The 68-month wait

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I had hoped, nay, dreamed of this happening for YEARS. The day finally came.

It was 68 months ago that I last sat down at Yue Hing (裕興) and had my last sandwich prepared by Dan (福哥). At the time Dan was already undergoing chemo for his cancer, and with the onset of the pandemic and Hong Kong shutting down dining, that would turn out to be my last visit. They served a sandwich that was BY FAR my favorite in the world, so much so that I wrote about having a last bite just days before I temporarily moved away from Hong Kong back in 2011.

Sadly, Dan lost his battle with cancer in 2021. At the time I wrote about my loving memories with this daipaidong (大排檔), fully knowing that this chapter of my life was over. While Elaine sporadically mentioned plans of re-opening, fans like myself felt our hopes fading with each passing year. The stall at the end of Stanley Street remained empty, and there were no signs of it coming back.

That changed 4 days ago. I woke up to discover a post on Yue Hing's Facebook page, announcing that they were doing a "trial run" this week, starting Tuesday. I immediately made plans to visit my beloved stall, but not on the first day. I figured they would be too rusty and needed some practice.

After some unexpected delay, I finally arrived a little after noon yesterday. For the first time in more than 5 years, I sat down at one of the tables and took in this view. I AM BACK!!!

I was disappointed but not surprised that they had run out of bread for the day, so I ordered up a bowl of instant noodles with omelet (煎蛋麵). I used to get the omelet with everything (全拼), but since they don't have the cervelas (司華力腸) in stock, I paid a little more so that there's corned beef in addition to the luncheon meat. You still got the cooked cabbage in the bowl, although I wondered if this now came more finely diced than before. The flavors of the Demae Iccho (出前一丁) were familiar, although I most certainly prefer the Fuku Noodles (福字麵) they used when I first started coming here.

We were warned that service would be slow. Well, it was always slow and steady when you sat down at a table here. Consider yourself lucky if you got your food within 30 minutes of ordering. Anything much quicker than that would be a borderline miracle. The tables were half-filled when I sat down today, and it took a whole 70 minutes. I didn't mind. I got time, and I wanted Elaine to know how much it means to us old-timers that she's trying to get back to it. I spent most of the time chatting with the only other person at my table - who is a total stranger, and who had never been here.

But I didn't get my sandwich, and there was only one more day of the trial run before they close shop in the Year of the Dragon. So I decided to come back for it this morning, and brought along our house guest visiting from Toronto. She was intrigued by my description of the sandwich, and it's certainly something that no one is likely to offer her back home.

We arrived exactly 30 minutes after they opened to find that every single seat at the four tables had been occupied, and there were even a couple of people waiting on the side. All the numbered tickets - which were not in use yesterday - had been given out. We were in for a long wait.

An hour later, Elaine's daughter came to let us know that they had run out of bread and anyone who hadn't already placed their order wouldn't be able to get a sandwich. Well... we hadn't ordered yet, and I wasn't going to sit around for a second day in a row for a bowl of noodles. I went to bid farewell to Elaine, but she didn't want to disappoint me again... and promised to get some more bread if we were willing to wait for it. So we stayed.

Two hours and 20 minutes after we arrived, the first of our two luncheon meat and egg sandwiches with peanut butter and condensed milk (炒蛋午餐肉奶醬多士) arrived. The first one was made with the bread that they had custom made for them, which came thicker cut and was more fluffy. Elaine explained that they were trying to get the right ratio between the thickness of the bread and the filling. The second sandwich was made with bread they just went to purchase on the fly, and she wanted my opinion on which alternative I preferred.

I was ecstatic. Just look at the sauce dripping all over everything! The flavors may not have been exactly the same with someone other than Dan cooking the omelet, but the combination of charred luncheon meat, cabbage, eggs, and that sauce made of peanut butter and condensed milk... I felt joy with every bite and every chewing motion of my jaws. I thought I would never taste this again, but here I was.

Happiness.