If there's one thing about having baked rice in a place like Tai Cheong Bakery, you can be sure that they are going to make it in a very good oven, and that they're going to be generous with the cheese.
I'm not making this up.
It's true.
And not only can you expect your dish to have a lot of (very solid) cheese, this cheese is also not going to be diluted with a lot of cream.
Which, if you ask me, is a rare thing to have here for a dish like baked rice because more often than not, I've had it prepared with a humongous ladle of cream and only a miserably thin layer of cheese.
There were no such half-hearted standards here.
The dish, when it came, was scalding hot.
So much so that the wait staff cautioned us to be careful- but what with me being me- I attempted a spoonful as soon as I saw the whirls of steam begin to disappear.
Needless to say I spent a good couple of minutes frantically blowing hot air out of my mouth.
That didn't deter me from my enjoyment of the dish though.
Especially when I realized that concealed within this whole brick of gooey, soft, melted cheese were a generous smattering of chopped mushrooms, cubes of ham, some luncheon meat (I think), bits of broccoli, and bits of cauliflower.
It was so good, I tell you.
The flavors were rich and the textures within it blended so well together.
I loved it.
I loved how each spoonful- if I'm not wrong we ordered the chicken- you first get the smooth creaminess of the melted cheese at the tip of your tongue.
After that came the soft, mushy grains of rice carefully baked in the oven mixed together with the cheese.
Then in between all of that there was the chew of the mushroom, the slight crunch of the broccoli and the distinctive burst of processed flavor from the tiny bits of ham.
There might even have been bacon- I can't remember.
Best part about the dish was that it didn't make me feel heavy or greasy or stuffed or anything of the sort.
On the contrary, I felt very warmed.
As if someone had covered my tummy with a nice, furry blanket that made me feel safe and kept me warm.
It didn't matter that the weather outside was sunny at 33 degrees.
I felt comforted to just sink my spoon into the rice, scoop a suitable portion up, and let myself be filled with the rounded, cozy, all embracing taste of Tai Cheong's baked rice.
You know, I think I'll make a special trip back to Holland Village just to have this meal again.
And maybe- maybe- one day I'll get a chance to have this dish on a cold winter's day somewhere in Hong Kong as well.