樂心冰室 Glee Cafe

Stepping outside of Central is awesome, and I would like to introduce you to a new area called Causeway Bay. OOoooOoo0000OOoo… Alright, I’m just being sarcastic. About the new area part of course. Stepping outside of Central is always awesome.

I walk by Jardine Street a couple times a week, and when I am in a rush I like to grab food from here because it tends to be less crowded than the rest of CWB and the food is “local priced”. Glee Cafe is not the healthiest option but it has the typical cha tsan tang macaroni in soup + hot drink + scrambled eggs/ham/toast menu ($40). Unlike typical cha tsan tangs though, this place is relatively clean and newly renovated. The seating isn’t too crowded so it actually has room for me to put my big backpack. Though this place looks more modern, do not expect service to be great. The cashier looks like she wants to stab me every time I am paying her. Oh well, she never actually stabbed me so it’s all good. Speaking of dangerous things though, a couple months ago a part of this street actually collapsed after a guy walked by and he actually got injured falling into the hole. True story.

This is my “usual” there, loaded with white pepper and I always ask for chili oil. I’m also super happy that they have almond tea since I don’t really like having HK style coffee or tea with my meals.

Conclusion: This is one of my favorite cha tsan tangs in Hong Kong. Not the cheapest but at least you don’t have to eat with your arms stuck to your sides. Try it.

Location: G/F, 54-58 Jardine's Bazaar, Causeway Bay

Website: NA

Open Kitchen

There’s been some FB post on people finding cockroaches in their food from Canteen/Maxim lately. I think I’ve been super lucky since I’ve never found anything like this, not even at all the ghetto local places I’ve been to.

Canteen at Prince’s Building used to be one of my favorite spots at my old job since I found the price and quality to be quite fair. Now that I don’t work in that area anymore I don’t really go there anymore. There’s an Open Kitchen near where I work, but I try my best not to go there since I find it pricey and boring. Oh, and Open Kitchen is basically Simply Life, which is part of Maxim Group.

Last Thursday though… was different. I was in a rush to go back to work so I just ran down to Open Kitchen to grab something quick. For $75 you get to choose 3 Asian dishes on top of white rice.

Although I try not to go there, whenever I am there I see the reason why it’s always so packed. Even though $75 is quite a bit, they have a good variety of dishes to choose from (healthy and non-healthy). I like that there are a number of veggie dishes to choose from, so you can make it as healthy as you want your lunch to be.

This day, I chose Chinese cabbage, beef brisket with radish and sweet and sour pork. I really like their sweet and sour pork because it’s so crispy and tasty. The beef was ok but I was more drawn to the radish. Veggies are veggies so not much to say on that. Same goes for the rice.

I wouldn’t recommend this as a go-to lunch spot even if you are in the area, since if you walk an extra 5 minutes you can get something cheaper. But on days when you need every minute you can squeeze out of your day this is a good choice.

Location: IFC
Website: http://www.simplylife.com.hk/open-kitchen/

Taku

Brunch used to be a big thing for me until another one of my interests started taking up my weekends. Since I want Saturday to be sleep in day and Sunday to be activity day, there really is no day for brunch on a normal week unless it's brunch for a special occasion. In any case, since this week we get a massive 5 day super duper long weekend, I accepted a colleague's invite to brunch at Taku on Saturday.

The last time I went to Taku was quite late at night and friends and I were craving yakimono in Central. I thought it was ok but recall the price being quite steep (well either it really was expensive day or I was having a Grinch day). In any case, this time I thought the brunch was a really good deal since it was $308 (+10%) which includes all you can eat sashimi, rolls, yakimono, fried food, noodles, dessert and alcoholic/non-alcoholic drinks (beer, sangria, soft drinks).

The food came really fast at the beginning and kinda tapered off towards the end, perhaps because it was a quiet day and they were expecting to end earlier and didn't prep extra food. Other than that small hiccup I would say I enjoyed the overall experience.

In comparison to Zuma which is I think more than double the price, I would prefer coming here since I actually find the food more fresh as it's "made to order" rather than a buffet style like Zuma. I've never been a fan of champagne (except for the times when I was drunk and demanded a glass of champagne for god knows what reason), so the Zuma brunch appeals to me even less. The thing that does appeal to me about Zuma actually has nothing to do with the food - it's the natural daylight. Taku is a bit dark if you are sitting further inside the restaurant. When I think of the perfect brunch, I'm thinking of a bright sunny happy day, probably because I feel like if I'm waking up early on a weekend to go out and eat, there really should be a lot of sunlight.

Anyway, for around $350 I would recommend you trying this place out. I really think it's a good deal.

Website: http://www.taku.com.hk/
Location: 35 Elgin Street, SoHo, Central