Monday, March 13, 2017

Australia Dairy Co

While researching food places to eat in Hong Kong, I noticed that many food bloggers recommend Australia Dairy Company. Do you think food bloggers copy one another? Why are their recommended eating places so similar? Or is Australia Dairy Company that fantastic?

There was only one way to find out. We had to eat there. Plus my friend likes the food as well and I know she doesn't waste calories on bad food.

Australia Dairy Co is a cha chaan teng, a Hong Kong cafe. There's nothing remotely Australian about it. The name is very misleading. It is so widely written about in the internet that it doesn't require its own website. Other people does the free advertising for them. What is Australia Dairy Co famous for? Scrambled eggs. Yep. Scrambled eggs. It is also well known for bad service, particularly for people who are unable to communicate in Cantonese.

With these in mind, I decided we would go to Australia Dairy Co the first thing after we left our luggage in the hotel. The timing, around 4pm was perfect as I suspect it wouldn't be so crowded. I was right! There was no queue and we got a table right away!

See this tiny little table which in Singapore would normally seat 2 persons? We were ushered to this table and later 2 reluctant locals were forced to share the table with us. Ha ha ha ha. We were seated so close together it was pretty uncomfortable. For them. The 2 locals actually requested a change of seats but the waiter firmly rejected their request. I sniggered.

At first none of the waiters in white approached us. Hubs and I were getting nervous because the menus were in Chinese. I wondered if I should ask for an English menu. But I had come prepared because I knew exactly what I wanted to order. I had written down the order in my notebook in Chinese.

Finally I caught this waiter's eye and he came to take our order. Of course he spoke in Cantonese at bullet speed. Hubs bravely ordered the all-day set with milk tea. I didn't bother to read what the all-day set was and was adamant the waiter gave me what I had written in my note book in Chinese - scrambled egg toast and milk tea. The waiter kind of laughed and said he would give me the all-day set same as hubs because the all-day set consisted of scrambled egg toast (or fried eggs) and milk tea! He said "okay-okay" and I took it to mean "deal". In Hong Kong, one okay is not enough. Okay-okay?

When we first sat at our table, we were given two glasses semi filled with tea coloured water. As I'm writing this post, I'm just remembering some food blogger mentioning that the water might have been given to us to wash our utensils? I'm now a little wary of food blogger's advice so it could easily have been drinking water. Anyway, I did drink the water.

Even before we could relax, our food came. Australia Dairy Co is in its own league. Super fast food.
 Scrambled egg.

 Milk tea - the milk tasted like evaporated milk.

The toast was separate so you have to put the eggs in the bread yourself.

So was the scrambled eggs as fantastic as what people say? Absolutely not. It's just scrambled eggs. It does have a soft, fluffy texture. Taste wise, it's quite nice and I'll admit it tastes slightly different. Hubs says the egg tastes of cheese. I have no idea what I tasted.  But I think it's over hyped. For god's sake, it's scrambled eggs. I actually didn't like the tea because I find it too milky. Hubs seems to like the tea although he is not a evaporated milk tea person. He much prefers condensed milk tea.

If I remember correctly, the all-day set costs HK$36. It's value for money for tea, toast and eggs. In my opinion, there is way too much egg and not enough bread. Another slice would have been perfect. Anyway, I felt really full afterwards.

We did not try the steamed milk pudding. I wanted a taste but hubs wasn't keen so we skipped it. Overall, we enjoyed our first experience in a cha chaan teng. It is really different. The noise is crazy. Constant activity and people talking, talking away. It's not a place where you go to relax. You eat, you pay, you go. We didn't get scolded at all. I was really bracing myself for it. What a letdown. I'm kidding. I just don't know why food bloggers are calling the scrambled eggs to-die-for, legendary, the world's best, etc. It's just okay-okay.

Address:
G/F (ground floor), 47-49 Parkes Street, Jordan
(nearest MTR is Jordan station, exit C2)
possibly closed on Thursdays (I'm not 100% sure)

Read my trip to Hong kong here:
4Days 3Nights in Hong Kong

Read my other Hongkong food posts here:

Breakfast at Capital Cafe
I heart Dimdimsum
 

5 comments:

Christel said...

Hi Jane! Yes, the cha chaan teng in HK usually serve some hot tea (in plastic/glass cups no less) for the diners to rinse their utensils. I'm curious to know what you wrote on your notebook :P

Projects By Jane said...

Hi Christel, u mean I drank the water meant to rinse my utensils? It's probably clean, right? Ha ha. I wrote 炒蛋三文治 and 奶茶.

Ely said...

The meal was less than $5 US. Not too bad.

Yeah, I don't get the tea water for utensil washing. So if you want a cup of tea to drink...

Tammy said...

I probably would have drank the water, too. I don't understand that, is it to clean them between different foods or do they give you dirty utensils?
You'd think a local would know the tables are small and you'd have to sit with others. I've been to some restaurants in Boston that are like that, where they use space to the maximum - last time I was there with my husband we shared a table with 2 other tourists and his food splattered all over the woman sitting next to him - it definitely broke the silence and we talked to them during the rest of our meal.

I love reading your food posts, it's my favorite thing to do - try new places to eat!

Christel said...

If I'm not wrong, those are cups of tea for rinsing utensils cause most cha chaan teng leave their utensils on the tables (in holders), instead of providing them when serving your food. So maybe it's for "hygiene" purposes haha. They usually serve their drinks/beverages/tea in another cup though.

I think it's fine to drink the "tea" haha, it should be clean (it's for rinsing utensils after all). And I'm sure some tourists like us do that. :)

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