Not starting off the day with a good mood as my friends were late. I seated at about 12:30pm on a weekday. The tables were not filled up- a bit glad since otherwise, I would be embarassed for occupying a three-person-table solo for more than half an hour. I was grateful that the waitress was nice- it seemed that she could tell I was quite pissed off at that moment. She kept refilling my glass of water, and gently asked with a smile if I wish to order a drink first. MenuThey did not have set menu
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Not starting off the day with a good mood as my friends were late. I seated at about 12:30pm on a weekday. The tables were not filled up- a bit glad since otherwise, I would be embarassed for occupying a three-person-table solo for more than half an hour. I was grateful that the waitress was nice- it seemed that she could tell I was quite pissed off at that moment. She kept refilling my glass of water, and gently asked with a smile if I wish to order a drink first.
Menu
They did not have set menu. Everything was a la carte.
The interesting and delicate pattern of this cup (or bowl? -given that it had a semi-sphere shape without a handle ) of cappuccino delighted me. It was definitely not an ordinary art that you could see elsewhere. Decent coffee. A bit bitter and rich. Velvety. My mood was back
Gained some weight recently, hence chose salad for my lunch. I liked this salad so much. When it was served, my friends raise their eyebrows- they said it looked like a bunch of grass- so did I, honestly. But I was still optimistic. Afterall, at least rockets can't go wrong.
Rockets were fresh and were mixed with olive oil. The veggie went very well with the shaved parmesan which had a strong taste. There was a generous amount of truffle spreading over the piece of bread. The truffled mushroom was huge, juicy and midly chewy. The truffle had a heavily distinctive taste, which was rightly balanced by the veggie and the bread. The piece of bread, which formed the base of this salad, was not soggy despite having absorbed the olive oil and the mushroomary juice. The bread remained soft with a tough texture. In short, a very nice and special salad that could stimulate your tastebud and fill up your stomach satisfactorily.
Although titled 'breakfast', we could still order it for lunch. This bread was J's lunch. The melted salted butter and the syrup gave a shiny coating to this dark brown loaf of banana bread. To me, its texture was like a quasi dense cake yet less fatty. Very banana. Many crunchy walnuts. It was not too sweet even though there was syrup. J said she was full (although I wondered if we needed order some more food at the first glance of this narrow loaf of bread.)
Summary/ Next? 0.75 hour of waiting (of my friends) and 2 hours of chatting and eating- in total I spent 3 hours here in this cafe/ restaurant! The food and drink were delicately designed, prepared and presented. Good service. Definitely will be back
(以上食評乃用戶個人意見 , 並不代表OpenRice之觀點。)
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張貼
評分
味道
環境
服務
衛生
抵食
用餐日期
2013-05-29
用餐途徑
堂食
人均消費
$90 (午餐)
推介美食
Salad (Truffled mushrooms, parmesan, olive and rocket)
Banana and walnut bread, toasted with syrup
Banana and walnut bread toasted with syrup
Salad (Truffled mushrooms parmesan
olive and rocket)
Cappuccino
Salad (Truffled mushrooms, parmesan, olive and rocket)
went biking with m and b in the morning - i absolutely love biking!anyway, m recommended this place when we were thinking of a place for lunch. i was already in favour of it after reading its name: cafeine. reminded me apparently of caffeine, a very good friend of mine. so there we were... and we had a loveliest meal.* * * * * *first step into the cafe i was greeted by a warm grin and a friendly "Welcome!". the grin came from a tall foreign barista (who was the only person that served in the ca
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went biking with m and b in the morning - i absolutely love biking!
anyway, m recommended this place when we were thinking of a place for lunch. i was already in favour of it after reading its name: cafeine. reminded me apparently of caffeine, a very good friend of mine.
so there we were... and we had a loveliest meal.
* * * * * *
first step into the cafe i was greeted by a warm grin and a friendly "Welcome!". the grin came from a tall foreign barista (who was the only person that served in the cafe and seemed to be the owner of the place). b said he sounded italian. i thought otherwise, though not sure what exactly he sounded like. lol
he gave us menus and glasses of water after we were seated. as b and m were picking our lunch i started looking around (i trusted them gourmets hehe). i really liked the red and white (and a little bit of brown) colour scheme. so neat and simple. there were not many tables, 6 approximately, mostly for two persons. only 2 were occupied then, probably cos we were there on a weekday and it was past lunch hour.
i needn't stare to notice the little hooks on which people could hang their bags. very very thoughtful.
after my girlfriends ordered, the tall barista presented us with the first (yes there was another - how nice! and i think this was given to us cos m showed interest towards the trio of soups on the menu when ordering but in the end decided against it - how kind!) chef's compliments - trio of soups (miniature).
instead of latte art, the coffee came with this unique pattern, probably made with some yum chocolate sauce which added sweetness to the coffee - just right! the foam was not thick (which was not exactly to my liking) but i really liked the coffee underneath. quite velvety and the bitterness balanced by the chocolate. this wasn't like the coffees i had had. but it was nice and novel and i like it.
pasta with chicken, pesto & sun-dried tomato came first.
it certainly looked great, with the baby pumpkin and all the green coriander (which m didn't like lol) and red chilli. it'd have tasted better if the pulp of the pumpkin could be softer. still the hummus was nice and the dish was good as a whole.
after finishing all those, we were quite full. but there had to be dessert of course (m had successfully instilled this idea, this habit in me; not that she tried to do so lol)! we were sitting there, chatting and waiting for the food to be digested for a bit, when the same tall barista took the second chef's compliments to us - banana & walnut bread (miniature).
it was really good. you see, the yellow bit on top of the bread was butter(!), which, when compared to the size of the bread, was quite big. fat it may have been, the butter added a really nice salty creamy flavour to the banana bread. i really liked it!
but wait, no. that little bit was not dessert. the dessert was mini raspberry & almond cake.
looked wonderful. loved the big raspberries. couldn't really taste the almond though. not sure what the white liquid was (might be cream) but it did a similar trick as the butter on the banana bread. added a nice creamy flavour and moisture to the cake. another delightful dish!
in summary, it was a highly recommendable cafe. nice environment. wonderful service. yummm food. what more could one ask for? will definitely be back!!
題外話/補充資料：
there were [u]sockets[/u]. and [u]wifi[/u] (have to ask barista for password).
[b]SUSPENDED COFFEE[/b]
(source: a post i saw on facebook)
"We enter a little coffeehouse with a friend of mine and give our order. While we're approaching our table two people come in and they go to the counter -
'Five coffees, please. Two of them for us and three suspended'
They pay for their order, take the two and leave. I ask my friend:
'What are those 'suspended' coffees ?'
'Wait for it and you will see'
Some more people enter. Two girls ask for one coffee each, pay and go. The next order was for seven coffees and it was made by three lawyers - three for them and four 'suspended'. While I still wonder what's the deal with those 'suspended' coffees I enjoy the sunny weather and the beautiful view towards the square in front of the café. Suddenly a man dressed in shabby clothes who looks like a beggar comes in through the door and kindly asks
'Do you have a suspended coffee ?'
It's simple - people pay in advance for a coffee meant for someone who can not afford a warm beverage. The tradition with the suspended coffees started in Naples, but it has spread all over the world and in some places you can order not only a suspended coffee, but also a sandwich or a whole meal."
[u]WE MUST HAVE THIS IN HONG KONG!![/u]
and it doesn't have to be just coffee! could be light bites, sandwiches or even a whole meal. such an easy way to share your blessings and pay it forward. :)
2pm. We had successfully avoided the lunchtime hustle. But this lovely, airy cafe did not lose its steady stream of customers. Some ordered a cup of coffee to go, others stayed longer for a bit of cake and coffee. We were the only ones gorging on lunch. Environment:Sits around 18-20. Floor-to-ceiling glass panes let in an ample amount of sunlight. The ceiling was very high. I realized that the tables are actually quite close to each other, but it didn't feel cramped because of all the white, lig
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2pm. We had successfully avoided the lunchtime hustle. But this lovely, airy cafe did not lose its steady stream of customers. Some ordered a cup of coffee to go, others stayed longer for a bit of cake and coffee. We were the only ones gorging on lunch.
Sits around 18-20. Floor-to-ceiling glass panes let in an ample amount of sunlight. The ceiling was very high. I realized that the tables are actually quite close to each other, but it didn't feel cramped because of all the white, light, and high ceiling. great for relaxing with an ol' Joe.
Service: Even if I were the most nitpicking customer in the world I would not be able to fault service at Cafeine. Service is everything in the restaurant biz which is, essentially, a service industry. The owner/manager/whoever he was manning everything completely won us over with his attentive attitude, friendly personality and heartwarming generosity. I'll call him Mr. X.
So this was a completely unexpected, scrumptious surprise. We asked about the contents of this soup while deciding but didn't order it in the end so Mr. X gave us a 'sample' of the dish instead. Tomato with basil in my opinion was the most outstanding. intense tomato sweetness, cut by the natural acidity a tomato has, paired perfectly with a bit of pesto. Spiced pumpkin was not just a pumpkin puree - there was a heat on the tongue - probably from black pepper or a bit of ginger powder; and also another kind of reddish spice which I can't identify! Very smooth, naturally sweet, feels thick but was not creamy (excellent). Mushroom with truffle oil was again, very smooth, but wasn't really fragrant/intense. Not creamy either, just quite thick. Went well with the 3 small slices of grilled baguette oh, note the sprinkling of black sesame. Not that it added anything to the flavour...
At this point the 3 of us were wandering around taking photos and Mr. X interjected, asking if we wanted a photo taken. With ourselves in it.
Roasted pumpkin - stuffed with hummus, chili, coriander, pumpkin seeds and pumpkin puree $58
This was a sheer delight - never would've I have thought that they would serve up an entire half of pumpkin! Half a baby pumpkin I suppose! It was very sweet, and the roasting added a nice smokey flavour. There were also cubes of pumpkin sitting inside the shelled-out pumpkin bowl, which were softer than the shell. (the whole thing is edible btw!). The scoop of hummus is well-seasoned and very smooth. Quite delicious but I think some of the traditional spices that go into hummus were missing...not that I mind.
Pesto, sun-dried tomato and feta linguine - with pan-fried chicken breast $72
The chicken fillet was very smooth and delicious. No deep-freeze chicken stench! Flavorsome, pan-fried with a bit of pepper and herbs. We discarded the skin, which was extremely fatty and oily, not thin and crisp. But it protected the meat well so that it didn't become dry. The bed of pasta was cooked in salt water and al dente. A few splotches of (home-made) pesto, salty feta cheese and intense sun-dried tomatoes completed the dish. I think the pasta had an interesting flavour - might not be the regular pasta we get at supermarkets. Not sure.
Delicious grilled sandwich - with feta, spinach, sundried tomato and pesto $58
Super delicious and satisfying - the surface of the sandwich was like pita bread, but the inside was fluffy like foccacia. Pressed and grilled . The flavours are basically the same as that of the pasta dish, just that the carb is of a different sort. It was oily, olive oil, fragrant, and very delicious. I could've finished all of this alone.
Compliments from the chef - banana walnut bread (w/ a drizzle of honey and a dollop of butter)
So nice of Mr. X! The loaf was bready, as opposed to cakey, in terms of texture. I prefer banana cake. The walnut added a nice crunch but I think they were slightly stale. The small dollop of butter sitting on top was an accessory - like a dancing doll - which I discarded. There was a small drizzle of honey next to each block of bread, which added necessary sweetness to the bread. They went well together.
Very economical, and just the right size of a dessert to end the lovely, calorie-loaded meal. The raspberry was quite tart, and it sunk into the middle of the tart, but the sweet, cakey ground almond body balanced out the tartness well. There was also some sweet + tart raspberry sauce. The texture was different from cake. More substantial, and crumbly.
How beautiful! Never seen this pattern anywhere else.
Conclusion: Cafeine doesn't hold itself out as an Italian 'restaurant' as such - the names gives people the impression that it's more like a cafe - but honestly, the ingredients used and the flavours created remind me strongly of a decent Italian restaurant. So you could come here for more that 'just a quick bite'. I will definitely return to try the other salads and toasties. All the best, Mr. X!
Went for my auntie's birthday, four of us...we ordered the pumpkin chilli salad, Bacon & avocado and tomato salsa which came with a few toasts-this was full of flavour, nice crispy bacon! Yum!!porcini and feta omelette (light and fluffy) with toast & a side rocket salad topped with roasted tomato and basil pesto...I ordered the feta, roasted capsicum, spinach & tomato toastie using Turkish bread. The bread was lovely, ever so slight sweet, went deliciously well with the filling! It had a lovely
Went for my auntie's birthday, four of us... we ordered the pumpkin chilli salad, Bacon & avocado and tomato salsa which came with a few toasts-this was full of flavour, nice crispy bacon! Yum!! porcini and feta omelette (light and fluffy) with toast & a side rocket salad topped with roasted tomato and basil pesto... I ordered the feta, roasted capsicum, spinach & tomato toastie using Turkish bread. The bread was lovely, ever so slight sweet, went deliciously well with the filling! It had a lovely basil pesto base. My auntie had a latte, with a pretty coffee art design of a leaf! We were told that the coffee blend was made especially for them by a local company. I'm not a coffee lover, but my auntie said it was lovely.
A wonderful surprise from the owner on the house, a slice of homemade banana & walnut bread. It was warm, slightly toasted with a layer of butter then a drizzle of golden syrup!! Tasty!!
影片
吃畢主菜後另一半提議吃甜點, 放在當眼處之榛子朱古力布朗尼極之吸引! 我們二話不說點了一客, 果然, 質感濕潤, 朱古力味極濃厚, 最愛是夾在中間的大大顆原粒榛子,用料十足, 是少有吃到的高質素Brownie, 推介!!
最後不少得兩杯咖啡, FLAT WHITE 及LATTE (skim milk), 拉花簡單精美, FLAT WHITE 較濃, Latte 奶成份較多, 兩者咖啡及奶泡都打得很好~ 
