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2011-05-05
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I haven't been to Fuel for over a year and today I got a chance to drop byThe good thing about Fuel was that this time its baked goods offering was much better with more varieties vs. my last visit which they only had a sugary heavy texture muffin that wasn't really nice at all. My banana cake was decent I had a good time with this simple cake.What wasn't changed at Fuel was its milk drink, ie "almost" famous vs. other decent Indie cafes like Barista Jam, Coco Espresso and Crema so this is noth
The good thing about Fuel was that this time its baked goods offering was much better with more varieties vs. my last visit which they only had a sugary heavy texture muffin that wasn't really nice at all. My banana cake was decent I had a good time with this simple cake.
What wasn't changed at Fuel was its milk drink, ie "almost" famous vs. other decent Indie cafes like Barista Jam, Coco Espresso and Crema so this is nothing new vs. what I wrote in late 2009, ie good like you read it in the book but not as good as other cafes or the drink lacked its soul. No, I don't drink it with chocolate powder as I managed to spoon the chocolate powder on the top away. If one needs to the chocolate sugary powder to make the drink taste good, I think the drink needs a serious revision.
The espresso I had was surprisingly good. It is made of Fuel Classic blend which was roasted lighter than its Fuel dark blend. I can easily sense a nice acidity with a grapefruit tone minus the bitterness. Kudos to barista Michael on this cup. Nevertheless, it's like the blend was not there yet vs. coffee from other good Indie these days.
The cup had some nice acidity but not as distinct, not sweet enough, too muted aftertaste or almost no aftertaste/one note kinda thing vs coffee from good Indie these days. The espresso was lagging on mouthfeel/body, just one note during the drink and that's it, gone! Nevertheless, I considered this is one of the best cups I had there. The problem could be the freshness of the bean (Fuel imported its bean) or this is the style that Fuel likes, ie extremely settled coffee that was bored to death to drink.
Ristretto = an "Incomplete shot" at Fuel!!! Its ristretto was worse and I can't recommend. The cup had a feeling of "incomplete shot" one can easily see the black water in the middle of crema even the drink was served almost right away. Not a good sign and the cup was just that, quite harsh one note acidity gushing through my taste buds and disappear without any traces like the air leaking out of punctured balloon. Body/mouthfeel, nope, it's practically not there. This shot needed a lot of reworking.This almost concluded my visit there but I changed my mind after I saw the menu board said Picolo Latte (recommended)... I had no picture to show as this cafe does not allow picture. I tried it anyway... It's a nightmare.
Its piccolo latte was served in a small thin glass. Unlike the perfect temperature of its Cappuccino, the temperature of this "recommended" piccolo latte was way past the upper bound of a decent temp range for the milk. It's quite difficult to hold the cup as it's too hot, needing some getting used to. As my hand indicated, the drink was hot not much of the sweetness/texture or any goodies of a well prepared cup of milk coffee was left. After letting it sit a little while, the drink had a strong milky tone that was typical with milk that was steamed ways pass the suitable range. The dark roasty tone of the dark roast coffee used in this drink (not the Fuel Classic blend) made my mouth feel really dirty, accentuated the milky taste in a not so nice way... This recommended drink was definitely a "not recommended" drink for me at Fuel in this sense.For those of you who swears by Fuel as the best espresso in Hong Kong, I think other factors may play lots of part like a really nice decoration or one hasn't really ventured outside the Central/Admiralty area to a genuine Indie cafe that offers a much better cup at a much less cost though I've never blamed the charge at Fuel due to its location.
And the last one is regarding the picture. As much as I don't understand/don't like this no picture policy, I was OK with it as long as it was applied equally to every customer though I think it might be nice to add some sign saying no picture or something in there. Or should I be very "grateful" they even "allow" me to take the picture of my own food/drink there... I will be really pissed if I found a nice picture of the interior and the work by its barista on anywhere except on its own website. I hate an unequal treatment, ie I need to "know" someone to do something, and I hope it stay that way.
In all, Fuel Espresso is a place to drop by when you are in the area. It has a very nice deco (no picture allows there) which is quite comfy to sit. But if you are willing to travel a little further, Sheung Wan and Causeway hosted a much better cafe with a much better cup at a lower price. So it's up to your mood/logistic etc whether you're willing to make some compromise on your cup of coffee for something else.Post
