Coffee culture has grown enormous in Taiwan in recent years, visiting a
cafe for an ice drip coffee has become part of the itinerary. What would
happen if a popular Taiwanese cafe opens in HK? The answer is a
two-hour wait in order to get in for its delish menu and be served by
its good-looking, friendly and mandarin speaking waiters.
Coffee
Alley (咖啡弄), a sought-after chain coffee shop in Taipei, has just
brought a replica to Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. It has all the traits of a
good Taiwanese cafe, which would incorporate international food and
localize to suit the local taste, pay great attention to details and
give an effort to impress customers.
A
group size of 4-5 is perfect if you want to taste the most out of
Coffee Alley's overwhelming menu. These are what comprised a delightful
lunch for 5 girls today:
Baguette with curry beef - A fun 'East meets West' dish, the curry was more peppery than the usual Indian curry, quite appetizing
Club
sandwich - A fulfilling dish
with a nice egg salad and Doritos chips on the side, the marinated
chicken in the sandwich was sweet and smoky, which turned up to be a
nice surprise
Pizza with roast chicken - It's not exactly a pizza but
a thin crispy baguette with tasty toppings, it's better named a toast
for a more accurate expectation though
Waffles with black sesame
ice-cream, chestnut paste and sunflower seeds - These phenomenal waffles
popped out fresh with beautiful dark brown and light brown colors on both
sides, the whipped cream was firm and rich, while the scoop of lightly
sweet chestnut paste and sunflower seeds helped add more texture to the
waffles. The ideas of black sesame ice-cream and black sesame sauce were
nice too, though the sauce could be more intense in sesame flavor, very
satisfying overall!
Strawberry mille feuilles - it's such an
eye-candy already, the crunchy buttery puff pastry, heavenly custard
and fresh strawberries with the right ripeness came altogether in harmony, fantastic!
Chocolate
brownie with vanilla ice-cream - It's good but not for those expecting an avalanche of chocolate sensation, 'cause this brownie has more
walnut and black currants than chocolate cake. The good thing is the refreshing berries actually lighten up this massive looking dessert, so you could still manage it after a big meal,
quite clever ;)
Other not to be missed are the variety of hand drip
coffees from around the world and some unique and devilish ice coffees
and lattes (I enjoyed my sea salt caramel latte with hazelnuts and
almonds scattered around the whipped cream on the side, very
thoughtful).
It's also perfectly fine if you are not a coffee person
because the fresh fruit teas are also to die for. The iced fresh fruit
tea with passion fruit seeds, lime, orange, apple..and Lipton breakfast
tea is a genius creation, the colorful mocktail comes in a carafe to
pour over to a slice of frozen lemon embedded in an ice cube in a glass.
The
menu portions are big, I guess it's because Coffee Alley insists to
put so much details in each plate to wow its guests with sky-high
expectations. Great job! The long wait surely worth it! (Recommended not to go during weekends)
Coffee Alley
Address: Room B1-B3, 1/F, Dragon Rise, 9-11 Pennington Street, Causeway Bay
Tel: 2493 3033
