I was in the Western District running some errands around lunch time and decided to have a quick lunch there. I was wandering along 正街 and pondering which tea restaurant I should pick. There are three of them very close to each other, two are new and moderm with sharp neon signs, very bright even in the day time, and one is a very old fashion style like what you see in the movie, and I picked the old fashion one - Luen Wah.
Though it is old, it is reasonably clean inside (much better than some of the new ones). The staffs are very friendly and helpful and chat with me like a neighbor. I ordered a 快餐, with 羅宋湯, 沙丹豬扒飯 and coffee/tea. The 羅宋湯 is very rich in ingredients, kind of light body and not too strong in taste which is good as there is minimal amount of MSG (or even none). The Pork Chop is ok, nothing much but what I want to say is the rice. Nowadays, most fast food restaurants (including the famous chains) and tea restaurants provide poor quality rice and also cook/keep it poorly. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of rice in Luen Wah - fresh, quite good in aroma, not too wet or not too hard - just the way it should be! I haven't had such high quality rice in tea restaurant (and even many upscale restaurants) for a long time! 讚! The tea is also good.
I can feel the owner of Luen Wah operates it with heart and is a demanding person. Other than the rice, even the toothpicks are good quality ones, much better than many big restaurants. It is not easy to run a food outlet with heart nowadays in a margin squeezing environment. I have respect to the owner and also the staffs. I feel like I am back to the good old days of the early 80s......