Having heard a lot about the popular Hong Kong Cafe 师奶茶餐厅, my colleagues and I had to check it out to see how it compared to the chachantengs of Hong Kong. We arrived at around 7:15pm and it wasn't very crowded. But not long after, a stream of people entered and the place was soon filled.
The interiors were pleasantly simple with cream yellow chairs, tables and walls. Seeing all the names of the Hong Kong areas decorating the walls brought back many pleasant memories. Oh, 铜锣湾, 油麻地, 旺角 etc...how I miss you!
We perused the menu and soon settled on the more popular dishes. We had the
(1) Gold Medal Macau Bake (Rice/Spaghetti)
(2) Cheese Broccoli
(3) French Toast (plain)
(4) Deep-fried squid
(5) Che Zhai Mien (Soup noodles with slices of pork, a slice of ham, a sunny side-up and some vegetables)
For the first item, we chose to have baked rice. This baked rice was half flavoured with curry and the other half was flavoured with tomato puree. Slices of squid, prawns, chicken and pork were inside it. It was pretty good but it's definitely too filling for one person.
The cheese broccoli was just boiled broccoli baked with mozzarrella cheese on top. My colleagues found it too cheesy for their liking and I, too, felt that it would probably have tasted better without it. Or better, use egg white instead of cheese.
The French toast, a very popular item, was absolutely gorgeous both in appearance and taste. That extra thick slice of bread deep fried till golden brown on the surface and dripping with butter and honey was divine. Cut into it and the white fluffy bread emerges. Bite into the warm bread and enter culinary bliss.
The deep-fried squid was pretty well done as well. But being not a big fan of squid in general, I only ate one and left the rest for my colleagues.
The Che Zhai Mien was good though. I know, it's really only instant noodles but the soup was very tasty. The big slice of pork was also well marinated and tasty. We eyed the dry version in other tables and it looked pretty good as well! Probably should try that next time.
And no meal is complete without dessert. I went for the 杨枝金露 (mango juice with pomelo, mango and mango ice cream). I didn't like the ice cream as I found it a tad too creamy and milky for my liking. It also wasn't served cold enough.
My colleague's Gingko Nut Barley dessert was a disappointment as it was extremely watery. Another colleague's dessert called the Coconut Snowdown wasn't very tasty as well. This was a coconut pudding with black glutinous rice and a scoop of vanilla ice cream to top it off.
The cafe opens from 6pm - 5am on weekdays and 12pm - 5am on weekends. Another haunt for supper!!!
Overall, I think it isn't too bad a place for Hong Kong chachanteng food when it came to the mains. There were Macanese food items like Portuguese Baked Rice on the menu too. The desserts were disappointing though. Prices are reasonable and service is quite prompt. Still, nothing beats the food in bona fide Hong Kong chachantengs!
Posted by DSD at October 27, 2005 9:05 AMhey! i was just there last week! i didn't try to french toast, but it looked great! other than that, i had the portugese noodle (or something like that) and i took 2 bites and ordered the ee-fu noodles instead, which had a funny after taste! the only thing that was great, was the mango dessert, other than that, i don't think i'll ever be back there. how was the french toast?
Posted by: joone at October 31, 2005 9:05 PMi think the french toast was the best thing there. i had the mango dessert too but thought the one i tried at Crystal Jade (the Scotts food court outlet) was better. The rest of the food is OK for the amount you pay. The food i tried wasn't too bad. Maybe it's a hit-and-miss thing going by the number of items they have on the menu.
I just think it wouldn't be too bad a place for supper. But it's so far from my home that i doubt i'd go there again too.
Posted by: dsd at November 2, 2005 12:01 PM