Waffles

From top to bottom: strawberry waffle with gelato; blueberry waffle with cream

Waffles

$38 (waffle with gelato); $28 (waffle with cream)

Pappa Gallo, Langham Place, Mong Kok

On a whim, I stepped into the Pappa Gallo dessert shop in the Langham Place basement and was pleasantly surprised by its diverse menu.  The shop specializes in waffles, crepes and other desserts that would more likely be found in a shop in Korea or in the States than in a Hong Kong restaurant.  I ordered a $28 blueberry waffle while my friend ordered, for $10 more, a strawberry waffle with his choice of gelato.  The presentation of both were exquisitely presented, and no sooner had I taken the above photos than I scarfed down my waffle by the fork-load.  Sweet, filling and inexpensive, that is an unbeatable combination!

In fact, I was more interested in trying out their Lavazza coffee, which can be purchased for only $15 (regular price, $20) with the purchase of any meal.  Unfortunately, I had already had two cups of coffee earlier in the day so that seductive Lavazza will have to wait until I return!

Da Dolce Gelato

Crunkies-flavor Gelato
$28 (single-flavor cup)
Da Dolce (Langham Place)

I had never seen many customers frequent that gelato shop in the basement of Langham place, whose decor was straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In all of my visits, I had counted at most four or five patrons in the shop at the same time as I was stopping by.

Small wonder I went Oh-Jeui this evening at the sight of so many Honky people sitting comfortably at the gleaming white picnic benches, which had been split apart into smaller seating areas for this event. I looked around. The signs were different. There were many pictures of Ramen, interspersed with much Japanese print that I found unintelligible. The only thing I gleaned from the posters was the fact, the new reality that half of the gelato shop had without warning become a Ramen joint called Domon. This change is for the best, I believe, because now this merchant has the vehicle -- hot food -- necessary to drive traffic.

I'm sitting by myself in the austere, lonely corner of the shop devoted exclusively to the consumption of gelato, having just finished a crunkies-flavored cup of the stuff. I was thinking earlier, while looking at the exorbitant $28 sticker price for a single-flavor cup, how gelato is a relative substitute for "premium" coffees and "artisan" teas in Hong Kong. At the $28 price point, consumers can choose either from a single-flavor cup from a vendor such as Da Dolce or XTC on Ice, or a tall coffee drink from either Starbucks or Pacific Coffee. To be sure, $28 is the entrance fee in Hong Kong to occupy a small corner of this pseudo-public space, in order to do what I'm doing now: ruminating on food!