A hot bowl of soup on a cold winter’s day is the perfect comfort food, and with the Year of the Snake just around the corner, snake soup naturally comes to mind. Snake soup may not sound appetising to the faint of heart at first, but this gourmet dish, well loved in Hong Kong culture, is regarded as the best winter-warmer you can get. Snake soup can help warm up the body and stomach, and increase blood circulation. Since snake soup is considered as being “hot” in nature, it’s usually garnished with fresh chrysanthemum petals to soothe the heat, as well as lemon leaves and rice crackers to add extra fragrant and texture.

In the video above, we headed to The Chinese Restaurant at Hyatt Regency, Tsim Sha Tsui, and asked head chef Kwai-kai Lo to demonstrate how to prepare snake soup in the traditional way. We also braved a visit to the the restaurant’s snake supplier in Sham Shui Po, and took a closer look at the live snakes housed in their traditional wood cabinets. Therefore, be warned: this is not for the faint of heart! But if you dare to watch and try this infamous winter warmer, its wonderfully fragrant and flavoursome taste is sure to blow you away.

Ingredients (serves four):

For the snake soup base

1.5kg snake bones

1.5kg chicken

1.5kg pork

600g sugar cane

300g ginger

30g dried mandarin peel

6 litres water

2 pcs lemon leaf

White pepper, to taste

For the snake soup

150g snake meat

70g sliced chicken meat

70g sliced fish maw

70g sliced wood fungus

70g sliced bamboo shoots

50g sliced mushrooms

30g sliced ginger

15g sliced dried mandarin peel

900ml snake soup base