This is one of two places I go for my authentic Singaporean chicken rice fix... The other being…read moreCafe Malacca @ Hotel Jen. While the chicken rice there is arguably [marginally] better at Cafe Malacca, Old Town wins out for location (in the heart of Central), portion size (generous) and quickness of service (I don't think I've ever waited for more than 10 minutes). The chicken rice is as authentic you would expect, right down to the gelatin between the skin & meat. The winter melon soup is great and the soup bowl they serve it in is a nice touch, though not exactly conducive for easy scooping into mouth. At $98 for the regular set and $116 to top up for a thigh meat portion, it certainly ain't cheap, but I am sympathetic to restaurants having to pay super high rents in Central. A couple of tips: - Come during lunch or dinner and get the regular chicken rice set. The teatime chicken rice set is cheaper but you are getting less proportionally per dollar. - Top up an extra $18 for thigh meat. Totally worth it. - They have some amex discounts. I believe if you pay your bill on weekdays before 1245pm you get 12% off your bill. - Upgrade your drink to a coconut. They are always cold and fresh.

I came here for lunch with a friend on a weekday…read more Food: I'd heard that their Hainan Chicken was good here and was excited to try it. The Hainan Chicken Lunch set ($98 + 10% service fee) was good and I felt pretty full after. It had several pieces of boneless chicken, a melon soup, rice with the chicken oil (not too oily and pretty flavorful), and 3 sauces to go with the chicken. The sauces were a sweet one, ginger, and a soy sauce like one. Overall, I feel like it was a good portion size and food was tasty. All sets comes with a hot or cold barley water. I got the hot and found it to be the right amount of sweetness. FYI: They also have a Hainan Chicken and Laksa set for $128, if you like Laksa as well. Wait for table: For this building, there is a line outside to get into the building via the elevator, but the line moves relatively quickly. On arrival at 12:30, we had to get a number, and waited half an hour for 2 people, so it's best that you go earlier. Promotion: They give you 15% off your bill if you pay your bill by 12:40pm so if you can go earlier, you not only get a deal, you can beat some of the later crowds. Service: Food came quickly as you are requested to tick off the items you want on a sheet of paper to pass to the waiter when you are seated. They were also quick to give us the check when we were done eating. And we didn't feel like they rushed us either, which was nice for chatting up and catching up.

If you're familiar with Singapore, you will know that Katong is a neighborhood west of Downtown,…read moreknown for their laksa. I didn't know that until I visited Singapore last month as I tried Katong Corner in July. We ordered the Hainan Chicken Rice, Char Kway Teow, and Beef rendang. The chicken was delicious! But my qualm is the rice that accompanied the dish. You can taste the chicken in the first bite of rice, but for some unknown reason, it had a very strange plastic-y kind of after taste that did not sit well on my taste buds. I tried to mask it with the soy sauce, chili sauce and ginger condiment and it only mediated that odd after taste ever so slightly. The Singaporean-style Char Kway Teow came with a large prawn in the center. It looked very impressive, but how did it taste? It was a solid plate of noodles, with a variety of thick and flat noodles, but the prawn was overcooked. After tasting this dish, I realized that I preferred the Penang-style CKT with a little spice kick and fried egg. To each his own. On the other hand, the Beef Rendang was very tender. If I return, I'd definitely order this again. We were served four large beef patties and the rendang sauce was 5 stars! Probably best in HK that I've tasted. I can't wait to try their other dishes, especially their Laksa and Singapore chili crab.

They have a great lunch special, a Hainan chicken rice set lunch is only $88, including a free…read morebarley water drink. There are other varieties such as laksa, beef rendang, nasi goreng and char kuay teow. No wonder it is so packed at lunch time, we waited almost a good hour for a table. The hainan chicken comes with three sauces. The chicken is good but not tender enough - I think it's more to do with the breed of chicken then the cooking. The bak kut teh (rib soup) comes piping hot on a stove, and has a rich herbal flavor and lots of ingredients in it. I love the laksa noodle has a strong flavor, and the satay are tender and juicy. The lunch set comes with a barley drink, which is so delicious, I managed to drink half of it, to the brim of bursting my belly. Overall, good quality food for at a fair price, fast service.

I'm a huge fan of Malaysian food, so I always look for Malaysian restaurant anywhere I travel to…read more During our holiday in Hong Kong, I was so excited to try Cafe Malacca located on 2nd floor of JEN hotel by Shang ri-la. We came during their lunch service without reservation. We were really lucky to get seated immediately before they got super busy. They have an amazing menu and lunch set menu, but I preferred à la carte. I wished I could order every single item on the menu to try tho because everything just looked so good. My husband always loves the roti canai, so he got both the fish and lamb. I got the Mee Siam, and Hainanese chicken rice. My little one got the fried chicken (excellent, didn't taste like fast food). For desserts and drinks we ordered Teh Tarik (of course), soursop soda, coconut jelly, cendol and durian pudding (their signature desert using Musang King- must try). Everything was delicious and authentic. We all had food coma afterward. Nice, clean and chill vibe. Service was friendly. We'll definitely gonna come back when visiting HK again. Highly recommended!!!

On a recent trip to Hong Kong, after a couple Chinese meals my wife was craving Southeast Asian,…read moreand so we researched and saw this place being known for being the most popular and authentic Malaysian Food. The restaurant is on the Second Floor for the Hotel Jen. There is a pretty large and open dining area. We got there at 11:30am, right before the lunch rush came in, and it filled up quickly. We had different dishes and found them to be flavorful, I'd recommend their Rojak which is pretty spicy, their beef satay and Char Kway Teoy. We saved room for their Malaysian shaved ice with ice cream (Ice Kacang) which was really good. This place is better than a lot of the Malaysian food we could get back home in the Bay Area, CA, so I'd highly recommend this place and we'd likely return next time we're in HK.

The restaurant is located at the Causeway Bay Fashion Walk. I went there specifically because of…read moreHainanese Chicken craving and it did not disappoint. Our party of 2 ordered the set menu for 2. It came with a fruit salad, a soup or choice, prawn with rice rolls, satay, hainanese chicken, veggies and chicken rice. Definitely lots of food to share but reasonable price ($HK 599) compared to ordering them ala carte. Everything was tasty and ambience was intimate for a good dining experience. Service level can be improved as nobody came to check on us after the food was served and the server was kind of rude when I asked for a takeout box for the leftovers (by the way, it was $3 surcharge). Overall, i would recommend the restaurant for hainanese chicken.

I'm from the US (Cali, SGV--IYKYK)...with that being said, we have an incredibly popular Hainan…read morechicken place that can't be beat, price-wise and food-wise. However, the variety of food here is great and flavors are actually quite nice. The hainan chicken portions are very tiny though, so don't come if you have a hungry hippo American appetite (lol), or order two dishes. Also keep in mind that any meat from the soups you order will be completely dry and crumbly from simmering in the broth for so long--meaning you're ordering strictly for the soup, not the stuff in there. I will say that the beef brisket noodles are really good and that is probably worth the most bang for your buck if you come here. Lastly, this place is quite pricey--on par with US prices and more expensive than US hainan chicken places. You're basically paying to say you went to a "Michelin" restaurant.

This is probably the only time I walked into a Singaporean restaurant without ordering my absolute…read morefavorite, Hainanese Chicken rice. However, after I sat down, I noticed that, despite the menu claiming it to be their specialty, nobody around was eating it. I noticed also that the menu looks like a regular HK cafe style menu, with dishes such as spaghetti bolognese, pork chop udon in borscht, sweet and sour pork rice... I ended up splitting with a friend a laksa noodle, decidedly not authentic with a brownish curry base they probably use for all curry dishes, and some satays, with a starch-thickened dipping sauce. Just a place for office workers nearby to grab an inexpensive lunch, but definitely not if you want something nice.

Since "Hainan" is in the restaurant's name, you'd think the Hainan Chicken rice would be absolutely…read morefabulous..... Well it's good but not fabulous. Tastes okay and nothing's missing. But the chicken is usually on the skinny/bonny side & there is a down market feel about the food. Not surprising given the location - across the highway from Shun Tak Center. One the flip side, if you're hungry, the non-Hainan Chicken Rice dishes are generous & not expensive, so come on you hungry guys.

This place is hard to find if you're relying on Google Maps! This is located in Wing Wah Ln, not…read moreD'Aguilar St. When you enter you'll be given menus--Malaysian and Thai food menus and a drinks menu. Pineapple rice never fails. It's basically yangzhou fried rice (扬州炒饭) with pineapple tidbits served in a carved out pineapple. Really delicious. Papaya salad is great. It is on the hot spicy side but later on you'll get used to the spiciness. No tap water here but you can share a 1-liter bottled water when the spice starts kicking in. For the satay, better skip the beef. Pork and chicken are good.

This is the best Thai food I've had anywhere. The flavors are so refined and special, and the…read moredishes are a step up from regular thai cuisine. Like our red curry had roasted duck. It was full of flavor from the basil and lemongrass and lots of different vegetables in there too. The steamed fish was exquisite! Topped with marinated lemongrass, ginger, and celery, it was sooo good. It came with a red sauce that was vinegary, fishy, sweet, and spicy with a floral hint that I couldn't get enough of. I will probably come back again tomorrow :) because their desserts looked amazing too.

If you're out in Wan Chai at a loss for what or where to eat, I would definitely recommend Sun…read moreThai. It is by no means the cheapest Thai place in the area, but it provides fantastic service with food quality that matches it. I should advise however that step free access is not available at this location. Aside from that the restaurant is very pleasant to be in, featuring a very welcoming blend of modern interior design alongside some traditional aspects. I've been here many times and as auch tried quite a number of dishes here. The green curry is very good. It's a bit spicy even when you ask for a mild one, but it's still very flavourful and coconutty. If you're worried that the chicken would dry out in the curry, that isn't going to be a problem here. I've had a green chicken curry and a chicken coconut soup, and in both instances the chicken was still tender and succulent. Salads are also really good here- I'd like to highlight the mango salad in particular, where they make a salad with shredded pieces of unripe mango. While it may sound very unpalatable, they complement it very nicely with a sweet dressing and the nite that served as a topping. Barbecued pork neck is good, and so are their sides like a soft shell crab Thai spring roll- you get a really chewy outer layer, some crisp vegetables and some very crunchy pieces of soft shell crab, all of which is made so much better when you add their fish sauce. The pad Thai and skewers were good, but nothing too special. They got the textures and flavours right and that's about it. Desserts and drinks are pretty good. I tried the young coconut, which was nice, as well as their other coconut based beverages that feature scented jellies inside. The pandas water chestnut pudding and multilayer coconut pudding are good, though if you don't have much of a sweet tooth, there's a chance you won't like the multilayer pudding too much.

It was always told to me that Nam Ah (South Asia) was the standard when it came to…read moreIndo-Malay-Singaporean cuisine in Kowloon. It makes sense after all, Nam Ah has practically outlived most of the businesses on Ashley through 50+ years and might have the roomiest interior, along with the nicest decor of the bunch. But after a couple of recent visits, it occurred to me the flavors were decent at best, not enough to warrant an immediate return. That's not to say things at Nam Ah were bad per se, but it hasn't won over my group of dining companions and I for the times we've gone. The menu is understandably catered to the Hong Kong and western palate, which includes random dishes from Portuguese Chicken to Borscht. The staff was sadly not in tune with a lot of Southeast Asian choices (such as roti canai, mee goreng, etc.) because they actually don't exist on the menu. Thankfully, through a myriad of random choices, we were able to convince them to create something similar to it. The end result showed it wasn't their strong suit, so it's hard to fault them for that. So instead, we focused on things they were known for. Hainanese Chicken ($85 for a quarter, $138 for a half), Pork Satay ($70), Char Kwayteow Noodles ($75) and a bowl of their Seafood Laksa. The reactions all around were shoulder shrugs, but being that we were hungry enough we still ate most of everything for the benefit of the doubt. I've had better Hainan Chicken at smaller, less distinguished places, but at least the presentation was on point. I would like to think Nam Ah has had better days or perhaps the times have changed in a way where this cuisine has become more accessible than ever. While I'm not opposed to a return visit, I'm really hoping they'll revamp their selections to where not only all of SE Asia is represented in some way, but tastes like it too.