4D Hong Kong Foodie Trip: Star Cafe, Tsim Sha Tsui
Since this is already day 3 of our foodie trip at Hong Kong, R5 proposed to go for another cha chaan teng adventure. Cha chaan teng is actually the local term for retro style teahouse in Hong Kong which has become part of daily lifestyle for Hong Kong urbanites. The cha chaan teng that R5 wanted to go is located in a pretty much hidden place in the bustling area of Tsim Sha Tsui. Even with the help of Google Map, it took us a while to find Star Cafe since it's really located at the basement level of some kind of old and run down shopping mall. Kinda reminded me of one of my clients back in my life as auditor few years back.
Menu in Chinese is available on the white board but if you are at lost like the three of us...
...you can request for an English menu because Star Cafe is after all popular with international tourists. One thing that I like about restaurants in Hong Kong is that most of them provide menu in English which is not the case when you travel to let's say Taiwan.
Star Cafe seems to be frequently visited by office crowd too because most of the patrons around lunch time wears formal office dresscode. The cafe really gives a retro vibe like those neighbourhood restaurant run by a middle-aged couple. After checking online about the history of Star Cafe, it turns out that the cafe has been around since 1966 and it was opened by a group of Cantonese movie stars back then. I suppose this place may have been a hang-out place for movie stars. It was then handed over from one owner to another once the previous owner has become too old to run the business.
I suppose sometimes there is an oomph value about being a nostalgic place to hang out. People will ultimately come back to the place where they have spent so many memories in their life at that particular place, right? However, since the building is so run-down, one may worry of whether the place will be eventually shut down due to safety reason (after all, HK is always visited by typhoon annually). Before that happens, let's order the classic cha chaan teng drinks, a glass of iced almond drink (HKD 16) and YY's all time favourite drink, iced yuan yang (HKD 16). Star Cafe also has other interesting drinks such as Red Bean Coffee (HKD 21) and Salt Lemon Coke (HKD 24).
R5 specifically wanted to try out Star Cafe's famous tomato beef noodle soup. I am not really a fan of tomato and hence, this kind of instant noodle fully soaked in a soup of tomato does not really attract my tastebud. But, R5 seems to enjoy the dish just fine so I suppose this dish will go well with tomato lover?
Star Cafe is located at:
Shop no. 36, Champagne Court
16 - 20 Kimberley Road
Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Opening hours:
Monday to Saturday 8AM - 9.30PM