A VISIT to the newly opened Hoi Tin Tong teahouse in Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mongkok, takes you back in time. A brick stove supports a big iron wok loaded with emptied turtle shells, while below the cornice sit two rows of blackened teapots brewing and spitting steam from their spouts on a stack of charred wood.
The first thing that greets customers at this turtle herbal jelly (kwei ling ko) teahouse is the cardboard cut-out of owner Ng Yiu-ming and banners that read: 'Guaranteed to work'.
'Some herbal teahouses sell kwei ling ko as desserts, but we sell it primarily as a form of Chinese medicine,' says Mr Ng, who claims the jelly contains about 20 different herbal ingredients and can help prevent cancer.
Forty years ago, a Chinese herbalist prescribed kwei ling ko to Mr Ng's mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer.
'And it worked,' he says, adding that it was the impetus for their decision 20 years later to open a teahouse serving the jelly as a health food.
Hoi Tin Tong now has 20 herbal teahouses throughout Hong Kong, competing with other kwei ling ko teahouses such as Kung Wo Tong and Tai Wo Tong, which have also been around for years.