Honolulu Coffee Shop Wanchai 檀島咖啡餅店 灣仔總店 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

I'm back to Wanchai for another round of meetings this morning and after two disappointing outings in a roll with the newcomers (Wing Wah Allday 永華日常 and Life is Good Cafe), I decided to go back to one of the old stalwarts. I knew exactly what I'm going to get from Honolulu Coffee Shop (檀島咖啡餅店). No big surprises I hope.

As usual, my breakfast here started off with a cup of hot milk tea that was thick and super strong in tea flavor. It wasn't silky smooth and aromatic like it used to be but its richness in caffeine was likely enough to get me through the morning.

It's been almost two years since I last had breakfast at Honolulu. The breakfast plate, now served on plastic, was pretty decently cooked. And no, let's not worry about the presentation.

Perhaps, just perhaps someone has been reading this blog and realized how much Wanchai needed a good breakfast/lunch spot. We have a new place here called Lang's Cafe (瀾之茶居). Can this be a venture by Mr. Chua Lam (蔡瀾) himself? He's one of my FAV.

Food Rating: 4.1/10

Price: $$$

Address: G/F, 176-178 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 2575-1823

Opening Hours: 7:00am - 10:00pm daily

The Yuu Japanese Dining 一遊 Hopewell Centre (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★★☆☆

We have a break in action from the lineups of meetings so I wasted no time storming out of the office to get some fresh air. As there was still another 15 minutes or so before the peak hours for lunch, a colleague of mine and I decided that we should find ourselves a restaurant before it gets too late. Luckily, she had an idea in mind and we stepped in just before the crowd arrived.

I have to admit, The Yuu Japanese Dining (一遊) at Hopewell Centre (合和中心) has never garnered any serious attention from me all these years. But I was more than happy to give it a try.

This was pretty darn good. The seared salmon with miso glaze was just perfect to go with the steamed rice. I wish the shower of salmon roes could be a more epic one but I had absolutely no complaint about this lunch at all. In fact, I might just come back for another one in the not-too-distant future. 

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop 320-321, 3/F, Hopewell Centre, 183 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 2861-2023

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 3:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Mon - Fri), 11:30am - 5:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Sat - Sun)

Wing Wah Allday 永華日常 (Hong Kong, CHINA) ★★☆☆☆

We have a whole day of meetings lined up today. I am hoping to get myself some much-needed caffeine to stay awake so a full breakfast sounds like the perfect plan.

It's been almost two years since I last visited Wing Wah Allday (永華日常) at Lee Tung Avenue. I have heard a lot of good things (and some bad ones) about this place since its opening and not surprisingly, it has become one of the go-to breakfast spots in Wanchai overtaking some of the old stalwarts these days. But I have had mixed feelings from my personal experience so let's see how it goes this morning.

I had three choices from a long list of items and ended up picking fried egg, luncheon meat and bacon (hidden underneath). 

I thought the bacon and luncheon meat were both pretty nice. The butter toast was decent. 

It took a while for my instant noodle to arrive. Had to chase the servers a few times to make it happen, and the fact that my neighbours who came in later than me, already got theirs (same dish) certainly didn't help my emotion which was starting to run high.

This was actually pretty tasty. The satay sauce was a little stronger than some of the other places and the beef was surprisingly tender. But was it worth the wait (about 15 minutes) I wonder?

This was supposed to be the first order of business but it took 20 minutes to arrive. Of course, I raised my hand more than a few times and had my chat with different servers but that didn't seem to help shorten the waiting time. At the end, I didn't have time to finish it. Not that, I was keen to finish it cuz it was way too watery (less milky than I expected), which was the same finding I had two years ago.  Nothing has improved I guess, and for a breakfast place, a good iced milk tea is crucial. 

For someone who eats out a lot, I tend to value service a lot more than the food quality. Even if you have the best dishes in town but really lousy and unattentive service, one day it's going to catch up with you. That's what I learned from this city's dining scene. It's not a very forgiving one.

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: $$$

Address: Shop G22-23, G/F, Lee Tung Avenue, 200 Queen's Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong

Closest Metro Station: Wanchai

Tel: +852 2686-9887

Website: www.wingwahallday.hk

Opening Hours: 8:00am - 9:30pm (Sun - Thu), 8:00am - 10:00pm (Fri - Sat)