HK Cafe

Old school style HK cafe, seated quickly, friendly service. I loved how peaceful it felt inside, with the right level of ambient TV and cooking noise.HK milk tea - really good and strong. They use the stocking and the sweetness was perfect for meLaksa with wonton - the broth was a little light, the thick noodles were a little thin, but the wontons were really goodBeef noodle soup - loved the tendon in this dishThe portions were bigger than I expected, and I left feeling perfectly a little too full

HK Cafe has been on my radar. After work, my friend and I went to Chinatown to check this place out. It was my first time trying this place but my friend did tried the STIX Asia location. The restaurant is moderately small, but tables were not packed together where it's tight to get in and get out. Laksa with beef brisket and tendon: The laksa didn't have much curry taste. It has more of the coconut flavor. I tried laksa in Singapore and Malaysia and this was not authentic. The coconut flavor overpowered basically everything. The beef was alright but it wasn't tender enough. I didn't have any tendons in my bowl. I guess they forgot it. Satay beef on rice: The beef was good. The satay sauce was flavorful and the beef was soft. It goes well with the rice. This is a great comfort food. House special ovaltine French toast: Ovaltine is malt flavored powder mixed with a drink to primarily make cocoa. The powder is covered over the toast. As a powder form, you couldn't taste the chocolate flavor, it tasted more like refined sugar. Anyways, the toast is good. It was filled with condensed milk and butter. Very creamy, soft, and sweet. It reminded me of a honey toast but without the ice cream. This was more like a dessert dish than a breakfast dish.Chinese donut: I like to order Chinese donut with noodle soup, in this case, the laksa. The donut wasn't crispy and hot. It seems like it's been sitting out for some time. Overall, not a fan of this place. The highlights are just the satay beef and the toast but it's not something I would go back for. Service was also not great. There was only one server who looks like she hates her job and takes it out on her customers. The water cup are also tiny paper cups with lukewarm water. We went off hours during lunch and there were only 3 tables occupied.

We've been planning to come here for a while so finally gave it a try, Unfortunately, this didn't go as we expected :(Food: 1: The satay beef noddle soupe came out watery and light taste, noodles were soggy and overcooked with ONLY few small pieces of beef. 2: As for minced beef steamed flour roll (look funn) ONLY comes with very little bit of tiny ground beef on top instead of chunky like the classic style, Thus we didn't bother to order anymore dish.Ambience: It looks like small Hong Kong style Cafe and well sitting.Service: Took a long time to get our orders, and a long gap between the first and second dish, when there were just few customers at the restaurant and obviously all the customers were waiting for long time as well. Credit Card: Holy moly, They charge 2% extra for use it, It was the first time I had seen this in any restaurant, Lol, I take it as joke but seriously they do so I went paid cash.

Very clean, cozy and comfortable with Hong Kong news playing in the background. There is only one server when we went so it can be a little slow if there are lots of customers. Dishes are more like comfort Cantonese food. The Ovaltine toast stood out. It's like honey toast with ovaltine and condense milk in the inside. Satay beef rice is also good and feeling with lots of sauce.

A cafe on the small side in Chinatown with a pretty extensive menu of savory and sweet food, along with drinks. Parking can be difficult as the street parking can be taken but there are some paid lots nearby. The restaurant feels a bit old school with benches and patterned wallpaper. The service was quick and the water came out in paper cups. We had difficulty getting refills on our water throughout the meal but the food was good! We got the shrimp and pork wonton noodle soup and the HK special ovaltine french toast. My friend felt like the soup was authentic and I enjoyed the french toast. It was different than other french toasts, as it had a condensed milk sort of syrup and was larger than a typical french toast. I thought it was worth a try and hope to come back to try some other food on their menu!

This place can get super busy as I have seen on times I walked past. We arrived at 2pm on a weekday and were the only diners there. They have a good big menu of chinese HKG favorites. I had the laksa and ovaltine french toast. Their iced milk tea is super authentic with that strong tea blend and smooth milkiness. The laksa was nice and spicy with good flavor. The french toast was crispy with ovaltine on the top and smooth sweet condensed milk in the middle. A nice way to end the meal.

Awesome small little restaurant in Chinatown that serves AWESOME Hong Kong Comfort Food! The food items we ordered were exceptional (A1, A2, A6 & R4) and tasted extraordinarily good and the service we received was very good!I give HK Cafe, Chinatown, my personal 5-Shaka rating!!!

Simple spot for HK style cafe food. They are a little different from the usual HK cafe as there's no set/combo options. I got their ham and egg sandwich, sliced pork and preserved eggs congee, and HK coffee and MT mix. The cafe itself is super cute and aesthetic. I came pretty early and so service was quick. There was still plenty of seating available.

The milk tea used a different tea blend from what is used in Hong Kong. There was a lot of macaroni in the ham and egg soup. The wonton min was decent but I have had better. The chicken wings had good flavor. The staff was nice. It was clean. Water was served in paper cups.

Right in the heart of Chinatown, on Maunakea St, close to where it intersects Hotel St is a nice Hong Kong-style cafe. If you do not know the history of Honolulu's Chinatown it might strike some as unusual that there are not more Canto-Western cafes in the area. But you have to understand that our Chinatown has immigrants that don't necessarily need to look to a Chinese establishment to integrate Western food into their eating habits.It is a small but neatly clean cafe of cozy booths and tables with the requisite TV screen playing Hong Kong soaps or news. The breakfast is a limited but representative offering of the food a modern cha chaan teng would have. They don't offer any weak hot tea (usually used to wash and clean your utensils). But they will bring you water on request. The breakfast combos come with a beverage, and you should choose the yeunyueng. This combination of powdered coffee and milk tea is such a quintessential Hong Kong thing that the drink is listed as part of Hong Kong's Intangible Cultural Heritage inventory. This unusual sounding combination is a balancing of Yin (the tea), and Yang (the coffee). It's not the best you'll find in Honolulu but it does balance and harmonize all your morning's energy. Just get it.I kind of adore their ribbon-like Chee Cheung Fun. No wasting time folding or rolling it into neat layers. It is deceptively light and the sweet umami soy is heaven. The Hong-Style French Toast is a delight. You can get it stuffed with butter or peanut butter, but having it topped with a layer of condensed milk and dusted with Ovaltine powder is the way to go. When you cut in to the toast the condensed milk oozes out. My favorite is something I only recently tried on a visit to Hong Kong - macaroni in chicken broth with thin sliced spam and a fried egg. This is a Hong Kong breakfast equivalent of our local spam/egg/rice topped w shoyu.HK Cafe has a second location in Waikiki, but here you will only see locals and hear a mixture of Chinese and English. The menu has an additional assortment of Canto-Western dishes, plus noodle soups and stir fries for lunch, but a cha chaan teng breakfast here is my preference.