YUMMY BUNS!

Sometimes the best medicine to bring you back down to earth is a snack.
It reconnects you with humanity - your own, and everyone else's.
Having seen a number of unpleasant e-mails this morning, I headed into Chinatown for snackiepoos.
Dammit, a man's gotta have his snackiepoos!
The humanity!


人仁
西餅麵包
YUMMY BAKERY & CAFÉ
607 Jackson Street, San Francisco, CA 94133.
415-989-8388


There are some Cantonese women who once they reach their mid-forties radiate a loveable quality that has naught to do with romance. More like a chipper maternalism, especially so when they are also bird-like.
Head cocked quizzically, alert, bright-eyed.
Perky, but in a completely non-perky real-person kind of way.
Think of it as a mature cheekiness. Sparkle.
It's hard to describe. They are alive, they are curious, they find things interesting, and they are very people-oriented.

The lady behind the counter at the bakery tried to explain to some tourists what a pineapple bun is. There was no hard-sell in her approach, she genuinely wanted them to have happiness after purchasing something to eat. But she did wish them to know that 'pineapple' in the name did not refer to taste. There was no filling, it wasn't a sweet confection.
Just bun.


菠蘿包 BO-LO BAU

The item in question is a big round poofy product with a scaly top; what the Japanese would call a melon bread. The crust is crunchy and sweet, and during baking cracks to form segments rather resembling the surface of a pineapple, hence the name.
You can have it warm with butter (bo-lo yau 菠蘿油), which is very delicious....... but as we're already talking about something very high in sugar, carbohydrates and fat-content to begin with, the pineapple bun is justifiably considered one of the most dangerous snacks in Hong Kong.
Especially with butter.
Filling it with luncheon meat instead doesn't really help.
Either way, it is extremely popular. Deservedly so.

[Filled with luncheon meat: 餐肉菠蘿包 ('tsaan-yiuk bo-lo bau'). Other popular types may have sweet bean paste stuffed inside ('dow-sa po-lo bau': 豆沙菠蘿包), or egg-custard cream ('nai-wong bo-lo bau': 奶黃菠蘿包).]


After the counter woman had helped the tourists, she brightly turned to me.
I did not have a pineapple bun (eh, maybe next time), requesting instead a wife cake and a 蛋黃酥 ("egg-yolk flaky") to take back to the office.
They are known for their wife cakes (lo-poh beng: 老婆餅), and their 蛋黃酥 are also stellar.

The Yummy Bakery & Café could very well become my favourite bakery in C'town.
Nice people, and good products.
Sparkle.



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