Sunday, January 3, 2010

All for an excellent piece of bread

Kam Hua (金華冰廳) is a tiny, unassuming looking eatery located near Prince Edward MTR station.

We usually pop by when we go to Mongkok, either in the morning for breakfast or in the late afternoon, for afternoon tea. From Mongkok, it is a 10 minutes walk through the crowd to get to Kam Hua.

Here, if the staff doesn't know you by your family name, don't expect good service. If they do however, you can be sure that you get very prompt service - they'd try to sit you in a comfortable little corner, remember your favourite drink and affectionately ask you what you'd like to have today.

They do not know The Husband and I by name. So, each time we drop by, we meekly follow the staff's directions. In a rather military-like style, they'd order you to your seats.. Then you'd be asked for your orders. We'd place our orders, usually milk tea or coffee and a piece of bread each.. and then we wait quietly.

The wait is usually short. Sometimes though, they'd miss an order.. which we'd then have to politely inform them. If they did miss your order, you can be quite sure that you'd almost be the next they serve. But we know too well not to rush them... customers who do that will get "nagged" at. "We need time to cook you know.." or "There are many customers in front of you.. of course you have to wait a little." Like many typical old eateries in Hong Kong, the staff have been here forever. They are prompt and efficient.. and they know how to manage the endless crowd.. so we know better than to rush or hurry them.

The bread they serve here is the Hong Kong styled type of bread (Pineapple buns, Mexico buns and egg tarts are their specialties) and very freshly baked. The eatery is usually packed full and on weekends, there are 2 queues - one outside the eatery for take-aways and one right inside for those eating in. Even though the queues might seem long, it usually takes a while because customers usually leave right after eating. Which is what we usually do too. We are usually in and out of the restaurant in about 10 to 15 minutes.

It's all worth it though.

In my opinion, they serve the nicest Hong Kong styled breads at Kam Hua. The milk tea and coffee is very very good too.

My favourite - Pineapple bun (菠萝包)

 
The Husband's favourite - Mexico bun (墨西哥)

A nice strong cup of HK milk tea

金華冰廳
Address: 太子弼街47號地下
Prince Edward Bute Street No. 47, Ground Floor

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