A warm, freshly made waffle, smothered in peanut butter and condensed milk. Now tell me that doesn’t sound like the breakfast of champions. Well, maybe you’d need to be particularly hardy to handle such a rich meal in the morning, but this inspired concoction certainly makes a great dessert.

As I was wandering around Chinatown last Friday evening, munching on a bahn mi from Hoang Oanh, I had one thought on my mind: candy. I considered heading into one of the grocery stores to rediscover the mysterious and wonderful world of Chinese sweets, but then I saw an even more appealing option.

Johnny Chin’s, on la Gauchetiere is barely noticeable in the daytime, because it’s sandwiched between two other shops. But at night, when one’s sugar sensory system is on high-alert, it’s impossible to walk by the bright little sweet shop without wanting to wander inside.

By now, the shop is a well-established part of the Chinatown community. Johnny has been making Chinese sweets by hand for the better part of the last two decades, and he’s spent much of that time right where he is now. And as sure as my cholesterol just hit quadruple digits, he’s still got the magic.

Once I’d read the description of Johnny’s made-to-order specialties on the outside of the shop, I just had to try the aforementioned waffle. And as soon as I did, I couldn’t remember how I had ever eaten a waffle made without peanut butter. It’s simply genius.

While I was there, I also decided to try out the pre-made treats. There seemed to be only two kinds, each sold in small boxes. One set of boxes had an assortment of wafer cookies, which are probably meant to be dipped into tea. The other boxes contained white, fuzzy-looking balls. I bought a box and put one in my mouth. Interestingly, the fuzzy-looking ball tasted, well, fuzzy. Apart from the times that I used cotton balls to do my Marlon Brando impression, the white candy was probably the oddest thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. It had a sweet taste, with a cottony exterior and chopped nuts inside. It was like chewing on Styrofoam. Maybe a rule of thumb for Johnny Chin’s should be: if it’s smothered in peanut butter, get it; if not, proceed with caution.