THEIR PRESENCE ADDS BRILLIANCE

Late lunch, trying out the new chachanteng right on the bus line. My plan to fly in under the radar came to naught; eight people there knew me from various places, including staff, and greeted me in Cantonese. The hostess pulled a fast one and had a colleague who didn't know I spoke Cantonese take my order. Which proved in its own way entertaining.

I commend the Cantonese in general for having great aplomb.
And fast recovery from being flabbergasted.

Okay then. Got to surprise some people anyhow.
Which is something I enjoy doing.
Me and my big ego.

Ordered something I knew that they would have on the menu, which is almost the paradigm of chachanteng foods: the gong si saam man ji (公司三文治 club sandwich). And a cup of milk tea (港式奶茶: 'gong-sik naai-cha'). They use Blue Label Tea (藍牌茶 'laam paai chaa'), premium Hong Kong style black tea with hue, sparkle, and aroma. I know this because I saw the boss taking down a new ten or twenty pound bag from the cubby over the prep counter. It's not something I was familiar with, but their milk tea is very good, so I definitely look forward to going there again. It was just the ticket for the bitter March wind outside. Our heat wave, which we were assured was going to happen this week, fizzled monumentally.

Yeah, it's darn cold outside. My fingers still feel numb and Rainaud's phenomenonish. Which was probably the reason I had a club sandwich; handling something warm. And seeing as for some reason (apathy or disinterest) I had not had anything since getting up this morning just before six, it disappeared far too fast. It was good. And they have Sriracha.

For some reason I remember Sai Ying Pun (西營盤), just east of Kennedy Town (堅尼地城). No, I have no idea why. Perhaps the next time I'm at that chachanteng I'll order something with dried fish. Maybe a casserole, 鹹魚花腩煲仔飯 ('haam yü faa laam pou chai faan'), for instance. In cold weather a claypot rice is extremely comforting, and they have claypot dishes. I saw 臘味煲仔飯 ('laap mei pou chai faan') when skimming the menu.


寵兒茶餐廳 (宠儿茶餐厅)
881 Clay Street, at the corner of Stockton Street, facing Wu Yee Childrens Services (where Saint Mary's Girls School used to be), just up from Hang Ah Alley.
San Francisco, CA 94108


Lunch and milk tea were very nice. I shall certainly go there again. And really, I should have grabbed a to-go menu for reference purposes before I went outside to smoke a pipe freezing my toes off. It would have told me what the English name is, as well as the phone number.

Nice people, and good food.
A comfortable place.


歡迎光臨



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