MTR Corp Limited chairman Frederick Ma Si-hang likes to treat friends to a mutton banquet every winter.
It is a happy occasion for the host and his guests to chat about all the hottest goings-on in town.
The venue this year was a place at Hung Hom railway station. Even with Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet- ngor announcing her resignation and intention to join the chief executive race earlier that day, it seemed that everyone in the media who was supposed to be there turned up.
The media, of course, also had an extra motive - to ask Ma which chief executive candidate he would back.
In response, Ma joked that he consumed neither milk powder nor potato chips, an obvious reference to the recently-acquired monikers of Lam and Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun- wah, whose resignation as well as Lam's were accepted yesterday, and is hotly tipped to join the race.
The main courses at the banquet were, of course, mutton, which was superb. But the dessert was a pleasant surprise. It was gai daan jai, mini egg waffles, and the famous local street food was made on the spot by a real master who operates a well-known shop outside the Shau Kei Wan MTR station.
The shop has a rather long and unique name, which translates as "low profile, high skill."
It became very popular soon after it opened many years ago, and there is always a long queue outside, waiting patiently for their order as the owner, wearing a face mask, concentrates on making the waffles.
I felt very lucky that besides having the opportunity to try egg waffles made by him, I also got to see his face at the banquet.
Ma said gai daan jai is one of his favorite snacks. He bought the equipment needed to try to make it at home, but was not happy with his batter.
That was why he decided to invite a gai daan jai master to the banquet to give himself and his guests a big treat.
Renovations at the Shau Kei Wan MTR station have been completed, with a newly added elevator that takes passengers right up to the exit where the gai daan jai shop is located.
It is convenient to visit it now, even for the elderly and the handicapped. To find it, just follow your nose.
Siu Sai-wo is publisher of Sing Tao Daily
