Chi Town’s only Chi Cafe

$ Cantonese

I’ve been busy lately hanging out with my brother and mom, whose visiting from Hong Kong, but I’m still alive! I promise..and I’m reading!! Here’s a restaurant that’s a favorite of my family.

Walk in to this Cantonese diner inspired restaurant and you will be transported to Hong Kong in an instant! The restaurant is sparkling clean, bright and colorful, busy, and they even have 2 flat-screen TV’s showing Hong Kong’s local channels through their satellite dish.

Open the menu and be stunned by how ginormous your selection of Chinese foods there are! Not only are there traditional HK staples like fish balls in wide noodles and shredded pork ‘n thousand year egg porridge, but you also have Macau dishes like baked pasta and rice. On top of that, Chi café has even added American-friendly dishes such as beef and broccoli, stir-fried mixed-vegetables.

Seafood Noodles

I ordered seafood and rice noodles in soup for my entrée for a measly $5. They give you a generous portion of rice noodles and a selection of seafood including: scallops (sliced really thin), squid, and shrimp.

Taste: Many people choose to enjoy this with the Chinese hot sauce (NOT siracha) sitting on the table. I enjoyed mine with red vinegar because I love this stuff. The broth is flavorful and the seafood is fresh, though not as much as I hoped, but for $5 I won’t complain.

Beef Chow-mien

In Hong Kong, they call it “two-sided yellow” because the noodles in this dish are fried till crisp and golden. The chef then tops it off with a beef and Chinese broccoli stir-fried in a savory gravy. You can also get seafood toppings or BBQ pork.

Taste: Authentic and not greasy at all, the sauce flavors are spot-on, well seasoned and flavorful. Though I don’t eat beef and can’t comment on it, the vegetables had a perfect crunch to them (hate when restaurants over-cook or under-cook ‘em)!

Seafood with Chives

If you’ve never had this combination, please do!! The chef has stir-fried Chinese chives with a bunch of scallops, shrimp, and garlic to give this dish enormous flavor and PERFECT with rice or noodles.

Mixed-Vegetables with Garlic

I didn’t quite know what to expect from this dish, but it came out tasting great…the only downfall? SUPER greasy. Maybe that’s why it tasted so good. Hehhe

RATINGS:

Taste: 4/5 (Happy with everything we got, but probably wouldn’t order the mixed vegetables again)

Originality: 4/5 (Huge menu and awesome replication of a Hong Kong diner PLUS more!)

Plating: 3/5

Value: 4/5 (C’mon…seafood dinner for 2 for $35 including tax and tip??)

Service: 3/5 (Fast, efficient, and no one hovering over you asking if everything is okay every other dish. They always stop and get you what you need in NO TIME if you ask though!)

Final words? Two thumbs up for cheap, authentic, fast dishes from Hong Kong. It’s also clean, air-conditioned, and open till 4am. OH! And they deliver!!

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