Many years ago, I wrote about the Hong Kong Street food – the egg waffle (called gai daan jai in Cantonese). However, I had never really even tried one! The wait is over though – when I visited San Francisco – I was lucky enough to visit a cafe that had an egg waffle machine. The sight of the egg waffle maker in the window stopped me in my tracks, and drew me into the Sweetheart Cafe (909 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94108). The waffle maker looked like the kind they often have at American hotels – heavy cast iron, with a handle that closes and flips over the waffle while cooking. There were circular depressions in the egg waffle maker, which eventually made a large sheet of waffle-like dough with spherical bubbles. After a few short minutes, the cook picked off the waffle with chopsticks, rolled it into a tube, and placed in a paper bag. One egg waffle was $4, and you could also get yours topped with chocolate or coconut (I went for the original). The egg waffle was good, and tasted like a light, sweet, airy…. waffle. So ok, it was pretty much what you would expect. It was definitely a fun snack, and easy to rip off an “egg” or two at at time while wandering around Chinatown. Where’s your favorite place to get egg waffles?
Eating The World 