Kam Fung Restaurant - For that (almost) national bun

Hong Kongers seem to have a national obsession with po lo bao (pineapple bun). Since bread and pastry do not exactly excite me, I have not been compelled to try it, until this April.

Kam Fung Restaurant in Wan Zhai on Hong Kong Island is one of several popular cha chan tengs to try this snack, so here we were.

The bun is called pineapple bun not because there is pineapple inside, but because its flaky crust resembles a pineapple (ok, maybe not the one pictured below). And po lo bao is the plain version without any filling. The one here is po lo yau, where yau refers to ngau yau (butter in Cantonese).

My verdict? The po lo yau was...ok. I'm not necessarily saying that Kam Fung's po lo baos/yaus are not up to standard, but I suspect that these buns anywhere will not win rave reviews from me because I just don't get the hype. Just a bun, isn't it?

Anyway, apart from po lo bao, Kam Fung's egg tarts and chicken pies (which we didn't try) are also popular.

If, unlike me, you are totally into po lo bao, you have another famous option - Kam Wah (address below).

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Kam Fung Restaurant (金鳳茶餐廳)
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=1549
Add: G/F, Spring Garden Mansion, 41 Spring Garden Lane, Wan Chai
         灣仔春園街41號春園大廈地下
Open: 6am-7pm daily

Kam Wah (金華冰廳)
http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=11293
Add:  G/F, 47 Bute Street, Prince Edward
          太子弼街47號地下
Tel: 2392 6830
Open:  Mon-Sun, 6.30am-12am