Hongkong Café , Central Park - Jakarta

Stretchy melted cheese. Don't you feel hungry just by looking at it?

Stretchy cheese on Hongkong Cafe special baked rice

And the cheese is put on a flavorsome, baked rice. I'm all in for that stuff.

So. It was just days before Christmas, and the BFF was in town. The three of us then made our way to Central Park Mall, where the good restaurants are heaps. After some brainstorming we decided to give Hongkong Café a try, especially after hearing many praises about the place.

The restaurant uses modern interior and setting; elegant is a great word to explain it. Old lanterns, chandeliers, and porcelain plates with unique patterns are used as decorations, giving the place a vintage vibes. The interesting decoration also involves circular stairs, which cannot be climbed obviously.

Hongkong Cafe interior

This Asian eatery is originally from Singapore, but has already had two branches in Jakarta. At Central Park, Hongkong Cafe is merged with another restaurants, namely Tatsuya (Japanese eatery) and Delika (Patisseries & Pantry).

The menu book is big and full of huge food pictures. We spend quite some time on choosing what to eat, and finally picking the ones with chef hat icons. They offer various noodles dishes, assorted dim sums, and oriental-western fusion dishes such as baked rice and baked spaghetti.

Clockwise from top left: stairs in the restaurant, restaurants signage, chilli sauces, noodles menu

Drinks chosen that day were overall unique and enjoyable. Gracia's iced milk tea jelly isn't accepted well by my tongue, apparently I still have issues for milk tea. She said it's nice although the jelly feels a bit weird. My iced passion tea is great, very refreshing with vivid flavour of passion fruit. Christina's lime lemon honey turned out to be my fav drink among the three, with perfect balance of sourness ans sweetness. It's an interesting drink because I taste a bit salty notes cutting through the sourness, it feels like drinking kietna or cumquat syrup.

Front to back: iced milk tea jelly (IDR 17,500 - $1.9), iced passion tea (IDR 17,500 - $1.9), lime lemon honey (IDR 16,500 - $1.8)

We chose two appetizers to start the meal, and the first to arrive was beancurd skin roll. We were in shock at first to find out their size. I believe anyone would expect a bigger ones regarding to the price tag. It's decent though, crunchy beancurd skin with juicy prawns filling.

Beancurd skin roll - IDR 14,500 ($1.6)

Same dismay also appeared when the har gao was delivered on the table. Way too small, although the prawns filling is hot and juicy.

Har gao - IDR 16,000 ($1.7)

Moving on to main dishes! My mouth literally watered when I saw the beef bolognaise baked spaghetti. The pasta is cooked to perfection, topped with generous layer of luscious beef bolognaise sauce and tasty melted cheese. I was surprised actually, as I know Christina isn't a cheese eater and yet she chose this sea-of-cheese dish. The interesting part is to find a whole basil leaf hidden in the pasta, so no wonder its scent is so aromatic.

Beef bolognaise baked spaghetti - IDR 35,000 ($3.8)

Gracia's combo chicken and beef bowl is, on the contrary, cheese-less. It is literally rice on a bowl, flanked with a BBQ sliced beef and a chicken pattie. Joining the party is stir fried veggies. It's a simple dish but quite good, and for me the succulent chicken pattie is superior than the beef.

Combo chicken and beef rice bowl - IDR 39,500 ($4.4)

My Hongkong Café baked rice looks utterly tantalizing, I can't wait to dig in. A layer of melted cheese completely envelops the rice, and I noticed there are two types of sauce given; tomato sauce and cream sauce. Both the sauces taste equally stunning and work together pretty well, but it's the half-caramelized layer of cheese that demands my utmost attention. It is sigh-worthy, and combine perfectly with the rice, the fried chicken pattie, and the seafood and mushrooms pieces. The rice itself is savoury on its own, I wonder if it's cooked with butter. If I wasn't that full (the portion size is massive, if you haven't noticed), I would have licked the plate clean.

Hongkong Café special baked rice - IDR 39,500 ($4.4)

Overall, I really love the dishes from this place. But really, with the combination of good friends+good food, how could it be bad?

Desserts pic

Rating: 4/5 (Recommended)
Really great food, fast and friendly service, good ambiance, but the price kinda turn me off, especially for the dim sums.









Address:


HONGKONG CAFE


Central Park Mall 1st Floor, Unit L1 - 112B
Jl. S. Parman Kav. 38
West Jakarta


Phone: (021) 56985378


Website: www.hongkong-cafe.com
Twitter: @HKC_resto