The question came from a reader on my personal blog who simply asked: “During my stay in the OC I have not been able to locate any Hong Kong cafes or restaurants. Do you perhaps know of any?”
Which made realize, no I don't. It got me thinking that the last Hong Kong-style cafe to grace our dining scene was O'Shine in Irvine, which then became Red Onion, a similarly styled restaurant that itself soon folded shortly after. Eventually the space became the popular Korean BBQ Shik Do Rak. Since then, no one's ever looked back because, aside from being the only Hong Kong-style cafes in OC, neither O'Shine or Red Onion were very noteworthy.
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But this still leaves the question: why hasn't any new ones come around to
fill the Hong Kong-style cafe (cha chaan teng) void? Why are there no
restaurants here like Monterey Park's JJ Hong Kong Cafe where you
can get a steak with mashed potato, a hot bowl of jook, beef chowfun,
pork cutlet with tomato sauce, chili chese fries or a sandwich in the
same sitting? Also key to the cha chaan teng formula is that everything
is priced cheaply, and they are generally open late. Imagine Denny's merged with a Chinese restaurant (but better).
The only establishment that fulfills some of these requirements in OC would have to be Guppy Tea House in Irvine, which dabbles in mixing some Western food to nibble along with the flavored teas, but it's more a Taiwanese snack joint. Four Seasons Cafe
in Artesia, the closest Hong Kong-style cafe to the OC border (if you
don't count Rowland Heights), closed nearly two years ago.
Or am I wrong in saying OC has none? Chime in if you've spotted a Hong
Kong-style cafe around these parts. Both that reader and I will thank
you.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.
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