Dragon Beard Candy – QC

Dragon Beard Candy

Last year my wonderful coworker, Taiwai, brought me back Dragon Beard Candy from Hong Kong. The candy is basically spun sugar rolled up and filled with crushed peanuts. It was incredibly delicate with just the right amount of sweetness. I did some research afterwards and read online that they sell them at Dynasty in Chinatown. Of course when I went there, there was none to be found. Mission failed, I assumed I was not destined to have any more Dragon Beard Candy. That is until I made a little discovery in Montreal….

The last night of our trip to Montreal, we were in the car on the way to Old Montreal for dinner. I was asking Nancy, another friend who joined our group in Montreal, what she did that day. She told me she had lunch in Chinatown and happened to find these delicious French-style Chinese pastries you can’t find in NY. Of course I insisted we make a pit stop in Chinatown. The boys double parked and Nancy, Sue, and I ran out of the car to get these wonderful pastries. On the way, lo-and-behold, what do I see but a Dragon Beard Candy shop!

I think I screamed something like, “AHH!!! DRAGON BEARD CANDY!!!” The two men in the shop must have thought I was crazy.

The candies are made fresh on the premises. It was pretty cool to see how fast they were able to make them considering how delicate they are.

Don’t they look like little cocoons? The candies were a bit different than the ones Taiwai got me from Hong Kong. They were definitely more chewy, a bit sweeter, and they were filled with a sesame seed mix rather than just peanuts. Regardless, they were good. So good, in fact, I bought another pack after we bought some of the pastries Nancy wanted to get. By the way, the pastries were good but nothing compared to the Dragon Beard Candies. No offense Nancy! 🙂

Interestingly enough, when I went to drop off the car at my parent’s house in NJ, I gave my mom the precious Dragon Beard Candy, upon which she looked at them and said, “Oh, I’ve eaten those several times before. They used to have a machine that made them at Hmart.” D’Oh!