Feb 11, 2005
What are all these people, hundreds of them, doing here? Well, these gastronomic refugees here are waiting to buy purportedly the most famous bun of Macau -- the Pork Chop Burger of Cafe Tai Lei Loi Kee -- one for all and all for one. The ritual starts every afternoon at 1500 hours sharp and freezes at exactly the moment when the buns are sold out, which usually means less than one hour later.
So well-known is this pork chop burger that this cafe becomes a landmark of Macau. Believe it or not, some foodies actually come to Macau solely for this burger in a hit-and-run manner. Point in check: when was the last time you remember seeing a bus stop named after a cafe, or seeing a government's tourist office has a cafe highlighted on its maps for sight-seeing? Some eye-opening sight it is, isn't it?
Trivia one: on this very day, Chaxiubao, one member of these gastromomic refugees, used a stopwatch to mark this mediocrity very meaningful occasion. He joined the queue circa 1445 hours and walked away with a pork chop burger in a victorious mood circa 1530 hours.
Trivia two: Do you know Salvotor Rosa and his work "Battille heroique?" The work itself is no doubt a masterpiece. What's tragic for the work is that it is placed in a wrong place 400 years after its creation: the left hand side of a painting called Monna Lisa in the Louvre -- drew by -- you know who. Well, some sort of empathy must have developed between the owner/chef of this restaurant called Sun Lung Kee (on the left hand side of the cafe selling the bun) and Mr. Rosa in the grave. While his counterpart's store has clientele snaked up outside every afternoon, come rain or come shine, Sun Lung Kee has hardly a shadow traceable inside.
