I love Hong Kong Cafes. I love the food, I love the relatively lower prices(for most restaurants) and I LOVE the HK milk teas. They are usually pretty run-of-the-mill, but there’s still a difference between a crappy one and a good one with quality food, even if the dish itself isn’t original. So when I went to Orchard Central recently, I went for lunch at Crystal Jade Hong Kong Cafe. Yup, you heard that right. It’s CRYSTAL JADE and HONG KONG CAFE. Together. And although its prices are slightly higher than that of a normal Hong Kong Cafe, it was worth every single cent.
Slight digressions about my thoughts on Orchard Central:
So if you don’t know, which is quite unlikely, Orchard Central is the other new shopping mall on Orchard Road, build right opposite Centrepoint. It’s quite empty, with many shops still unopened, and its a mix of popular brands and obscure ones. The layout is a lot simpler than ION, but it’s still confusing since there doesn’t seem to be a directory where you usually see one. (THERE SHOULD BE ONE ON EVERY LEVEL) I didn’t have much time to explore the place, but any mall that allows me to walk freely without banging into people or navigating through crowds is immediately not that bad a place to be in. I think it’s not because of its wide passageways but more because of Orchard Central lying in ION’s shadow. Which is probably quite true since everyone’s flocking to ION now. Hate the crowd at ION, hate not being able to afford anything there, not even the food at the food court which is exorbitantly high. (Not that I’d even GO to the food court since it’s so crowded that I don’t see how anyone can even find seats)
I HAD to have the Hong Kong Milk Tea, of course, which came like this.

HK Milk Tea
On the left is when the jug was still full, and on the right is when the jug is almost empty. (you can see how the jug is made more clearly then)
The jug is like a vase with a beaked top, and a hole blown into the glass. The hole is filled with dry ice, so that the milk tea will be cold but not diluted by the residual water(incorrect chemical terms but I’m an Arts student so I don’t care
). It comes with 2 small glasses(as tall as your HP, maybe) and it’s designed to tilt elegantly, while also making drinking from it easier. I want to own this set, it’s so cool.
Now I’m not an expert on milk teas, but this one appealed to me because the taste of milk tea remained strong yet not overly sweet, with a hint of bitterness that one would expect from tea. It also wasn’t diluted, by what would normally be ice, since this was chilled through a separate outlet in the jug and the water and drink don’t mix.

Mango Slushie/Smoothie Drink
This was what my brother had and I only had a sip of it so I can’t really comment.

Sandwiches with Chips and Salad
So ok, that might not be proper salad or coleslaw, but anything with mayo tastes great, or so I think.
The sandwiches were not bad. They’re not the type to make you swoon, but it’s great in the sense that it works really well as an appetizer to start you off for what’s to come. (OK, so in the menu it’s not an appetizer, but we shared so it seemed like one since it was also the first to arrive)

Sausage, Steak, Chicken, Fish, Vegetables and Mashed Potatoes in Black Pepper Sauce
Now at first I didn’t expect much of it. I thought they’d try to cover up for quality by adding quantity since restaurants are usually quite stingy but that’s really not the case here. I’m not talking about quality cuisine here, I’m talking quality food. And as far as I know, quality food is for the individual to judge so feel free to say that the sauce drenches the meat and makes the crispy skin soggy etc. I frankly don’t mind the sogginess.
Anyway, back to the dish. The fish was soft and succulent, with the meat coming off easily at the gentle probe of a fork. THe sausage was a surprise, since it contained warm cheese in the centre. I didn’t eat much of the steak and I can’t remember anything about the chicken, but I don’t remember anything particularly bad about them either. Besides, everything tasted better with the sauce. And DUH I didn’t eat this on my own. It was shared.

Lychee Snow Ice with Vanilla Ice Cream
Their signature dessert, apparently. Though signature dishes are always the most expensive of the lot. The other desserts included green tea snow ice, chocolate snow ice… You get the idea.
At this point I was so stuffed that I didn’t have much of this, so I don’t know if it influenced by opinion of it as well. THe snow ice was OK, but I still prefer the milk snow ice I had with HM at a small shop near my school. The vanilla ice cream was pretty average, since they’re probably selling the combination of the snow ice and the ice cream rather than both on its own. It’s not the most original concept I’ve seen, but since I like simplicity with small unique touches, it works for me.
Only thing is, if you don’t have a sweet tooth(like me), share this with someone else or it’ll start to get too sickeningly sweet after awhile. I wouldn’t say it has to do with the sweetness of the dessert, but rather, the large amount itself that people without a sweet tooth just can’t seem to stomach. I have a limit as to how much sweetness I can take(even if its not that sweet).
So overall, the experience was wonderful. The food probably isn’t the best that you’ll ever have in your life, but it’s definitely above average. I also left the place with that rare satisfied feeling that I don’t often experience. Plus, I’m totally going back so that I can try their other dishes! Especially the chocolate snow ice!
***I’m raelly please with how the photos turned out this time! They were taken with my 2 Megapixel Motorola Phone camera, and I didn’t actually expect it to be so clear. Phone camera FTW!