Monday, November 14, 2005
Out of Business 執 0左 粒
Recently, I went into San Francisco to visit a shop that has the best French pastries that I have ever tasted. I had been thinking about it for months, visualizing how pretty the cakes and pastries would look and imagining how good they would taste. Parking my car and walking up the street, I am stunned to see that the pastry shop is dark. 唉 呀, 死 啦, 我 最 中 意 0既 餅 店 好 似 執 0左 粒 (jap1 jo2 lap1)! My favorite shop is closed, apparently out of business.
I decide to go into the carpet store next door to ask about the pastry shop. The manager of the carpet store confirms the worst. The pastry shop has not moved to another location; it is out of business. :( But as I'm walking out the door, the manager says, "Someone told me that there's another bakery down in the Mission that's very similar to this one." I get the directions from her, but she doesn't remember the name, and I wonder whether this will be a wild goose chase. But within a block of where she sent me, I come upon Tartine Bakery.
Tartine looks like a cool coffee house but is packed with customers and obviously is very popular. One taste of their baked goods tells me why. The cakes and pastries are superb--fresh, buttery, complex flavors, etc. I fall in love with the bread pudding--a huge serving loaded with plums--as well as the frangipane tart (almond-cream filling with berries or currants) and the passion fruit lime Bavarian cake (coconut flakes outside, intense passion fruit flavor inside). So I'm a happy camper again. I thought I couldn't find another love to replace my first one, but I was wrong.
As wild as I am about 西 餅 (sai1 beng2) Western pastries, I also am nuts about Chinese bakeries. When I was in Vancouver a few months ago, I tried the cream puffs at 聖 安 娜 餅 屋 Saint Anna Bakery. They had lots of fresh whipped cream and were excellent. As soon as I get to HK, I will be looking for 聖 安 娜 餅 屋. But my favorite Chinese pastry has to be 蛋 撻 (daan2 taat1) custard tarts. There must be some great ones in HK, and I'm determined to find the best. When I was in HK in 2001, I liked the 忌 廉 撻 (gei6 lim1 taat1) cream tarts at 奇 華 (kei4 wa4) Kee Wah Bakery. But this time, I have another lead. 彭 定 康 Chris Patten, the last British Governor of HK, was known for his love of 蛋 撻. A few days ago, when Chris was visiting HK, he made a point of dropping by his favorite 蛋 撻 shop--泰 昌 餅 家 (taai3 cheung1 beng2 ga1). Recently, there had been sad news that 泰 昌 was going out of business. But it looks like there is a happy ending--they now have shops in 中 環 Central and 旺 角 Mong Kok. 泰 昌 definitely is on my list of places to try in HK. Will their 蛋 撻 turn out to be the best? I should know in a few months. ¶ 9:00 PM
I decide to go into the carpet store next door to ask about the pastry shop. The manager of the carpet store confirms the worst. The pastry shop has not moved to another location; it is out of business. :( But as I'm walking out the door, the manager says, "Someone told me that there's another bakery down in the Mission that's very similar to this one." I get the directions from her, but she doesn't remember the name, and I wonder whether this will be a wild goose chase. But within a block of where she sent me, I come upon Tartine Bakery.
Tartine looks like a cool coffee house but is packed with customers and obviously is very popular. One taste of their baked goods tells me why. The cakes and pastries are superb--fresh, buttery, complex flavors, etc. I fall in love with the bread pudding--a huge serving loaded with plums--as well as the frangipane tart (almond-cream filling with berries or currants) and the passion fruit lime Bavarian cake (coconut flakes outside, intense passion fruit flavor inside). So I'm a happy camper again. I thought I couldn't find another love to replace my first one, but I was wrong.
As wild as I am about 西 餅 (sai1 beng2) Western pastries, I also am nuts about Chinese bakeries. When I was in Vancouver a few months ago, I tried the cream puffs at 聖 安 娜 餅 屋 Saint Anna Bakery. They had lots of fresh whipped cream and were excellent. As soon as I get to HK, I will be looking for 聖 安 娜 餅 屋. But my favorite Chinese pastry has to be 蛋 撻 (daan2 taat1) custard tarts. There must be some great ones in HK, and I'm determined to find the best. When I was in HK in 2001, I liked the 忌 廉 撻 (gei6 lim1 taat1) cream tarts at 奇 華 (kei4 wa4) Kee Wah Bakery. But this time, I have another lead. 彭 定 康 Chris Patten, the last British Governor of HK, was known for his love of 蛋 撻. A few days ago, when Chris was visiting HK, he made a point of dropping by his favorite 蛋 撻 shop--泰 昌 餅 家 (taai3 cheung1 beng2 ga1). Recently, there had been sad news that 泰 昌 was going out of business. But it looks like there is a happy ending--they now have shops in 中 環 Central and 旺 角 Mong Kok. 泰 昌 definitely is on my list of places to try in HK. Will their 蛋 撻 turn out to be the best? I should know in a few months. ¶ 9:00 PM
