Live like a local at Hainan’s Old Dad’s Tea shops

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When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When you travel to south China’s island province of Hainan, the most vernacular, local thing to do is to spend a lazy afternoon at an Old Dad’s Tea shop, where Hainan natives gather to sip tea or coffee, and enjoy savory snacks while chatting their day away.

Having Old Dad’s Tea, or laobacha in Chinese, is a local food culture similar to the British high tea. At the beginning of the 20th century, many overseas Chinese returned from Southeast Asia to their hometowns in Hainan, bringing back with them the habit of enjoying leisure tea time.

Performers stage a local folk art Qiong Opera at an Old Dad's Tea shop. /Xinhua Photo

Visiting a Western-styled tea room was a luxurious experience then for Hainan locals. The natives, however, have since adjusted the menu, adding in Hainan local delicacies and tea variety and thus transforming the Western high tea into Hainan’s distinctive food culture. People then named the tea rooms as Old Dad’s Tea shops, because most shop owners are elderly men.

So what are some popular snacks served at a typical Hainan Old Dad’s Tea shop?

Hainan specialty snack "Bags of treasure" on display at a food expo in Wenchang City, Hainan Province /Xinhua Photo

“Bags of treasure,” or fried sesame balls are a must-try. These sesame balls are made of fine sticky rice, usually filled with shredded, sweetened coconut or nuts and fried in peanut oil.

Qingbuliang, an all-season dessert from Hainan Province /Photo via Hainan Tourism Development Commission

Qingbuliang is a cold, sweet dessert soup commonly served on blisteringly hot days in Hainan. The refreshing soup has coconut milk or sweet syrup as base, and people can pick from a wide array of ingredients such as jujubes, mung beans, taro, watermelon, quail eggs or nuts to be added in the soup with crushed ice.

Mango rice noodle roll /Photo via Hainan Tourism Development Commission

The Hainan mango rice noodle roll consists of zesty, juicy slices of fresh Hainan mango wrapped in delicate rice noodle wrappers, and topped with a drizzle of mango juice.

Fruity fried ice with a dash of cranberries and strawberries /Photo via Hainan Tourism Development Commission

Fried ice is the perfect summer snack to cool you down in the sizzling Hainan weather. The icy dessert is made with chosen fruits blended with condensed milk and then “stir-fried” until it is frozen into fresh fruit sorbet. Toppings like chopped nuts and raisins are optional.