Be careful when you’re ordering up … gai bow or gai mei bow. Very different. With a steaming cup of hot tea, gai bow (chicken bun) makes a great lunch! Or with a cup of steaming hot tea, gai mei bow (cocktail bun) is a sweet and tasty interlude to the day. Hmmm … get both, and you have a complete meal for any time of the day.

Gai is Cantonese for chicken. Mei is Cantonese for tail. Bow (or bao) is Cantonese for bun. Put ’em together: chicken bun, cocktail bun.

We just went down to the local bakeries … fresh gai bow are on the steam table and about a buck each. Gai mei bow are from a different bakery, and they come in pairs. A little over a buck for the two of them.

That’s a lot of food for $2 ish.

OK … the gai bow is filled with chicken, a little green onion, a little mushroom, Chinese five spice and sometimes a touch of ginger. Yum, yum! The best buns usually have a faintly sweet almond flavor. Oh yes, we could easily eat these any time of day, every day.

The gai mei bow is filled with a rich mixture of coconut, egg and butter. The bun has a honey glaze and little ribbons of sugar on the top. Some bakeries make ’em with a crunchy stripe of sugar, some (like above) with a ribbon. Early morning with tea or coffee … hot out of the oven … a great way to start a day.

Just strolling down the street … a touch of lunch to keep spirits high … $1 total. Nice.