This bowl of small wontons was the last breakfast I had at the hotel in Hangzhou. It’s one of the few local snacks that still somewhat represents Hangzhou. Another one is cong bao hui, but the version served here really wasn’t good. There used to be an old lady’s street stall in a small alley by West Lake that made delicious cong bao hui. I went back this time and walked around the area, but unfortunately, it’s gone.
Cong bao hui looks like a simple, unremarkable snack, but making it taste good is actually not easy. As for the small wontons—back when I lived in Hangzhou, I ate quite a lot of them, both small and large ones. The small wontons were what I ate most often for breakfast. A warm bowl in the morning, paired with steamed buns or fried dough sticks, was always comforting. Its flavor is light and never heavy, perfect for starting the day.
I used to go to places like Zhiweiguan or Xinfeng Snack Shop for a bowl, but on this trip I didn’t have the time or chance to visit. All I could do was have a “good enough” bowl at the hotel. It was indeed just average, but I wasn’t really eating it for the taste—more for the memories it carried.
Dwelling too much on the past isn’t always good; we should live in the present and look toward the future. But when you know you once spent a part of your life in a certain place, and you don’t know when you’ll next return—or how much that place might change—there’s still a special feeling in your heart that’s hard to describe.
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