Nestled between Agnes B. boutique and a chic Adidas store in the heart of Causeway Bay’s high-end shopping district is Ho Ho Cafe (好好茶餐廳). That last part – 茶餐廳 – is pronounced “cha chaan teng” and represents a uniquely Hong Kong style of fusion café. They specialize in weird, weird stuff like deep-fried French toast, grouper with creamed corn, stir-fried macaroni and milk tea brewed in a sock. Apparently these places are an important part of Hong Kong’s cultural heritage, a kind of working-class fusion cuisine blending Chinese tastes with colonial English food. I can’t claim to be a huge fan of this style – I’m a purist at heart – but their eclectic charm is undeniable. Ho Ho, with its striped-bedsheet-awning, friendly rats, and alley-side dining definitely captures the gritty je-ne-sais-quois of old Hong Kong.
I thought I was ordering noodles with pork-ribs and eggplant, but it turns out I was ordering spaghetti with pork ribs and tomatoes (the Chinese word for tomato is 番茄 – “barbarian eggplant”). It was not bad for HK$25, but Wei’s meal – beef brisket noodle soup – was better. Just for shits and giggles I got the famous silk-stocking milk tea which admittedly was as smooth as a silk stocking and thankfully unsweetened. And we saw some cute rats – a mama and a baby! awwww…
