257128 Mon Dec 20 13:29:43 -0800 1999 1 21 The Best 0 1360424 I think these are called hopia. They are little round flaky pastries filled with sweet bean paste, lotus seed paste, or melon goo, and have a red stamp in Chinese identifying the contents. They are a great way to cut your sugar high with some complex carbohydrate. They are also addictive. You can get five of them for $2. I recently had a really great version in a bakery right on Canal St., which was filled with walnuts, dates, and black beans. I think this was made with ground dates as the sweetener for the beans, and the walnuts were in large pieces. I can't remember the name of the place, but I think it was just west of Broadway, and wasn't a Maria's. I tried a couple of other places: New Lung Fung, which is our standard stop for sponge cake and other sweets. This version was good, but less deeply flavored and more one-dimensionally sweet than those at the place on Canal; and another place almost directly across the street from New Lung Fung, which had a big sign proclaiming the greatness of their hopia, and lots of them cooling on racks. These sucked: the filling was low on flavor and actually looked pale and bleached out. To find a definitive source, I could buy one from every shop in Chinatown, but maybe some helpful soul could give me a head start. Anyone? Mon Dec 20 13:29:43 -0800 1999 0 MU 1 1360718 Our family business is chinese hopia,my grandfather who was a chinese started this business,he migrated here in the philippines from mainland china,back then, few people,especially in our place,know about this food,but when they tasted it,many people bought our product,and our business prosper, when my grandfather died, me and my mom managed the business, it has been our bread and butter,now, to make our business grow and be more competitive, i want to know more about this food,as to its variety,and I could say that we're lucky to have a baker who are still loyal and has been working with us eversince my grandfather started the business in doing so, we have maintain the traditional way of making this product, but i still want to know more,if anyone could give some information regarding this product, it would be a great honor. Wed Aug 02 07:56:55 -0700 2000 1360424 0 jobil galon