Chatterbox Café (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

I always have a thing for Singaporean food deep in my heart. Working for two Singaporean bosses in more than a decade likely had something to do with it. So, I was naturally overjoyed when I first found out that Chatterbox, the famed restaurant from Mandarin Orchard Singapore (don't fall for the same trap I did many years ago thinking this is a Mandarin Oriental Hotel coz it's not!) is opening a café at the recently opened K11 Musea in Tsim Sha Tsui. No, I'm not much of a fan of Hainanese chicken rice but there are other dishes that interest me.



While I'm a fan of Singaporean food, I'm no fan of long lineups. We were told by the Restaurant Manager that it's going to take about an hour for our turn. Before we even got started, I was getting ready to throw in the white towel. But somehow Jelloman made some special arrangements with my in-laws (they didn't mind to wait in the lineup) and fast forward to around 40 minutes later, we finally got our table.



In case you haven't heard, Chatterbox was supposed to have the best Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore, although in recent years, a few other restaurants have taken over that elusive title.



Otah-otah ($58) - Malay-style pan-fried spicy fish cake served with some soft pancakes. I could never figure this dish out. The spicy (and mushy) fish cake didn't have particularly nice texture and you serve them on those awful pancakes. Thanks but no thanks.



Pan-fried carrot cake ($78) - One of my favorite dishes from Singapore, pan-fried carrot cake with prawn, egg and preserved radish tossed in dark soya sauce (Some places have a different version tossed in white soya sauce).



Only a handful of places did it right in Hong Kong - Satay Inn (沙嗲軒), Café Malacca (馬來一菜館) and Hainan Shaoye (海南少爺). This was really really good. Some places made the carrot cakes hard like frozen custard but these were soft and moist with lots of flavors and textures (from the egg, chives etc.). Yum~  



Mandarin chicken rice ($128) - Chatterbox's world famous Hainanese chicken rice served with boiled chicken, fragrant rice and chicken soup. As usual, it was accompanied by their homemade chili, ginger and dark soya sauce on the side.



For me, Hainanese chicken is one of the most overrated dish in the whole wide world. This wasn't bad but there are at least dozen other chicken dishes that I would rather have.



Char Kway Teow ($98) - Another favorite Singaporean dish of mine. The wok-fried rice noodles were tossed with prawn, scallop, squid, Chinese sausage and crispy silverfish in a sweet and slightly spicy soya sauce. We had this when we visited Chatterbox in Singapore too and it was every bit as good as the one we had over there.



Fried Hokkien Noodle ($158) - Fried thick rice vermicelli and yellow noodle with king prawn, scallop, squid, pork, egg and bean sprouts. 

Normally, I am not a fan of soupy noodle dishes but I would gladly make an exception for this. Reasonably good stuff although of coz not nearly as tasty as the previous Char Kway Teow.



Pork chop with laksa-spiced spaghetti ($98) - Spaghetti glazed with laksa spice served with pan-fried pork chop. My first time having this dish at Chatterbox and honestly, it was a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect such perfect harmony between laksa and spaghetti. Chef Violet Oon proved me wrong once before (with her signature "dry laksa") and now, it's becoming a tried-and-true formula.



It was still relatively early when we finished dinner at Chatterbox so we took some time to walk around K11 Musea.



Hong Kong could definitely use more places like K11 Musea where we could all enjoy some cheap eats with the amazing harbour view just steps away.

This meal once again proved how lucky we are to be living in Hong Kong where we can enjoy gourmet food from all over the world. These dishes we had tonight tasted exactly the same as it did in Singapore and we can do it without flying over.


Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop B110, B1/F, K11 Musea, Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: East Tsim Sha Tsui / Tsim Sha Tsui
Tel: +852 2352-2173
Opening Hours: 11:00am - 10:00pm daily