My first choice breakfast is no breakfast at
all, which suits Lilli not, and my second
is Chinese breakfast, which ditto.

She used to fuss about my being antisocial,
but we've come to this accommodation where
either she eats a hearty American breakfast
and I sit there and sulk, or I eat a lovely
meal of egg tarts and char siu bao, and she
picks at a slice of pineapple or something.

The Garden Cafe, the less formal option next
to the Golden Leaf in the Conrad, offers both
options so is a good compromise.

The charcuterie platter was pretty nice and
edible by the likes of Lilli, if you don't
count the smoked salmon, which was strangely
grassy-tasting but otherwise okay. Mortadella
and Genoa salami were just like what you might
get in Bologna or Genoa. There were a hard and
a soft cheese, which I didn't ask to sample.
An omelet in the somewhat harder than French
Chinese style seemed expertly made.

For me, har gow were of excellent flavor but
made in a strange hybrid way, with shrimp
paste enclosing a couple nice medium real
shrimp, in a very thin and delicate wrapper.
Shumai were better than Trader Joe's, clearly
human-made but perhaps by a lower-level
apprentice - they looked raggedy, and the
filling was very fatty (I liked this). Roast
pork buns were in the shape of a pig face, with
blobs of pink dough for the nose and ears and
black sesame seeds for eyes: almost too cute
to eat. The filling was almost all fat, which
I also liked. Salted egg buns were of the grainy
variety, which is apparently a legitimate variation.
Cheese rolls were something I'd never tried before,
but as they were free for the taking, I had one and
will never again - they are yeast rolls of the
normal sort, topped with a mixture of sugar and some
cheese product, perhaps Cheez Whiz, and broiled.

For a savory I had steamed sablefish with seaweed in
light soy and mirin, which was truly superb.

I had a bite of Lilli's chocolate doughnuts (2, and
she ate them both) - these were yeasty and good, and
the filling was a big serving of Nutella.

Orange juice and grapefruit juice were both fresh;
coffee as well, but the brewed decaf tasted like
swampwater. I asked for wine, but none was available
before noon or 1 or something.

==

Breakfast at the Royal Orchid, Hong Kong. Lilli
and I parted at the airport, because she is OneWorld
and I'm Star. She got to fly home in business class
via Dallas; I rode in "premium plus," which is a fancy
word for the first three rows of coach with all the
cheap wine you can drink, and then up front from Denver,
whereupon I met Lilli again at the airport, where we had
landed within 5 minutes of each other. Anyhow, she got
to use the Wing or the Bridge or the Cabin or the Centurion
but chose to go to the temporary (and much lesser, being
funded by American Airlines) Flagship Lounge, as it was
closest to her gate. I was directed to the United lounge
but chose to park at the Royal Orchid, which has better
food and is twice as close to the United gate as the
United lounge is. The offerings were some peculiar
noodle things, sticky rice logs in soy sauce, and
scrambled eggs with chicken sausage. I had some fish
shumai (all surimi, somewhat too sweet), and mushroom,
cabbage, and water chestnut dumplings. For afters, ice
cream, one scoop each of Appolo coconut and Nestle
chocolate. Jim Beam white, a perfectly fine beverage.

P.S. Yesterday Lilli showed a twinge of nostalgia for
hotel breakfasts and made a Hampton spread of old ham,
hockey puck omelet, and soggy home fries. She got it
just right, and if I closed my eyes I could imagine myself
in a breakfast nook in Peoria or someplace. Even the juice
(Simply Orange, out of a monster Costco jug) was authentic.
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