Coffee, Tea or Me?

I always heard stories about the coffee shops in Hong Kong, or tea shops (茶餐厅), to be literally correct, being a fast-paced place for a quick meal or snack. Some of them were said to have very nice food served.

Mido Cafe (美都餐室) is located at 63 Temple Street of Yau Ma Tei. We learned that it serves pretty good ying yong, a drink that you order if you can't decide between the milk tea and milk coffee. It is a place with very traditional set up.

I wouldn't describe this place as fast-paced though. It was rather 'academic' as people were reading books and newspapers there. There were some other tourists snapping on the food as well.

The legendary iced ying yong drinks had finally arrived. It was really refreshing.

Another food item that shouldn't be missed in a coffee shop in Hong Kong is the polo bun or pineapple bun (波萝包). I was told by a Hong Kong friend that the polo bun that comes with a slice of frozen butter is denoted as polo bun on fire and ice (冰火波萝包). This was probably derived from the hot bun and cold butter. Biting into the bun with the melting butter was just beyond my ability to describe!

A polo bun was just a starter. There were more food to come! The crispy fried noodles with sliced pork was also very good. I like the crispiness of the noodles with thick gravy.

According to our food bible, the baked spare-rib rice at this place is its signature food item too. It was really top notch! Each spare-rib cube was coated with flour all over and deep-fried to golden brown. Coupled with the sauce which tasted on the sweet side, it was really food in heaven!

This meal was as good as taking a ride in one of these!