If you ask someone who has been to Hong Kong on where to eat they would probably recommend the Australia Dairy Company. It's been mentioned in numerous guide books and there are a plethora of posts on the internet. People flock from far and wide to visit the famed cha chann teng, otherwise known as a tea restaurant serving traditional Hong Kong style food at affordable prices.
We were expecting very long queues that snaked around the front. To our surprise, there was no queue on a weekday morning after 8am. Customers do not linger around. They order, eat , pay and then leave.
The Australia Dairy Company has no association with Australian Diary. The owner use to work on a farm in Australia and that's where it got its name from.
Displays of milk and egg custard. One of their most popular items.
Fresh milk from a local dairy farm.
It's partly chaotic inside giving it a lively buzz.
The staff here are notorious for their rude and nasty service, but I was surprised that they were fairly nice to us. We were taken to a vacant table and a hardcover English menu resembling a photo book was handed to us. Then we ordered and the waiter nodded his head and quickly disappeared to the kitchen. I've read that unless you spoke Cantonese you might have difficulty ordering so we prepared in advance in case we weren't given an English menu.
Ordering a set menu is much cheaper than ordering individual items. The breakfast set costs HKD 32, and includes either a coffee or milk tea, scrambled or fried eggs with buttered toast and a bowl of macaroni and ham in chicken soup. Now that's excellent value for money. The only problem is actually finishing the meal as the portion size is rather large for one.
We ordered one set meal containing a milk tea, scrambled eggs with buttered toast, and a ham and macaroni soup. It came out a few minutes after we ordered. Highly efficient and prompt service.
The thick slices of toast were slightly buttered just how I like it. The star of the dish was the scrambled eggs. Perfectly cooked eggs that were fluffy, moist and tasty. A simple yet satisfying dish.
I really liked the macaroni and ham soup. The macaroni was al-dente and the addition of the ham on the top gave it a nice balance with the slightly salty chicken soup. Comforting on a cold and rainy day.
The milk tea had a strong black tea flavour and was an acquired taste. I much prefer coffee over milk tea.
The fried eggs on a buttered toast was pretty decent too. For those who aren't too hungry or after a lighter meal the single toast option is better.
Was it worth trying out? Yes! While there are one of these types of restaurants on nearly every corner, what differentiates them from the rest if their scrambled eggs and the consistently good quality of their food.
Where?
47 Parkes St
Jordan, Kowloon
Hong Kong
MTR Jordan Exit C2
Phone no: +85 2 2730 1356
Opening Hours
Daily Except Thursday
7:30am - 11:00pm
Website
N/A
