MOST people know it simply as mango sago, but this tangy dessert actually has the rather more poetic name of honeyed dew drops falling from a willow tree branch.
Translated from yangzhi ganlu in Mandarin, the name refers to the drops of sacred water sprinkled on believers by the goddess Guan Yin as a blessing.
Mere mortals know it as a refreshing concoction of mango puree with sago pearls, plump pomelo sacs, blushing grapefruit clusters and juicy mango cubes served chilled.
Its winsome tropical flavours have propelled it to the top-five selling list of Chinese desserts in restaurants and dessert shops here, right up there with sesame cream, walnut cream and almond cream.
It's so popular that Mei Heong Yuen Desserts uses 360 mangoes daily to make it for its three outlets in Temple Street, Hougang Mall and Junction 8.
And if you want to have it at Lei Garden, remember to pre-order because the restaurant serves only 50 bowls of it every day, to ensure quality and freshness, it says.
Over at eight-month-old Tong Shui Desserts in People's Park Centre, it always sells out by 6pm on weekends, two hours before the store closes.
The dessert has been a common offering in Hong Kong's cha chan teng - casual cafes serving affordable snacks - since the 1990s.
It was also available here then but was mostly served in fine-dining Cantonese restaurants such as Lei Garden in the now defunct Boulevard Hotel, and Hua Ting at Orchard Hotel, for $5 to $7 for an individual serving.
But in the last five years or so, local Chinese dessert shops have been adding this sweet treat to their menus and charging less than $4 a serving.
Miss Clara Lee, 48, owner of five-year-old Mei Heong Yuen Desserts, says: 'It's not an age-old traditional dessert, which is what we sell in our shop. But its popularity in Hong Kong convinced me that it'd be well-received here.'
The recent proliferation of Hong Kong-style cafes in Singapore has also increased the dessert's profile.
It is on the menu of at least four such eateries - Tong Shui Cafe, Hong Kong Cafe, Old Hong Kong Tea House and Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe - which have 14 outlets among them.
Accountant Tan Yilin, 35, who has been eating it about twice a month for a year now, says she enjoys the 'refreshing contrast between the sweet mango and the slightly sour pomelo'.
The fruit-based dessert has also won fans like former national swimmer Leslie Kwok, 33, who counts it as one of his favourite desserts because it is 'light and healthy'.
Because this sweet offering was popularised in Hong Kong, some, like chef Chan Kwok, 51, of Cantonese restaurant Hua Ting in Orchard Hotel, and Madam Chris Tan, 34, manager of So Nice, a three-year-old Chinese dessert store with outlets in Upper Cross Street and Liang Seah Street, say it originates from there.
However, in a phone interview with LifeStyle from Hong Kong, Madam Mak Kwan Chui, 53, owner of 13-year-old Cui Yuan, a Chinese dessert shop with three outlets there, says the dessert was created in Singapore during the 1990s and brought over to Hong Kong.
Stepping into the fray is Mr Wong Ying Tung (below right), 48, executive dim sum chef of Cantonese restaurant Lei Garden in Singapore, who says he created the dessert.
The Hong Kong-born chef, who has been with the restaurant group for 22 years, says he concocted it here in 1987, the year the Hong Kong-based restaurant chain opened its first Singapore outlet, at the new defunct Boulevard Hotel in Orchard Boulevard.
He tells LifeStyle that it was just after Chinese New Year and he found himself with lots of pomelo on his hands. The fruit is one of many ingredients in yusheng, the raw fish salad that Singaporeans toss and eat for good luck during the season.
He adds: 'I didn't want to waste it but the fruit isn't a common ingredient in Chinese dishes, so I decided to create a dessert with it.'
He perfected it in a week and it was an instant hit with customers. This prompted the restaurant to introduce it at all its five Hong Kong outlets the following year.
On why the dessert took off in Hong Kong instead of here, chef Wong says: 'Chefs in Hong Kong are fascinated by new dishes and like to replicate them.'
Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao's food critic Alan Ng, 59, who is aware of chef Wong's story, says another Hong Kong hotel chef, whose name he can't remember, lays claim to the dessert.
'I met the chef in Hong Kong in 2002 and he said he had created the dish in the 1980s for a vegetarian banquet in remembrance of the Buddhist goddess Guan Yin.'
But, he adds: 'Regardless of who the creator is though, what matters most is whether the dessert I'm eating tastes good.'
