I’ve been visiting this café for so many times over the period of 6-12 months with the most recent visit today, I think I should put all my thought in one piece.
First, the café has a nice deco that is really comfortable to sit. Waitstaff and barista are all good and very attentive to your request.
For the drink, cappuccino is what I could recommend. It’s consistent good milk texture/microfoam with hint of fainted sweetness. Beware of cocoa powder for capp. Unlike McDonald and Coco Espresso, its powder is not sweet but more on a bitter side. Nevertheless, all these powder covered the taste of decent frothed milk so I suggest you tell barista “no chocolate/cocoa powder”.
Latte is a mostly miss but one good hit this morning. Smooth and creamy without the overwhelmed milk taste I used to have it here for so many times a while back. If you want to try your luck, go ahead; otherwise, stick to Capp.
Also, the temperature played a prominent role in milk drink, particularly here. I had the first round of Capp with cocoa powder and Latte and both of them had a beautiful velvety texture. The second Capp I order is without powder but the temp is a bit on the high side, making the milk taste inferior/funny vs. the colder milk of the first batch, ie no more distinct velvety and sweetness of milk plus the milky taste that stick out more like a sore thumb. In addition, the froth of the hotter drink felt very weak as if one frothed the milk to perfection and dilute it with water, kinda like what I found from a take-out Capp from McDonald which was allowed stay in the cup for a while before I had a chance to come back to drink. To me, the temperature is one important factor for milk-based drink to make or break it.
However, when you considered the price, Capp over here is no value for money vs. what McD offered these days. What you get for paying HK$27 for small Cappuccino at Epoch is what it does not have vs. McDonald, ie the burned rubber aftertaste which is quite annoying, and the caffeine kick. These two things are from Robusta beans which are there to add body and ton of crema at the expense of aftertaste and high caffeine content. Some are Ok with these issues; I’m not. So, I will point out this all the time I taste it and the blend that carries Robusta will always rank low in my coffee list.
I advise you against going milkless. One could easily see a mountain of grounded beans heaping up high in the doser, making me wonder why we bother to get the best grinder to grind the whole bean on-site at the first places. Might as well get what came in the “brick” with Italian name or in the silver and red can from Illy. For great espresso/ristretto, one should grind the bean just before you pull it. For Epoch, its espresso showed what I expect from staled and pre-ground bean, ie acrid and lifeless black water. I had it here a while back and wouldn’t bother to try it again. Let its expertly-made milk do a good covered up job for your drink, please. BTW, I notice that Italian café in Hong Kong put a lot of emphasis on milk frothing. I think that’s how they make up of staled beans they serve people. To me, this theme applies for Illy, Lavazza and Segafredo, AFAIR.
For food, I order its Big Breakfast, ie fried egg, ham, baked bean, two slices of tomato and multigrain toast. It’s either not bad or not outstanding but it’s definitely expensive. I like this kind of set at Coco much more. In addition, the honeyed baked ham I order had a good texture but SOUR!!!. I replaced with sausage patty which tastes typical with McDonald. Other dishes I had in the past were pasta with chicken in herb cream sauce which is not bad but definitely not outstanding.
Cake is Ok. I like its marbled cheese cake but this is definitely not the best around, just OK to have it and beat my expectation for café food, particularly in Hong Kong.
To sum it up, it’s a good café with relaxing atmosphere one could stay there for a long while. Milk drink fan will enjoy Epoch. Avoid espresso!
Video
