The Mermaid of Napier

10 June 2014 will mark the 60th year of Pania of the Reef's unveiling. Pania is the symbol of Napier, one of my favorite cities, and is honored with a bronze statue on their Marine Parade. This is my tribute to Pania and the lovely city she symbolizes.

 

Marine Parade is the city's seaside boulevard. In the summer, the air is sweet with pine and briny with the Pacific−imagine a vaporized salted caramel. Then breathe it in. Which is what you should do to Napier. And let me tell you, the good folks at Hawkesbay monitor the air quality to make sure it's safe for you to do so.

Marine Parade is Napier for travellers in a hurry. The city is super proud of its architecture and justifiably so. Recovering from a devastating earthquake in 1931, they rebuilt everything in just two years. And with great panache. They have gorgeous Art Deco buildings which they make the effort to maintain. On Marine Parade alone, the Art Deco Dome and the Art Deco Sound Shell are wonderful examples.  

(An aside: The guides there always tell you to check out the McDonald's in Taradale, about 10 mins away by car. Not for the food, of course, but to gawk at how they've Art Deco'd the joint. I can now imagine Nick Carraway nibbling absentmindedly at quarterpounders and nuggets while piecing together the ballad of Daisy and Jay!)


Cafés dot the place. Great if you plan on doing some exploring in the summer sun. I had my first flat white ever in Napier and will forever be grateful to the city for that lovely introduction. Delicious fruit abound and frequently accompany their Pavlovas. Even if you didn't have a sweet tooth, you might be able to find some Mediterranean-style food like quichés to satisfy your hunger. Or have some fish and chips.

Better still, bring your coffee and food to the nearby gardens. Nice place to read a book (The Great Gatsby, perhaps?). It's what locals do apparently, when they are not zipping around in bikes and rollerskates. A spot near Pania would do very nicely.

Solitary Tart in the Crowded City

About a five to ten minute walk from the Largo do Senado in Macau, in a small courtyard hidden from the street by buildings, one may find Margaret's Café e Nata, a small bakery serving (as the name plainly says) coffee and egg tart. Sure, there are other items on the menu, but the egg tart is why one would come. This is why I came.

Let me tell you straight away that I love egg tarts. And those I've had from Margaret's are among the best I've had. I love this single solitary serving of baked heavenliness. Even from  behind the protective plastic, a tart's bright yellow top shines like a sun in splendor ringed a glossy brown with an outer margin of golden flaky crust. Dropping one on a plate, a quick sniff: that bakery perfume of eggs, cream, butter, and a dab of vanilla. I do not detect cinnamon. Picking the tart up from the paper plate, the crust threatens disintegration. I'm glad it's not too hot. (In the past, I had picked up a tart with fingers protected by layers of napkin only to burn my mouth on the custard, overeager foolish glutton that I am.) There's that satisfying crunch as my teeth make short work of lovely crust right before it yields its lightly salted buttery goodness and the creamy custard floods my mouth. It is sweet, but not aggressively so. Three bites, four bites and all that's left of the tart are buttery flakes of crust on my fingertips.

The coffee isn't worth talking about. Totally forgettable. Expect to get the same sort of swill at a Dunkin' Donuts. 

Margaret's is not "touristy." Although quite a number of the people living up for their caffeine and sugar fix are undoubtedly travelers, locals make up most of the clientele. The breakfast crowd consists mostly of people getting breakfast before work or after pulling the night shift. The staff expect customers to already know what they'll be getting and it is not unheard of for them to raise their voices impatiently when someone breaks protocol (i.e., one must pay first before picking a tart from the trays). This is not the place to expect servile obsequiousness. Not that I would call them unhelpful.   A trió of Japanese tourists ahead of me on the queue were asked by a stern-looking East Asian lady (perhaps, Margaret herself?) if they were Nihonjin, and, in a voice that recalls audio tracks from Introduction to Japanese listening tests, asked them whether they needed help choosing what to order. To be fair, the place is in an alleyway and the view is of parked scooters and the greying backs of old buildings. They even let their canvas awnings go grimy. Conclusion: They never meant to be touristy.   

Margaret's is the bakery-equivalent of a surly aunt in a shabby sweater who you put up with because she makes you the loveliest egg tarts.

Margaret's Café e Nata

Gum Loi Building, Rua Almirante Costa Cabral

25-40 MOP for breakfast