Food: The Search For Great Hong Kong-style French Toast -- Part 1

Image from Locky's English Playground

Congratulations! This is not the end of the world! Shouldn't be a surprise as I have in two articles, namely News & Vocabulary: Mayan says December 2012 NOT the End of the World and Living: Master So VS Mayans' Doomsday Prediction , mentioned that this is all just a make-believe.

Well, since it is not the end of the world, what's better to celebrate this day then to eat something real nice?

Few days ago, I was reading my own post Food: Festive (or Anytime) Local Food In Hong Kong when that golden Hong Kong-style French Toast image triggered my desire and determination to re-experience the long-lost taste.

And on Openrice, I found two Cha Chaan Tengs near Mongkok, ranked highest is Kam Wah Cafe, and second is Man Wah Restaurant, both were very close to where I was at that moment, and my choice was to go for the less reputable one, such that I can keep tasting better toasts the next time.

Man Wah Restaurant is a very special restaurant, they serve all-day Hong Kong breakfast, that is macaroni, toast with ham and eggs and milk tea, as well as Chinese dim sum. People actually go there to buy takeaway dim sum at night! As for me, dim sum wasn't my thing that night. My target was the Hong Kong-style French toast that is served with golden syrup and I was disappointed to know that Man Wah only offers the one with condensed milk,

Image from Locky's English Playground

but when I put the first pre-cut cube of toast inside my mouth, I was struck dumb, because I knew I was very wrong about my prejudice! It was crispy outside and unbelievably mellow in the middle! The butter and the condensed milk actually worked so nicely with the 1.5" thick toast. I couldn't stop after the first piece. One after another, I devoured the seemingly huge, mouth-size, golden cubes.

Image from Locky's English Playground

I have even forgotten that I have also ordered one all-day-breakfast set, but at that very satisfying moment, the clock seemed to have stopped, my stomach seemed to have become hollow, and down went the entire toast in about 5 minutes. I shouldn't have added sugar into my milk tea before the French toast, because it proved too sweet afterwards, but I will remember this next time round. What followed after, meaning the egg, the ham, the macaroni were all great, but all that was visible to my naked eyes by then was that once on-my-plate golden delicacy.

Now I am in a dilemma over trying the toast from Kam Wah Cafe next time or returning to Man Wah for an encore.

Can you help?

Scores:

Look:            ★★★★★ 5/5

Taste:            ★★★★★ 5/5

Smell:            ★★★★★ 5/5

Textures:       ★★★★★ 5/5

Temperature: ★★★★★ 5/5

Overall:         ★★★★★ 25/25

Vocabulary:
Cha Chaan Teng -- (n)[C] (lit.: tea food hall) meaning tea restaurant, is commonly found in Greater China, including particularly Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and parts of Guangdong.
prejudice -- (n)[C or U] an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed without enough thought or knowledge
mellow -- (adj) smooth, soft or developed; not too sharp, bright, new or rough
delicacy -- (n) [C] something especially rare or expensive that is good to eat
dilemma -- (n)[C] a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two different things you could do
encore -- (n) [C] an extra song or piece of music that is performed at the end of a show because the audience shout for it


Resources:

News & Vocabulary: Mayan says December 2012 NOT the End of the World @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/05/news-vocabulary-mayan-says-december.html

Living: Master So VS Mayans' Doomsday Prediction @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/04/living-master-so-vs-mayans-doomsday.html

Food: Festive (or Anytime) Local Food In Hong Kong @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2012/12/food-festive-or-anytime-local-food-in.html\

Cha Chaan Teng @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cha_chaan_teng

Kam Wah Cafe @ Openrice
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=11293&tc=bc

Man Wah Restaurant @ Openrice
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=49749&tc=bc

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/prejudice_1?q=prejudice+

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/mellow_1?q=mellow

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/delicacy_1?q=delicacy

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dilemma?q=dilemma

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/encore_1?q=encore