I moved back from Hong Kong in 2012. I loved my life there and  have regretted very little, though I have slightly chastised myself the past 4.5 years for not being more adventurous with food. Specifically, I wish I had gone to more Hong Kong style local cafes and tried the cuisine for which they’re famous. Sure I ate Chinese food, including yum cha (dim sum), but I rarely went and definitely never went alone. So this time when I visited HK, I made it my mission to try just 2 things I always wanted to have but never did: milk tea and egg waffles. I’m not sure if I didn’t have these when I lived here because I was scared, but this time I was going to conquer whatever it was that held me back and I was going to do it alone, by golly!

So, on my last day in Hong Kong, I yelped the best place for milk tea near me and an indoor market right down the street from my old house popped up. It was a place I’d walked by hundreds of times and never stopped in. I walked in, was the only white person, sat down at a communal table and ordered myself a cold milk tea. I took in my surroundings and sipped away.

That same afternoon, an egg waffle place called Mammy Pancake had come recommended, so I traipsed all around Hong Kong looking for it. Once I finally found the tiny stall, lo and behold it was in the Michelin Guide for Recommended Street Food! I ordered a Green Tea & Chocolate Chip egg waffle (which is basically a waffle with fillings).