PaiGu

Discovered The Hoof Cafe through Yelp¹ and went for a New Year’s Day brunch. Turned out to be the best decision I ever made in 2011 (so far).

The place was as popular as it was tiny – we weren’t the only ones who ventured out on a rainy New Years morning – but it was well worth the wait. We could tell the place had character the moment we stepped in, with exposed brick walls, broad wooden floor planks, and a faux vintage metallic ceiling.

The suckling eggs benedict (eggs benedict with pulled pork) was the best I ever had. And surprisingly, it wasn’t the eggs or the pork that made me think so, it was the biscuit.

The eggs were done perfectly so the yolk ran and was soaked up by a scrumptious biscuit, the likes of which I’ve never had before. It was surprising to find that a place that boasted meat could make such delicious carbs, and it really showed their meticulous attention to detail.

Who could say no to dessert for breakfast? But seriously, best waffles ever. The caramelized bananas were a nice touch, but the real treat was the dark chocolate in the waffles. The mixture of sweet and bitter made my taste buds beg for more.

All of it went down very well with some quality french press coffee and friendly service. Vegetarians, don’t be fooled by the meat-centric menu, a lot of it can be done without the meat². I can’t wait to return to Toronto and try something else on their menu.

Rating:

1. I am so glad Toronto Yelp finally has enough critical mass to be useful! [↩]
2. The waffles were originally supposed to come with bacon. [↩]

Some of the best meals I had in Hong Kong I didn’t get to take pictures of. They included: street food at Tsim Sha Tsui¹, dinner at a Western-style restaurant on Discovery Bay², and brunch at a Shanghainese dim sum restaurant³. However, the rest of the pictures speak for themselves.

Lunch at a tiny but busy Japanese joint near Causeway Bay MTR. They are known for their fatty tuna sashimi.

Lunch at an apartment-turned-restaurant near Sham Shui Po, Western-style cuisine, prix-fixe menu that included appetizer and entree. The dessert (every single dessert on their menu) was compliments of the owner, who seemed to know my friend’s aunt.

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1. Curry fish balls, lobster meatballs, sausages, roasted octupus, and deep-fried calamari. With a side of Hong Kong milk tea. [↩]
2. Deep-fried seafood platter, soooo good. Pumpkin risotto was also delicious. [↩]
3. I got two pictures from it, but the rest of the meal went unrecorded. I can’t remember what else we ordered, other than xiao long bao and shrimp dumplings, but I know there was an order we added at the end that was delicious. [↩]

I’ve been eating extremely well in China, which isn’t difficult given that everything¹ here is better than anything I’ve had in Canada times ten.

Let’s walk through a typical day of eating for me in Nanjing.

Breakfast starts at 5am² and is usually at a xiao chi dian which is kind of like a dim sum stand with road-side aluminum furniture. Sketchy? Yes, a little. Delicious? Definitely. Luckily, I’m not someone with a sensitive stomach and I have never gotten sick from eating in China.

In the last four days, I’ve had quite a variety of breakfast items: plain steamed buns (man tou), veggie or pork-filling steamed buns (bao zi), glutinous rice buns (shao mai), fried dough sticks (you tiao), soy milk or tofu soup (dou jiang, dou nao), congee (xi fan).

Some xiao chi items can be repeated for lunch, such as steamed buns. Nanjing has the best xiao long bao in the country, many would argue.

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1. When I say ‘everything’, I’m mostly referring to all Chinese food. [↩]
2. Everyone gets up really early here because mid-day and early afternoon is too hot to function, so that’s usually nap-time. [↩]