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Date Cafe

Hong Kong's best cha chaan teng

Quick Look

Food

Indoor

About

Unlike the flashy hotel bars or the luxury restaurants in Hong Kong, Date Cafe (同芯冰室) is one of the go to places for locals trying get a taste at one of Hong Kong's most traditional type of restaurants. the cha chaan teng. With great portions and a affordable price, it's easily one of my top favourites in Hong Kong.

Must Do's

Try the baked pork rice

Key Info

cost

accessibility

uniqueness

*Learn more about my Key Information methadology here.

Cost

Not the cheapest meal you can find in Hong Kong, but for it's price, it's definitely worth it. You can expect to spend around $60 - 80 HKD here, but most set comes with a drink and soup.

Accessibility

As a local eatery, it's quite far from any MTR station. The easiest way to get there is to take the subway to Causeway Bay or Wan Chai, and then take the tram to the Happy Valley terminus and enjoy a short stroll through the neighbourhood to the restaurant.

Uniqueness

While cha chaan tengs are everywhere in Hong Kong, and you can experience the famed culture and food at almost any of them, Date Cafe simply does it best.

My Experience

To be honest, since moving to Hong Kong, one of my biggest disappointments has been the cha chaan tengs. Many of the ones I’ve tried have been bad or mediocre at best, but Date Cafe single-handedly restored my faith in them. If you don't know what a cha chaan teng is, it's a casual Hong Kong-style diner known for its menu of Western-influenced comfort food, local drinks, and quick, "disrepecful" service. Although it used to be the cheap, go to place for the average worker, I wouldn't say the price points are cheap anymore. Nevertheless, despite my dissapointment with most cha chaan tengs, Date Cafe has become one of my absolute go-to spots. Unlike many others cha chaan tengs now, the set meals here still come with soup and a drink, and the portions are genuinely generous. I’ll admit, I haven’t explored much of the menu, because every time I come, I can’t resist ordering their baked pork chop rice. It’s hands down the best I’ve had in Hong Kong. The portion is huge, it’s baked to perfection, and you can tell from the first bite that it’s made fresh to order, which is sadly rare these days.