Hong Kong Bakery Shop

Yet again, I yearned for Chinese bakery food.

This time, I found three items of intense interest at the Hong Kong Bakery Shop. These were the pandan Swiss roll, the taro bun, and the pineapple lemon bun. Unfortunately for me, the pandan cake was sold by the roll, which was $5.50. I asked whether they sold slices of cake, and she said no, even though they DID sell slices of green tea cake along with the roll of green tea cake! Ah well. I guess next semester I'll just have to buy a whole pandan cake.

I got a taro bun because I felt like biting into big, starchy cubes of freshly cooked taro. I was severely disappointed; the taro was pink and mashed! PINK! and not textured like taro at all! It was cold and lacked the sought-after flavour! The bread was poofy though, but that still didn't make me feel good about spending 80c on a mediocre, unsatisfying bun. Especially when Mayflower Bakery sells taro buns for 70c.

I also got the pineapple lemon bun, this time careful to ask whether there was actually lemon inside the bun after the fiasco at Mong Kok Station Bakery last time. Of course, the "pineapple" part refers to the pastry top.

This bun was amazing! The pastry was like all other pastry (although there were a few sesame seeds on top), the bread was like all other bread... but the lemon curd filling simply rocked! It was also a pretty generous ratio of lemon curd:bread. I now have to learn how to make lemon curd. I am definitely coming back to get more of this bun. It's squished in the picture because it had been in my bag for 4 hours, but it was still scrumptious!

In retrospect, however, I'm thinking that maybe Mong Kok bakery just gave me the wrong bun when I asked for a lemon bun. Maybe they put the pork floss buns in the lemon bun shelf by accident. Either way, I wouldn't want to risk it again, and since Hong Kong Bakery sells lemon buns, why would I go to Mong Kok Station again? Plus, the buns cost the same.

I guess this is how businesses win over customers. Serve the correct food item.

Next time I'll try the taro bun at Mayflower Cafe. It's probably better than the one at Hong Kong Bakery.

Hong Kong Bakery Shop

917 Race St.

Philadelphia.

Again, I walked through the streets of Philadelphia. Hey, I only have another three years to do this. In three years, I'll look back, and think nostalgically, "Wow, I miss those days walking around Philly, buying food, looking at those rich hipsters smoke and buy from Urban". Cuz, in three years, I won't be living in Philadelphia anymore. I'll probably move onto Boston, or NY. NY is so much larger than Philadelphia. If Chinatown in NY is considered a thin sliver of the Hong Kong pie, then Chinatown in Philadelphia is considered a measly crumb from that pie (and the Chinatown from Boston is...uh, a smaller crumb). Through walking around Philadelphia, you'd think that I'd learn to enjoy this culture. Unfortunately, it seems that I just yearn to be back in Hong Kong.

See, that's my problem; I'm not good at moving and adjusting every 4-6 years; the lifestyle is too ephemeral for me. I can't say I miss anything about Ireland, but I miss Kingswood. I miss HK. Now, I miss high school, even though my journal entries from then tell me that there is nothing to miss.

In an effort to enjoy my time at Philadelphia and live in the moment, I again trekked across the city, all the way to Penn's Landing, and back. There was a Chinatown Block Party today, to celebrate the anniversary of the Official Seizure Of America From The Natives. It's funny to think that all that stuff happened in Philadelphia. ...and now I'm here to get my free drink, sponsored by Wawa. I learned that I actually like raspberry lemonade.

I believe that I love the Mayflower Cafe; last time's avocado bubble drink was phenomenal, and this time's coconut snowball was AMAZING. It was so gooey and soft and fresh I thought I was eating some sort of jelly! It was more solid, though, and...I just loved the chilled, watery-but-sweet-and-light taste of the glutinous coating! The red bean paste was normal. So much better than mochi! $0.80. It's always a delight when something is better than expected. It wasn't thick and chewy and dry, like all the ones from other bakeries (which I still love, but the texture of this one was just perfect for me today).

Mong Kok is a place in HK. The bakery/restaurant was absolutely packed; I had to eat outside because all the seats were taken. I got a lemon bun. A terribly spent $0.80.

I wondered how they could stick lemon into this bun. In the filling? Lemon jam? Curd? Actual lemon pieces? I mean, I understand why pineapple buns are called "pineapple" buns even though they lack any pineapple - they look like pineapples. This lemon bun looked nothing like a lemon (except for the colour but that's a terrible way to name your bakery products)! From what I could tell, there was a layer of puff pastry on top of a normal Chinese-bread bun. But what was the filling, and where was the lemon? Oh, and it was even called "lemon bun" in Chinese. Ning[2] meng[2] bao[1]. 柠檬包。

There was no lemon in the bun. Instead, there was shredded and dried pig pieces. Pork floss. Or fish floss. I'm not sure what animals taste like anymore...

I guess the question is: why would I ever go back to Mong Kok bakery if I evidently have had a better experience at Mayflower Cafe? Well, Mong Kok bakery has a wider selection and cheaper mousse cakes. I've yet to try any of those though. Either way, I realised that I shouldn't buy anymore food for the next month. Instead, I should just swim, run, and bike.

I went to the third Nuts To You (on 7th and Walnut) in Philadelphia and, this time, there were pizza-flavoured flour-coated peanuts! For 99c! They also had cheese and garlic flavour, but I figured that I am most likely not going to consume 4 lbs of flour-coated peanuts within a month (uh, actually, I probably could consume them all during a week...) so I just got the pizza ones. They're a bit stale, but alright. I guess I'll never go to Fresh Grocer again, in my life. If I do, I'll make sure to blog profusely about it.

Eggplant prices have risen. $1.09, a month ago, to 1.19, to $1.89 now, for a pound. So have cherries (pretty much x2 in price, compared to a month ago).

Maybe a food historian will be interested in my blog in a few decades? I'd be pretty happy to read some person's food blog (in the form of a sauce-splattered book, though) from the 80s. Or 20s. From Britain, or Australia.

Epic Run Times

Run around town...Actually, once I got to 9th St., I started walking, and I walked four a few hours. Hehe. At least four hours.

I saw a bunch of giant cakes in a storefront, but the store looked like it was closed and there wasn't a door or anything. The cake looks pretty sumptuous.

I went to The Space Corner again and got dried roses (to make rose tea, rose water, and Turkish delight later when I get home) for $1, mango black tea ($1) and cream of tartar.

Then I walked around the "Little Italy" area of Philadelphia and checked out the market on the pavement...and I noted that Italians aren't the ones who sell the vegetables, which is kind of ironic I guess. I bought some red peppers and walked over to a candy store, Sweet Tooth, on the corner of South and 4th. I'll update about that later.

Then, I went to Reading Terminal Market and saw this at one of the chocolate stores...which I like. Haha. Screw the diet.

At Reading Terminal Market, I dropped by the Sweet as Fudge Candy Shoppe to buy some pretty delicious morsels of sugar. That'll be another blog post.

After getting to Chinatown, I walked past a dingy little store with a zillion boxes in the store front. Then, I realised that it was a fortune cookie factory, which is pretty amusing in my opinion.

I dropped by the Mayflower bakery to get some bubble tea.

I was shocked. They had kiwi bubble tea. They had avocado bubble tea. I couldn't believe it; AVOCADO BUBBLE TEA! This is when I'm glad I'm bilingual; I asked if they used real avocado, and the lady picked up an actual avocado and said, yes, we use real avocado. It's kind of funny because on the shelf above the sinks, there were tons of boxes of powder, labelled "taro" or "coconut" or whatever.

She cut up half an avocado, used half-and-half milk, (and sugar?) and added crushed ice at some point. In all honesty, it was more of a smoothie than a "tea" or drink.

The smoothie was very thick, and tasted mildly of fresh avocado. I was surprised that avocado tastes good when it's sweet, although I prefer it in avocado sushi with soy sauce. I suppose avocado's sort of like peanut butter; both incorporated in sweet and savoury dishes.

I was really thirsty, so I ended up drinking all the slushie (oh so thick and my favourite colour and nicely textured!), and there were lots of bubbles left. The bubbles were really chewy, and not overcooked. I would really recommend Mayflower Bakery. 1008 Race St.

After a bit, I went to KC's Pastries and got a sweet yam tart, which I've never had before. Egg tart, sure, and coconut tart, but not a sweet yam tart!

Unlike other bakeries, KC's Pastries doesn't have seating, so I went to eat at Reading Terminal Market.

The yam tart was surprisingly gelatinous. It was like a super-thick pudding.

The pastry was just normal and bland.

I dropped by some grocery stores to get some vegetables and Chinese snacks.

Then I went to Cube Cafe, intending to get some eggettes ($1.95), but I was so thirsty as opposed to hungry. I contemplated bringing some eggettes home. Instead, after chatting to the shopkeepers (who were very helpful with explaining dishes and drinks), I got the Icy Poppy Drink.

I've been abstaining from soda for the past half-a-decade (I think?), partly because of the high-fructose corn syrup thing, and partly because I've just been indifferent to it (e.g. the way I'm indifferent to baklava). This drink is basically some sort of clear soda with mango bubbles.

Now, the bubbles are the strange exotic things. Once popped, the bubbles reveal a thick mango goo. I'm not sure what the covering of the goo is; it seems to be some cellulose fibre. It's an interesting concept, but I don't think that I'm going to get it again. It's an ephemeral toy.

On the way back, I got samples of hummus and chips. "Why are you guys giving out free hummus?"

"Oh, it's cuz a lot of us still don't know what hummus is, so we're giving it out to people"

Cool.

I also saw Wizard Con, like Comic Con, but I didn't get in because I needed tickets.

At Rittenhouse, I got a free can of coffee.

Nice day for food.

Sweet Tooth, 630 S 4th St.

Sweet As Fudge Candy Shoppe, 12th and Arch St.

Mayflower Bakery, 1008 Race St.

KC's Pastries, 109 N 10th St.

Cube Cafe, 145 N 11th St.