Seems like many first times… if not I will not be writing about them haha… I was heading to my favorite coffee place and was looking for some food before that and I found this place. Apparently it’s a famous chain in Hong Kong since 1974 and they have expanded into Shenzhen since 2002. This place can get quite crowded and there’ll be lots of seats outside this place for those who wanna wait.
I didn’t try a lot as I’m controlling my food intake and was alone. So I tried what a Cha Can Ting should be good for; the pork chop bun and century egg porridge. The pork chop bun was really good, at least the pork chops were not dry. Well seasoned and juicy. The porridge was just awesome. With shreds of pork, and a lot of it, to flavor the porridge totally. These 2 items alone I give it 5 stars. Will check out their roast meats the next time.
A friend brought me to this place and didn’t know such a nice bakery cafe exist. The owner of this place is a Hong Konger and family line came from Jiangsu, China. Went to the Pudong branches, both branches were close on Sundays. So had to catch a cab back to their main branch in Puxi. We were pretty lucky ‘cos at 12.30pm, we managed to get seats as I heard this place has really long queues. I really like bakery cafes as I aspire to open one myself in future… but for now, no capital.. ;P Anyways see my comments with the pictures below:
Cafe frontGlorious breads!!!Cakes and dessert sectionLove the displayFriend’s Salmon Tartin… smoke salmon ona slice of homemade walnut bread… a wee bit salty.Grilled Chicken Salad for meThe latte was good. Milk used is not the sweet type. They use illy beans… can’t go wrong.Shortly after we got our seats… told you we were lucky!Their famous coffee eclairWith loads of fillingTheir famous Sun bread.Bill… pretty affordable as compared to Element FreshI went to the outlet at first address… the other 2 are in Pudong area.
Rating: 5/5.
Taste: Excellent. I couldn’t try their croissants, sun bread, lemon tarts and cheese cake because I’m on diet, but they are highly recommended.
After reaching Shanghai in the afternoon today, I rushed to check out this cafe which has a roasting factory, 2 cafe outlets and a training center for aspiring baristas. I found them online and know that they roast their own beans. I took the cab and headed to their training center and realized they don’t serve coffees there after I made a call to them. Then I headed to their outlet at fengxian lu which is the only outlet that opens on weekends.
The walk under the 39 deg celsius sun is no joke even though it’s like only 3 blocks away. When I reached the cafe, I was drenched. The cafe is really a very small shop and when I was there there were already some customers there occupying the inside of the shop. So I had to sit the outer area which was serious super warm!
I first ordered the Mandheling which has mild acidity and quite a medium-high body. But tasting the dripped coffee in such a warm space is really uncomfortable.
Shortly after, some of the customers inside left and I moved my ass inside to catch some aircon… And I had to give some lesson on ‘how to adjust the aircon to cool mode’. I then ordered a latte, which was made from the branded Slayer espresso machine. The latte has some acidity, fruity and pretty full body. I found the milk they used is a little on the sweet side like the HL milk in Singapore and Malaysia. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good combination for their House Blend No.5, which is a mix of 3 different beans that I shall not disclose.
The cute thing about the small shop is that they have a vintage typewriter there for customers to type in their greetings! Very innovative!
Rating: 4.5/5. The temperature control in the cafe is very important.
Taste: Great!
Portion: Average.
Service: Excellent. The barista over the counter offered me a cup of water when I came into the cafe, all drenched. And she keeps refilling when I sat inside. Very good conversationalist too!
Ambience: Inside is alright but outside is not cool. Very small space but in a very prime area.
Price: RMB28 for the Mandheling and RMB25 for the latte.
