During last Friday's recce to Swiss-Garden Resort & Spa, Damai Laut, we stopped by in Sitiawan to buy some famous Foochow confectionary - Gong Pia! (Jessie, are you reading??) We were brought to this corner shop "somewhere" in Sitiawan and told that this shop is famous. Apparently, the gong pias sell like hot pias (literally).

I also found out that these gong pias (no relation to Gong Li) are akin to naans as they are baked in a tandoori-like oven. It is by no means an easy process as the baker has to lay them in neat rows in the sweltering heat of the oven, then sprinkle some water over the pias (oh, pia means biscuit) and heat them up evenly before flipping them over to heat up the other side. The baked gong pias are then removed and placed on the table top to be rapidly cooled by a table fan. I tell you, people buy them in 10s! Each oven can only accomodate 50 pieces of gong pia and there are only 2 ovens in operation at any one time. When I was buying my 4 pieces of gong pia, 50 pieces being baked in one of the two ovens were reserved for a buyer who had made prior reservation.


The gong pias are family-made. I see two brothers (their face looks alike) baking the pias and other members of the family helping with the stuffing of ingredients into the pia. The stuffing which is made up of chopped onions and pork lard (I am unaware of other main ingredients) is placed into a rounded piece of dough before it is deftly wrapped into a small parcel, not unlike char siew pau. It is then flattened before being "pasted" onto the inner walls of the oven.


Interestingly, just like the naans, the gong pias seem to defy gravity as they do not fall off the oven. It is as if the oven walls has got some form of magnet which allows the gong pias to cling to it.


The end result is a fragrant smelling crispy on the outside crunchy on the inside biscuit which will make you crave for more and more! I did a Cookie Monster crunch (okay, okay, I exaggerated a bit) on one piece of the gong pia within 3 minutes of buying it and loved each bite. It is not that healthy though...considering the porky lard but hey, it's okay when you are savouring probably the best gong pia in Sitiawan town!