I did a very adventurous thing over at The Hainan Story on the ground floor of Hotel Boss the other day.
I ordered a cup of kopi-o kosong- and an additional cube of butter.
So some friends were wondering what the big deal is about a cup of (local) coffee.
But you must know that this is a high call for someone like me who orders only kopi at the food courts, hawker centers and the coffee shops.
I don't even do kopi-c, much less kopi-o.
But here I was, in the midst of a Hainanese place, where they (the Hainanese) are renowned for their versions of locally-brewed coffee, and I thought I would just be bold and try.
Let's just say I will not be this brave next time.
I can't do it.
I can't do black coffee without milk and without sugar.
It's just not me.
Mind, it wasn't that the coffee wasn't good.
It's just... it's just that I hardly have coffee without milk, and if- ID- on the rare time that I do a black coffee with no milk (like the one time when I accidentally ordered an espresso and the other time when I mistook a macchiato for a caramel macchiato- they're not the same), I need at least a lump of sugar.
To do a black coffee without milk and without sugar, ummm, I'm sorry, but no.
Just, no.
I must say, however, that the butter helped a great deal.
Best of all, it complemented the dishes of our dinner rather well.
Like the plate of (Wee Nam Kee) roast chicken- fresh, meaty, chonky, delicious and cold- and which we decided to have it on its own dipped in the generous serving of ginger, with chili on the side.
And like the bowl of dumpling soup that had one big stalk of vegetable, and six large dumplings of meat, chives, water chestnuts (I think) wrapped within a skin thin, delicate, chewy yet light.
