Capital Cafe: Hong Kong for truffle scrambled eggs

One of my favourite things to do in Hong Kong is to eat at a Cha Chan Teng. Especially for breakfast. Not all Cha Chan Tengs serve an equal breakfast. I don't know why their set is almost always a kind of ham macaroni with eggs and toast and coffee or tea, when most of the time, the macaroni is really not up to par. Australia Dairy Company is one of the best for their scrambled eggs, but fails miserably for the macaroni.

This time round, as we were staying on the island, we decided not to cross the channel to Kowloon, and try out Capital, which is reputed to be a close rival in terms of taste of their scrambled eggs. Plus, they serve it with black truffles. Interesting.

The place was not difficult to find, a short walk from Wan Chai MTR.

No queues. And as we approached, the lady by the counter smiled at us, and ushered us to our seats. Hmm...no brusque waiters. No forced sharing...ok, we shared the table, but the two of us shared a table for 8 with another couple.

Could this civilized CCT rival Australia Dairy? We ordered a buttered toast, a scrambled eggs with truffle on toast, and iced milk tea.

The tea: HK$21 for cold HK Style milk tea. Nice, with a light tannin bite. Smooth mouth feel, and the aromatic tea cutting through the creaminess of the milk. Quite nice.

The buttered toast. HK$9. Nice too. The bread is nice and thick. And toasted lightly, buttered on one side. Fragrance of the butter was not overpowering, but pleasant, and the bread within was moist.

And what we came for:

The scrambled eggs were done perfectly. A thin light "membrane" and within the eggs were just cooked that it looked like it might ooze, but not quite. The fragrance was nice,  and tasted very good. Rich, creamy, tasty. Compared to the Australia Dairy version, this one lacked the salty creaminess of canned soup (reportedly used by Australia Dairy). And was a bit milder.

And the truffles? Kind of disappointing, I think. I was kind of expecting slices of black truffle (ok, wishful thinking as the scrambled eggs with truffle on toast was only HK$42 (less than S$8), it was hard, slightly crisp grains, which lacked any depth of flavour or fragrance. I think the truffles were probably Chinese origin and possibly dried before being crushed. We asked the lady by the counter the origin of the truffles, she did not know.

But overall, I enjoyed the scrambled eggs on toast. And a positive alternative to Australia Dairy. Now to find the steamed milk that is done so well in Jordan...:-)

Highly recommended. Read the history of the cafe. Its quite interesting too.


Capital Café 華星冰室
Shop B1, G/F, Kwong Sang Hong Building, 6 Heard Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong (10 min walk from Wan Chai MTR) Tel:+852 2666 7766
灣仔克街6號廣生行大廈地下B1號舖
Opening Hours: 7am – 11:00pm

Australia Dairy Company: Jordan, Hong Kong

One of the most famous and interesting cha chaan teng in Hong Kong, regardless of the name, has nothing to do with Australia and totally and absolutely Chinese...they don't even have an English menu.

The queue at about 9:30am on a Friday morning. The queue snakes all the way round the block. But clearing about 50 pax in front of me in the queue took all of 15minutes.

The interest in this cha chaan teng springs not only from the simple but exquisite cuisine served within, but also in the ruthless efficiency in which the crowd and queues (and boy what a long queue) are managed, how the food delivery is managed and how the high quality is maintained throughout. The restaurant is a study of efficiency on how to feed thousands in as short a time as possible, without compromising quality. Amazing.

As one enters, the waiter "orders" one to sit where he directs...he did not seem to leave an option...and I guess everybody obeys. Sharing of tables is not a courtesy, but mandatory. Nobody asks you if you mind sharing, the waiter directs you to share, you just sit. He is back to take your order in all of 15 seconds. Most guide books/blogs recommend ordering the sets. Most of these guides also say that the waiters do not speak English...I had an English speaking waiter...though I had practiced the art of just pointing to the third item on the set menu...he understood me, and repeated Scrambled Eggs. It is important to get that right, because the eggs can also be served sunny side up, but scrambled was what they are famous for.

If you had ordered Set 1: the macaroni and ham in a soup would be unceremoniously plonked on your table within 20 seconds from ordering. But I ordered Set 3, which was eggs with toast, tea. I also added a dessert - their famous steamed milk custard.

The iced milk tea was unexeptional. Though fresh milk was used instead of condensed milk, it was unremarkable. There are many better milk teas in Hong Kong. But having said that, it is rather better than almost all we get here in Singapore. So be thankful.

Almost immediately, the scrambled eggs and the buttered toast was served

Some claim this is the best scrambled eggs on the planet. I am not so sure, but it was rather impressive. The eggs were just a tad from being runny, and yet a tad from being solid. The texture was smooth, creamy as it caresses the mouth and tongue. The unique texture and taste is attributed by some to the use of fresh Hokkaido milk and yet others to canned soup. Indeed as one gaze into the kitchen, which is open by the way, one can see cans of Campbell soup tucked on a shelf behind the cooks. 

The buttered toast was also just right. Crisp outside, still moist within, and the butter melted just so, lingering on the inside. 

While I find the taste to be excellent, even more intriguing was their ability to delivery this level consistency. This is almost an art form. Nay, the entire restaurant is like an organism. Efficient, consistent, high quality. 

I come to the steamed milk custard...this was unlike any I have eaten anywhere else

The custard was superbly smooth, and the more than tinge of taste and wonderful aroma of fresh milk was apparent. Sweetened, this is served as a dessert. The taste is rather mild...subtle, perhaps sublime. The smoothness was superb. Our tau huey (soy bean custard) is no where in the same universe in terms of smoothness and texture. 

Highly recommended, not only for the superb food, but also as an observation of the efficiency of a top end cha chaan teng in Hong Kong. 

Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司 (Hongkong)

47-49 Parkes Street Jordan (near Jordan MTR)
Tel: (852) 2730 1356
Opening Hours: Daily 730am to 11pm'
Facebook (not official fb)
Location
How to get there: Exit C2 Jordon's MTR Station and walk towards Parkes Street

Dong Po Colonial Cafe in Kandahar St

Last week I talked about an innovative Nanyang Kopi stall in ABC. This week, we explore how another traditional kopi tiam has taken innovation and modernized their offerings.

Situated in a restored shophouse in Kandahar, nestled just a few doors away from Sabar Menanti and Rumah Minang. The shop is rather quaint, with a name like Dong Po Colonial Cafe, it certainly looks the part. The interior is air conditioned, with tables and chairs reminiscent of the good old days. 

An old, Flying Pigeon bicycle is used as a decorative prop by the five foot way and one can certainly sit outdoors. I cycled there on one of my visits there, and sat outside by my bike. 

The coffee is a rather standard offering of Nanyang Kopi. Pleasantly aromatic, with a good mouthfeel and body, but not strikingly unusual.

The toast I have next to the coffee, is something quite special, and which I adore

Called the Bostock, this is usually made with brioche, but the innovation here is it is made with freshly baked (in-house) local style bread. Topped with an almond syrup and toasted almond flakes and dusted with castor sugar. The taste is rather mild...with the toasted almonds providing most of the flavour and aroma. I rather liked it. 

On another occassion, we tried the huge French toast with ice cream

This is truly enourmous. The bread is baked in-situ, and lightly coated with egg, lightly toasted, 

and stuffed with butter, topped with a vanilla ice cream, a dollop of fresh cream on the side and drizzled with honey. Quite nice. The bread was crusty, slight crispy outside but remained soft and moist within. Very nice contrasting textures between the bread crust, bread inside, the ice cream and the fresh cream. 

Nice, quaint place for a cuppa. Highly recommended.

Dong Po Colonial Cafe
56 Kandahar Street
6298 1318
S198904 
Tue-Thurs 930am-830pm
Fri-Sun 930am-930pm
Closed on Monday