While I still lived in the US, I heard about the Beard Papa sensation that had been sweeping New York.  Sort of like Krispy Kremes, people would line up around the block to buy boxes and boxes of the famous Beard Papa cream puffs.  I detest cream puffs (the french kind- I don’t like their texture), and I have never tried a Krispy Kreme donut, so it would seem strange that upon moving to Hong Kong I was dying ot try a Beard Papa.  Why would I want to try one if I hate cream puffs?  I am not sure…I analyzed my strange desire and concluded that it was due to two things: the unusual name "Beard Papa" and the cute Beard Papa logo of an old man smoking a pipe.  How an old man smoking a pipe relates to cream puffs, I am not sure.  Maybe since Beard Papa cream puffs are a Japanese creation and maybe Japanese associate cream puffs with European men, who they associate with pipe smoking? 

For whatever reason, when Matt told me that there was a Beard Papa store in the Mong Kok MTR station, I had to try their cream puffs!  I had heard from several sources that I would love them because the cream filling is more like pudding and less like cream, and that the outer "puff" portion was more crispy than a traditional cream puff.  So, I made the trek to Mong Kok to give it a try…and I wasn’t all that jazzed about them.  Don’t get me wrong, it was good…but maybe cream puffs just aren’t my thing.  Sort of like how I hate cheesecake.  It’s the texture.  I just can’t do it.  The cream portion of the Beard Papa was better than other cream puffs I had tried but the "puff" portion was not crispy enough for my liking.  However, in the name of research, I vow to sample one of the Beard Papa "Cream Horns", which allegedly have a different textured "puff" portion.   

Oh, and another thing about the cream horns…they may not be very appetizing for those whoe have seen the movie "Van Wilder."