffles served with extra toppings and fillings, the ones that inspired me to write this story. "That's such a wonderful idea. If you don't evolve with the times and stay flexible, you're out. It's the same logic for everything else in life," says Li. ## From Hong Kong to Ukraine Indeed, bubble waffles have gone through several major changes over the past two decades. "Food follows the diaspora of a culture and makes it international," says Sidney Cheung, a professor and director of the cultural management program at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "In earlier waves of migration, we saw dim sum and char siu representing Hong Kong food abroad. Now it's cha chaan teng (the Cantonese version of a diner) and bubble waffles." Still, perhaps the most influential person behind this new wave of bubble waffle desserts is not a Hong Kong migrant but a Ukrainian entrepreneur: Oleg Sabsai. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-157-5-2025.jpg) "I'm the real founder of the Bubble Waffle Network," Sabsai confirms. After building a bubble tea business in 2009, the Ukrainian says he started looking for his next business idea, one that "could be independent of imports, made from natural ingredients, cooked in an open kitchen, and appealing to customers." He stumbled upon Hong Kong egg waffles and opened the first Bubble Waffle Network shop in Ukraine. (Not to be confused with the fake bubble waffle I tried in London.) "You'll be surprised, but I had never actually tried these waffles. I found a YouTube video of an authentic street vendor baking gai daan jai over charcoal. In 2013 there wasn't much content about it online," says Sabsai. With a $300 investment used to buy two electric waffle irons online, "one of the machines was broken," Sabsai adds, and after experimenting with countless recipes at home, he started selling bubble waffles in a shopping mall. "At the end of the first day of sales in the busiest location, we had zero sales, and our spirits were crushed," he tells me. "Customers weren't interested in our product as an original Hong Kong business model. But there was no going back. Our first franchise partners had already ordered furniture and equipment in Russia and Kazakhstan. Finally, inspiration struck: I turned the bubble waffle into a cone, placed the fillings inside the bubbles, and put ice cream or whipped cream in the cone." It was a golden, game-changing idea, he recalls. "The photos of the new product created a huge boom in the history of bubble waffles. Suddenly this new look became one of the most eye-catching foods in the world," says Sabsai. ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-157-6-2025.jpg) But as demand grew, he ran into bigger problems from franchisees who complained about the imported equipment. "These Chinese irons couldn't run reliably with such a high flow of customers, so we lost the franchise network," says Sabsai. In response, over the past three years the Ukrainian businessman has been developing his own durable, non-Teflon electric waffle irons. "My dream is to come to Hong Kong and finally try an egg waffle from authentic street vendors," he says. "I'm sure there's a reason people love them so much. I'm grateful to them for coming up with the idea for this food back in the '50s." It seems Sabsai's reinvented bubble waffles have taken hold, and imitators are now springing up all over the world. ## My failed Hong Kong egg waffle business ![](https://test.langandtrip.com.ua/wp-content/uploads/de_import_uploads/june-article-image-157-7-2025.jpg) My version of the bubble waffle was much simpler. I offered three bases with different flavors: plain, chocolate, and matcha. The waffles were topped with whipped cream, fresh fruit, and chocolate. I never made a profit selling them, but, unexpectedly, they helped me connect with people from all over the world and deepened my attachment to my own city. I am, along with my toes, forever grateful to the Turkish couple who ran the stall next to mine at Brick Lane market in London and made me sit in front of their heater on cold days and cherished my bubble waffles. And there was a child, the son of other vendors, who would sneak into my stall and signal for me to secretly hand him a chocolate waffle. I'll also always remember the skeptical Hong Kongers living in London, "Is this the real thing?" they would ask, who later came back as loyal customers looking for a taste of home. There were also customers who asked me about Hong Kong or came by to share their fond memories of visiting my city. Before I left London and returned to Hong Kong in 2017, I was invited to a local Chinese association's community center. "Today we'll buy gai daan jai from Maggie so she has money for her flight back to Hong Kong," one volunteer announced, half-joking, to the other members. Hong Kong aunties and uncles who had moved to Britain decades earlier eagerly bought my egg waffles during breaks between table tennis sessions, asking me what was new in Hong Kong these days. Professor Cheung, I feel, sums up both my experience and the global rise of gai daan jai best. "The new styles of bubble waffles may have broken away from their original form, but they've kept their original meaning and symbol, which is the taste of Hong Kong."