澳洲牛奶公司 Australia Dairy Company

About one month ago I got an email forward regarding an amazing egg sandwich made by a restaurant by the name of Australia Dairy Company. I followed the link which brought me to a review of the restaurant, featuring this picture:

photo is courtesy tastytreats

The eggs looked so fluffy, so moist, so perfect. The email forwarder only lamented that she wasn't closer to Hong Kong, and so relegated herself to drooling on her keyboard until the day she'd get that chance.

As for myself, the artistry showcased at tastytreats was so tastefully blogged (pun intended), that it inspired me to start up my own food blog; and so I dug out the dusty SLR camera from the back corner of my closet and began bringing it wherever my tastebuds went. Thus Tung Choi St. was born. These famous scrambled eggs at Australia Dairy Company (which by the way has a facebook group of 6,220 members dedicated to it!) was a food I knew I had to hit up eventually, in honor of the food and the blog that inspired Tung Choi St. My culinary experience at Australia Dairy Company lived up to the significance of my visit...

The place was packed!

As is customary in Hong Kong, we had to share our table with others. Not a single seat in the restaurant was unoccupied. Waiters ran around frantically as people without seats stood in between tables. But service was quick, and efficient, as is typical in Hong Kong.

For starters, my friend and I had this staple cha chaan teng option:

牛肉通粉 beef macaroni soup

Compared to most macaroni soups in Hong Kong, this one tops the list for best flavored soup, which supports perfectly the soft macaroni and tasty beef strips.

Then came the egg sandwich...(my photo didn't come out as attractively as tastytreats'). My friend had the honors of having the first bite, and immediately her reaction was an orgasmic "woahhh-hoahhh!" Creamy, softly seasoned with the perfect amount of salt, and perhaps secret ingredients, combined with care and perhaps a secret process we'll never know of, between two of the softest slices of bread you'll ever eat, truly a treat.

With killer eggs like these, think of all the traditional dishes you could spruce up!

公司三文治 Club Sandwich
Expats are seldom impressed with club sandwiches in Hong Kong because they're not as hearty and crispy as they're made in the US (where's the bacon?!), plus they typically put eggs in them? Sounds weird to most foreigners. But it's more than excusable with these eggs. I wouldn't even have recognized this as a club sandwich if they didn't name it so, but it's downright good. Served in between three layers of toasted bread are the magical eggs as well as ham, cheese, pickles, and an interesting and tasty tomato and pork combination.



佐敦白加士街47號地下
47 Parkes St. Jordan
MTR: Jordan Station







Recurring Glossary Term:
cha chaan teng: lit. "tea meal hall" ie. a Chinese diner

巴黎咖啡店 Paris Cafe

九龍 油麻地 眾坊街
59 號 C 地鋪
59C Public Square Street
Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon
MTR Station: Yau Ma Tei


The Paris Cafe is a small cozy cha chaan teng in the heart of the eccentric and lively Yau Ma Tei. Usually I stop in here for breakfast on Sundays before church, so you can say I'm somewhat of a regular. Probably a 50/50 split between Western and Chinese inspiration, Hong Kongers call the type of food available at Paris Cafe sai sik "Western style," while I personally (and objectively) think of these as quintessentially Hong Kong. So there's nothing terribly original or unique at Paris Cafe, but you can't go wrong with the food here, and the atmosphere is among the more comfortable and homey I've found in Hong Kong.

火腿湯意粉＋炒蛋＋厚多士 Soup Noodle + Eggs and Toast

The noodle soup bowl was good, light enough for folks like me who can't stomach drippingly greasy foods to break fast in the morning. Plus, the soup has a subtle yet tasty chicken-y flavor, while the strips of ham and the green and orange of the peas and carrots give it a simple yet nice aesthetic touch. It also came with eggs and toast; a filling, just-enough, type of breakfast for me.

司華力腸＋窩夫夾餅 Cervelat Sausages and Waffle

This, on the other hand, might seem like an odd combination, but it wasn't bad. The sausages were like the kielbasas I'm used to from the States, and the waffle was crispy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside :). Only problem with this breakfast set is that it's not nearly as filling as the other one, even though it's more expensive.

Both sets came with drinks. I got hot Ovaltine, one of the standard cha chaan teng options in Hong Kong.

Paris Cafe is an overall good local Hong Kong experience for travellers, but probably not for tourists. The "Parisisian" deco might come off a bit Cheesy, given the irony of how absolutely non-Parisian this cafe is (for example the Canto-pop Karaoke by the kitchen), but it nonetheless gives an artsy feel to the place.

New glossary terms:
- cha chaan teng: literally "tea meal hall," culturally comparable to the American diner, cha chaan tengs are Cantonese-style diners that serve up fast and filling sai sik and jung sik food
- jung sik: Chinese style
- sai sik: Western style