Buns, bench seats and a bus trip

Doughnuts are nowhere to be found. There are Starbucks here (of course), but I haven't looked to see what they sell to accompany your coffee.

Against the recommendation of a co-worker, I took a bus to Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa. You couldn't come up with a more awkward name or a more bizarre concept: there are towers of apartments interspersed with themed retail buildings like Home World, Treasure World and Fashion World. Smack dab in the middle is a giant concrete ship that you can walk inside. The only thing worth visiting is the Gourmet Place, three floors of restaurants. I had read about Wing Lai Yuen and the northern-style food they serve and I wasn't disappointed. The wait staff kindly gave me recommendations when I couldn't read the Chinese-only menu. My table was set up against a wall with a bench in front of it, not very comfortable. However, the food made up for it. The dan dan noodles were handmade, very thin with just a bit of chew. The well-balanced sauce/soup had bits of roasted peanut, ground pork, Sichuan preserved vegetable and sesame. No slick layer of oil to be found. A favourite of mine is green onion pancake but their version is unlike any I've ever had. The whole thing is flaky and crumbles at the touch of a chopstick, not the burnt, chewy rounds that I'm used to in Toronto. Bring cash.

Subway here does not mean "electric railway that operates underground": they call that the MTR. Subway means "a pedestrian walkway that takes you underneath a street to get to the other side". This bit of knowledge should not be learned after walking for half an hour trying to figure out where the stops are on the circular bus route (hint: not where you got off).