Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司 (Hongkong)

I have heard so much about the Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司 that it was on my list of must visit destination in Hong Kong.

Australia Dairy Company is a cha chaan teng know for it's legendary Scrambled Eggs, Steamed Egg White Pudding with Milk, long queues and cheap prices.

Signboard saying 澳洲牛奶公司

Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司

During my 6D5N stay in Hong Kong, we visited Australia Diary Company not once. Not twice. But thrice! Yes, three times in total during such a short stay as we like the food too much.

In this post, I will cover my first visit to Australia Diary Company for breakfast.

There was a long queue at Australia Dairy Company at 9am. Despite the long queue, we got a table for the 6 of us within 10minutes! It's amazingly how fast we got a place considering we have such a big group. This gives a very big hint on how fast the turnover is as those who knows this place will recall it is not a very big shop.

Chiller displaying the cold Steamed Egg White Puddings with Milk!

A peek inside the cha chaan teng. Notice those guys wearing white (Men in White)? They are the waiters taking orders, serving and tallying the bill. Also, notice that they are all males!

Menu (a)

The menus are all pasted on each table under a hard solid plastic sheet. This helps as waiters do not need to waste time and get the menu.

They have 3 set meals; Breakfast Set, Tea Time Set and Fast Food Set. Breakfast Set is from 730am to 12 noon and cost HK$26. Tea Time Set is from 12 noon to 11pm and cost HK$30. Fast Food Set is for all day (any time) and cost HK$26.

Before we could warm our seats (less than 1 min after seating down), one of the Men in White was already at our tables waiting to take our orders. We decided to order the Breakfast Set which cost HK$26 (S$4.33). The Breakfast Set consist of toasted white bread with scrambled or sunny side up eggs, macaroni soup with ham slices and hot/cold milk tea. We all chose the legendary scrambled eggs!

Menu (b)

We also ordered two Steamed Egg White Pudding with Milk 蛋白燉鲜牛奶 which cost HK$20 (S$3.33) each.

Macaroni Soup with Ham Slices

The service here is amazing. Within less than 5 minutes after ordering, our Macaroni Soup with Ham Slices arrived. The macaroni was cooked perfectly, not too hard not too soft. The broth was clear but slightly salty. It was a heart-warming homecooked dish that certainty warmed my heart. Yummy.

You will need to eat the macaroni soup fast. Because before I could even finish it (by the way, I am a fast eater), the bread with scrambled egg and tea were served. It was a challenge to squeeze all the items on the tables.

Toasted White Bread with Scrambled Egg

Presenting the Toasted White Bread with Legendary Scrambled Egg. Many readers will be wondering what's the fuss with scrambled egg. After all it is simple to make and available everywhere. However, to make it to Australia Dairy Company's standard, it takes a lot of skill. You will need to try this for yourself to understand what I meant.

The scrambled eggs here are perfectly cooked. Light, fluffy, moist, buttery and well seasoned. This is certainly the best scrambled egg I ever had. Anyone knows how to cook it this way?

Hot Milk Tea

Hot Milk Tea was ordinary. You will need to add sugar. My guess is that fresh milk is added instead of condense milk.

I was greedy and thought this will be our one and only visit to Australia Dairy Company. Hence, I ordered Macaroni Soup with Ham and Sunny Side Up Egg.

Macaroni Soup with Ham and Sunny Side Up Egg

Steamed Egg White Pudding with Milk (hot)

Steamed Egg White Pudding with Milk 蛋白燉鲜牛奶 has a smooth texture with a strong aroma of milk and egg white. In terms of sweetness level, it was just nice. Delicious! Another must try!

Through this meal at Australia Dairy Company, I am very impressed with the food and it's operation. Certainty a 'Die Die Must Try' in Hongk Kong! In terms of food, it is like homecooked food. The must order includes Scrambled Egg and Steamed Egg White Pudding with Milk.

What was I impressed about it's operations? Australia Dairy Company reminds me of the concept of fast food and in fact, I think they did better than the fast food we know today. Despite there being a queue through out the day (I have visited Australia Dairy Company 3 times, twice for breakfast, once for supper), they clear the queue very fast. They are basically very efficient, in taking orders, serving, tallying of bill, paying of bills and clearing of plates.

The place is basically very small, but it is amazing how Australia Dairy Company squeeze the tables and chairs. Everything went with clock work precision. After you are assigned to your table and seats, one of the men in white will be beside you waiting for you to order. Within minutes of ordering, your food will be here(faster than fast food). If you do not eat fast enough, all the food will have arrived and there will be no more space on your table (stress?). And after you have finished it, your plates will be cleared without needing you to prompt to anyone to do that! And guess what? As you are finishing your last bites, one of the men in white will be next to your table asking if there's anymore orders. If you say no? He will count the plates and write the amount you need to pay. I am amazed by the waiter that day. We had six of us, ordering sets meals and also ala carte items. Yet, the waiter calculated the total amount MENTALLY in less than 20 seconds! We were all shocked. We tried calculating the bill to see if it was correct and we took so much longer. (Chew on this: My highest qualification is degree yet I took much longer.) Till today, I am still wowed by the efficiency of the operations in Australia Dairy Company.

Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司 (Hongkong)
47-49 Parkes Street Jordan (near Jordan MTR)
Tel: (852) 2730 1356
Opening Hours: Daily 730am to 11pm'
Facebook (not official fb)
Location
How to get there: Exit C2 Jordon's MTR Station and walk towards Parkes Street

Location

View FoodieFC's Hong Kong & Macau Map in a larger map

Xu Yang Tonic Soup 旭阳敦品 (Ang Mo Kio)

Xu Yang Tonic Soup 旭阳敦品

Xu Yang Tonic Soup 旭阳敦品 has been serving herbal soup for the last 30 years since the 1980s. They have received several recognition from food shows, newspapers and magazines.

This stall is located in Coffee City at Ang Mo Kio Ave 6. This is within Ang Mo Kio Central, just 10 minutes walk from Ang Mo Kio MRT Station.

I have been patronising Xu Yang Tonic Soup 旭阳敦品 since young, upper primary in fact. As far as I can recall, this stall is very famous. Most people who visit this coffee shop patronise this stall. Some people of my age hates herbal soup (especially the smell). The very first time I tried herbal soup was at this stall. After some many years, I still come back specially for this and noticed that the owners still look the same, so young! (should be the herbal soup!)

Menu (a)

Menu (b)

Over 16 varieties of soup to choose from! Oh yes, patrons who frequent this stall will notice that they have a new look now. The coffee shop was renovated recently in October 2011. As expected, there was a price increase.

'Tian Qi' Black Chicken $6.00

I always order the 'Tian Qi' Black Chicken every time I come here, with the exception of ordering the Herbal Turtle and 'Chong Cao' Herbal Black Chicken once or twice. I did not stop ordering them because they were lousy, but the reason was more that I like the 'Tian Qi' Black Chicken too much.

More herbals and chicken hidden below. Lucky me, I got the bowl with chicken leg! The black chicken is tender and tasty even though it has most likely been steamed for a long period of time. Moreover, the taste of herbals has sipped into the chicken. The soup is concentrated with herbals and is not salty. Nor is it diluted. No Salt, No MSG!

Over the years, I have noticed that the amount of herbals and black chicken being given has decreased. Despite this, this is still one of the best herbal stall. Most other herbal stall elsewhere serve worse herbal soup that seems to be added with salt.

Ginseng Frog $8.00 with Plain Rice $0.50 

 $8.00 

Had craving for frog legs, hence ordered the Gingseng Frog Soup. Generous portions of frog meat was given. Not too bad, but I would have prefer Frog Legs to be cooked with spring onion and ginger or dried chilli to give more flavour and fragrant to the frog meat.

Overall, I still find this stall provides soups that are quite value for money despite the increase in price. Hopefully, the standard does not deteriorate. I will definitely be back and I have no idea why I am interested in trying the Herbal Turtle Soup as I am typing this.

Xu Yang Tonic Soup 旭阳敦品 (Ang Mo Kio)
Blk 450 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10
#01-1747, S-11 (AMK 450) Food House
Singapore 560450
Blk 728 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6
Coffee City #01-4200
Tel: 9144 8248
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 11am - 930pm
                          Closed on Sun
Website

Yong Heng Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle 永兴炒福建虾面 (Ang Mo Kio)

Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodles needs no introduction among Singaporeans. In almost every food court, coffeeshops and hawker centres, there is likely to be a stall selling this popular dish.

Yong Heng Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle is located at the hawker centre in Ang Mo Kio Central.

Look at the testimonials from newspapers and magazine displayed at the bottom of the signboard.

The Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle comes in $3/$4/$6 for dine in. For take away in Opeh leave, it comes in $4/$5/$6.

There was a queue of around 5 people. Hence while I was waiting for my prawn noodles, I took pictures of the chef whipping up the dish.

I am surprised that the man in the kitchen is so young. Not an easy job. To whip up a good Hokkien Prawn Noodle, the control of the heat and timing is essential.

Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle $4

The Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle has been cooked till the soup nearly dried up. The soup was flavourful, rich with pork and prawn flavours. In this dish besides the noodles, there was squids, pork belly slices and very fresh prawns. The ingredients and the noodles were cooked perfectly, and have absorded the flavour of the fragrant soup.

Overall, this dish of Fried Hokkien is quite decent, one of the better ones around.

Yong Heng Fried Hokkien Prawn Noodle 永兴炒福建虾面 (Ang Mo Kio)
Blk 724 Ang Mo Kio Ave 6
Ang Mo Kio Food Centre #01-38
Opening Hours: Daily 7am - 930pm

View FoodieFC's Singapore Food Map in a larger map

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert 味香园甜品 (ION Orchard)

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert is a famous dessert stall in Chinatown and has opened a branch in ION Orchard. Not many will know that it is owned by the boss of Farmer Brand groundnuts 农夫牌花生.

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert is famous for their smooth peanut, walnut, almond and black sesame paste. They are also recently famous for their shaved ice (ice kachang).

Their outlet in ION Orchard has few seating capacity and it is likely that you need to wait a while before getting a seat. If you are in a group bigger than 5, I think you can forget about coming here. Go to their Chinatown outlet which has much bigger capacity.

Menu

Dried Beancurd with Ginko & Barley $3.00  

There is no queue when I ordered the Dried Beancurd with Ginko & Barley. This is because their bottleneck is really their sitting capacity. And our order got served to our table immediately, no waiting required, other than the waiting for a table.

The Dried Beancurd with Ginko & Barley was average. Thought that it could be better as it was diluted and with too few beancurd skins. Compared to Ji De Chi, thought that Ji De Chi one was better.

To conclude, I would not write off this place yet. Try it's peanut, walnut, almond and black sesame paste and shaved ice (ice kachang) that has garnered good reviews online. If you are coming in a big group, go to their main outlet in Chinatown. Of course, if you happen to see this post, let me know what is the must try!

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert 味香园甜品 (ION Orchard)
2 Orchard Turn
#B4-34 ION Orchard
Tel: 6509 3301
Opening hours: Daily 1030am to 10pm
Website

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert 味香园甜品 (Chinatown)
65-67 Temple Street
Kreta Ayer Conservation Area
Tel: 6221 1156
Opening hours: Mon - Fri 1030am to 8pm
                         Sat - Sun 1030am to 10pm

View FoodieFC's Singapore Food Map in a larger map

The Fisherman's Fare (Chennai, India)

The Fisherman's Fare is a restaurant that is air-conditioned, located in Egmore. Throughout the years, The Fisherman's Fare has garnered a reputation in Chennai for it's multi-cuisines (Indian, Western, Oriental, Tandoor, Platters) and fresh seafood. The restaurant was full when we reached for lunch despite it being 230pm.

Menu Cover

Menu (a)

Menu (b)

Menu (c)

These are the only pictures of the menu I managed to take. If you noticed, there's our local cuisines too such as Singapore Chilli Crab, Singapore Chilli King Prawns, Singapore Chilli Fish, Singapore Chilli Squid and Singapore Chilli Lobster Meat. Somehow any dish with Chilli was associated with Chilli. I did not know we have built up such a reputation for our chilli..

I can't remember most of the dishes that was ordered on that day, but when I can I will name the dishes for readers' reference.

Singapore Chilli Crab

Crab in Garlic Butter Sauce

We ordered two crab dishes. The Singapore Chilli Crab and Crab in Garlic Butter Sauce. It is totally unlike our Singapore chilli or garlic butter crab. The crabs had obviously been put on a long diet. I thought that the crab dishes were not bad considering this is in India.

Naan

The Naans were quite oily.

Some kind of mint and herbals to help digestion and clean your breadth after the meal.

Although The Fisherman's Fare is an air-conditioned restaurant, do note that the room temperature is not as cool as restaurants in Singapore. It was quite warm. The layout of the restaurant is modest, simply decorated. Makes one feel at home and at ease to use their hands to eat. Food wise, is really not fantastic. But I suspect this might be one of the better restaurants in Chennai. Service wise was good. The waiters were attentive and served us whenever a new dish comes.

The Fisherman's Fare (Chennai, India)
#24, Casa Major Road, Egmore
Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600 008
Tel: +91 44 4206 8776, +91 44 2819 4840
Opening hours: 1230pm to 11pm
Location

View FoodieFC's India Map in a larger map

Suonmoi Chinese Restaurant (Pune, India)

Have you ever been in a similar situation as me? Whenever you are in India, Pune for work and wants to have Chinese food. Where do you go? For those who go there frequently or stay there for years, you might have already know of such a place. For those who have not, you might find this useful.

Suonmoi Chinese Restaurant is a restaurant that serves Chinese Cuisine located in Pune. Where exactly is it? Well, I really have no idea as a Singaporean who has been there for 1 year drove us there. By car it is about 20 minutes away from Taj Blue Diamond during peak hours. 

FYI: Suonmoi Chinese Restaurant is opened by an India man whose wife is a Chinese, from China. All the waiters are Indian. 

Suonmoi Chinese Restaurant

The restaurant was not very crowded as it was only 730pm. In India, the locals normal eat only at 830pm. Hence, most restaurants only open from 7pm onwards for dinner. 

Menu (cover)

Menu

A very welcome feeling emerged after seeing a picture of these dishes. 

Part of the menu

Part of the menu. Did not managed to take pictures of the rest of the menu. We ordered and despite the few people in the restaurant, we waited over 15 minutes before the food got served. Not too bad, at least it means they start cooking the dishes after we ordered, not before and just warm them up.

A picture of the utensils. The spoon is exactly the same as what Honeymoon Dessert uses. 

Wanton Soup

How can anyone not order this after having Indian food for the past few meals! In this picture, the waiter has already served us. Hence it was half-full. The Wanton Soup was salty. The wanton was totally lousy. The meat seems to have some weird taste. But despite this, we still polish this up. 

Mee Foon Soup Prawn

Mee Foon Soup Prawn (exactly as stated in menu). This dish consist of vermicelli/beehoon, prawns, mushrooms, spring onions and carrots. It was surprisingly delicious! Had several helpings of this. The downside was that it was slightly salty.

Vegetable dish

Well, sorry, do not have the name of this dish. It was a vegetable dish with different ingredients in it and stirred fried. How was it? Good! As it is hard to find chinese food in India. Of course, when you compare to Singapore, it will be a different thing all together. 

Prawn

Again, apologies, do not have the name of this dish. It is similar to fried breaded prawn. In the picture above, the waiter has already served us. In total, there's 7 prawns in this dish. It was very good. Prawns were fresh and the layer of flour on it was delicious. I am sure they had mixed the flour with spring onions and some other ingredients! This dish alone can give Chinese restaurants in Singapore a good fight. 

Namecard

Quite a good restaurant to come to. If you are coming here, you may want to skip ordering the wanton. Instead, order the prawn dish and Mee Foon Soup Prawn. Service wise is very good! The staff will serve you without being asked to. Moreover, the owner will come and check if the food was up to standard. This restaurant certainty makes me feel at home, just like I am back in Singapore.

ps: if you know of any good (Indian, Chinese, Korean, Malaysian) restaurants to eat in Pune or India do post it in comments to share with everyone. Thank you. 

Suonmoi Chinese Restaurant (Pune, India)

11 Century Arcade

Narangi Bang Road

Off. Boat Club Road

Pune, Maharashtra 411001

Tel: 020 30581110 / 9890111388
Opening Hours: Daily 12pm to 1130pm
Location

View FoodieFC's India Map in a larger map