Pineapple bun of no regrets
I associate bo lo baus (菠蘿包) with the feeling of regret. It happens every time — I’d follow the wafts into a bakery, peruse the goods, and will more often than not settle on this pineapple-less pineapple bun.
Perhaps it’s the alliteration in the name, or the labialization of the vowels that mimics a filled mouth which makes it appealing. It’s not for a lack of trying: it’s a complete package that is sweet, savoury, crumbly and pillowy. By all counts, it’s the ideal confectionery.
But regret almost always sets in after my first bite, when I realize I bought into nothing but empty carbs holding pockets of air. “It’s good, but it could be so much better,” always comes to mind.
Bo lo baus should not be served alone; its potential can only be reached only when you use it as a foil to other tastes and textures. The never-ending variations of trendy stuffed and accompanied bo lo baus you can find in Hong Kong these days is likely indication that I’m not alone in my thinking (you can google it).
Here, at Shun Hing Cha Chaan Teng (順興茶餐廳) in Little Tai Hang (5 Ormsby Street), they’ve elevated the humble bo lo bau, literally.
Bo lo baus come in many variations: when a slice of butter is wedged in between, it’s called bo lo yau (菠蘿油, the last character stands for “oil” or “butter”). When the butter is replaced with luncheon meat, it’s known as chaan juk bo lo bau (餐肉菠蘿包, the first two characters are “luncheon meat”).
So what do you call a bo lo bau that has scrambled egg, two bases and a slice of butter in between? Great R&D is what.
Shun Hing’s version of the sandwich bo lo bau is as follows:
The crumbly crusted top
Freshly scrambled eggs with a barely creamy exterior
A toasted slice of bottom (or was it the middle?) bread
A cold, wide slice of butter
Toasted bottom bread
This assemblage meant that each bite was a seven-way of sweet, crumbly, creamy, cool, salted, warm and toasted. With the ingenious addition of the third layer, the heat from the scrambled egg and toast slowly and evenly melted the cold, hard slice of butter, adding that dimension of richness other egg sandwich bo lo baus lack.
With this newfound luxury, who has time for regrets? Not me, nor Anita Yuen, Eason Chan and the people that make up the regular snaking lines.
