U2 Cafe: Hong Kong Style Pancake

TSGV RATINGS:
Eye Candy: 3/5 Stars
Smelloscope: 4/5 Stars
Taste Test: 4/5 Stars
Wallet Breaking: $
Recommend-ability: 3/5 - Give it a Go

It's been a little while since I've been back to U2 Cafe. This used to be one of my favorites. But since I was so disgusted by my last experience I stopped going there on a regular basis. The quality of their food just went way down. A huge part of it is simply an inconsistency, and my experience with their Hong Kong Style Pancake today was the case and point.

(Bad Batch of Hong Kong Style Pancake - $3.75)

I had dinner with my parents, my brother and my sister-in-law today. My brother got there early so he went ahead and ordered the Hong Kong Style Pancake. I arrived around five minutes after my brother ordered the dish and we discussed what else we should order. The process took another ten minutes or so. After we finished ordering, it took another five minutes or so for the pancake to arrive. It didn't look appetizing. It was a bit darker than usual and I've had U2's version before to know this is not normal for them.

I took a piece to try and it was a bit on the crunchy side and cold. My brother and my sister-in-law both took a piece to try and had the same reaction and were not pleased. So I asked the waiter to take it back and make us another batch. We've tried a few other places like Cafe Spot and we know U2 has the version we prefer the most and this was not it.

The waiter was kind enough to take it back and make us a new version. This new version didn't take long to reach our table, approximately five minutes. Which made me wonder why it took so long for the first batch to get to our table. It made perfect sense. They over-cooked it which meant it took longer than usual. Then they left it on the counter for it to chill before taking it to our table, which was why it took nearly twenty minutes after ordering for it to get to us.

(U2 Cafe Menu)

This second batch was totally worth the $3.75. This is my favorite snack as a boy, and I'm partly eating my childhood nostalgia. It's similar in texture as a waffle except it's slightly crunchier on the outside and softer and less thick on the inside when done right. The individual eggs should break off easily and the inside should be slightly warm.

As soon as the waiter placed the basket on our table, I knew instantly this was warmer and better. I could smell the fresh cooked dough drifting upwards into my nose. The color was much lighter than the first batch and looked softer as it should be. My brother and my sister-in-law wanted to just rip a piece right off, but I had to grab a picture of it before they could consume it.

(Hong Kong Style Pancake - $3.75)

This was the way it was supposed to be. It's slightly crunchy on the outside while the inside is moist, warm, soft and a bit hollow. The dough is slightly sweetened, but the whole thing is light enough to have as appetizer without having my appetite ruined.

There are no sauce to dip the pancakes in. They were originally served on the streets of Hong Kong by street vendors in small paper bags. Since the dough is slightly sweet, it can be treated as a dessert. But to me it has always been an appetizer. The Chinese name for it literally translate to "little eggs." The little sphere-like pieces are attached to each other by a very thin and crunchy paper made with the same dough. There's a little bit of flakiness like in a Chinese egg roll dessert from the thin crust. The combination between crunchiness and softness rounds out the dessert to appeal to my entire texture palette of my taste buds.

$3.75 is a lot more than what they used to go for on the streets of Hong Kong, and certainly way more than the cost of the ingredients. Even as a snack, it actually isn't a cheap snack compared to some of the other things I can get in the area. But a good version of it isn't easy to find even in the San Gabriel Valley. In fact not every cafe even serves this. Even at U2, it wasn't until we asked them to remake it when we actually got a good version of the relatively unknown snack that satisfied my cravings. If it wasn't for this, I honestly don't know if I would ever go back to U2 Cafe again after the horrible curry fish ball with pork skin I had two months back. Consistency please!

U2 Cafe
1200 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 282-1800


Hong Kong Style Pancake - $3.75

Face Cafe: Plain Steamed Rolls

TSGV RATINGS:
Eye Candy: 4/5 Stars
Smelloscope: 3/5 Stars
Taste Test: 5/5 Stars
Wallet Breaking: $
Recommend-ability: 4/5 - Mouth Watering Goodness

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a Cantonese Cafe fanatic. I can't seem to get enough of my own heritage. Perhaps a lot of it is due my childhood nostalgia. Nevertheless, Cantonese Cafe is probably one of the most affordable cuisine to be obsessed over.

There is one big drawback for Cantonese Cafes in the San Gabriel Valley, their lack of consistency. One day a dish may be fantastic, but a few months later, it may turn up disgusting. It's happened to me so many times. My favorite has also moved from one cafe to another. Lately I seem to have moved on from the few that I've been deeply into the past couple of years. Fortunately for Face Cafe, it's moved slightly upward on my list of cafes after they increased their health inspection grade, not that it means much to me to begin with.

Originally I was going to blog about my Chicken Steak and Pork Chop, but that dish was highly disappointing. I remembered it to be much better the last time I had it. No cafe seem to be able to keep the quality of that duel right. Fortunately my parents decided to order the plain steamed rolls as a part of our meal.

(Plain Steamed Rolls - $2.95)

Steamed rolls are made of vermicelli noodle wraps. There's nothing inside these rolls at all. They are steamed and then served with two or three sauces. Face Cafe's version came with the standard three sauces: Soy, sweet soy paste and sesame paste. All three were mild in flavor, perfect for the steamed rolls.

The presentation of the rolls were nicely organized. There really isn't anything fancy about it, but it's not a fancy dish. It's a simple common man's food, street food at its best. I had them literally from little carts off the streets of Hong Kong when I was a child. There isn't a whole lot of smell to them either, since they are plain. The sauces emitted a light aroma if one stuck their nose close enough. It's a bit difficult to smell when the restaurant is filled with so much stronger smelling foods. But I suppose no smell is a good smell when it comes to steamed rolls.

The rolls themselves were very smooth, just the way I like it. They were freshly made and very soft as they should be. It can be a little tricky picking them up cause they could break in half if you squeeze too hard with your chopsticks. You can dip each individual piece in one, two or all three sauces and they all taste just fantastic. The portion was also big enough to satisfy my whole family of 4's craving. I didn't feel like I didn't have enough by the end of the meal which can be rare when it comes to steamed rolls.

Good steamed rolls are hard to come by. A lot of dim sum restaurants serve semi-hardened rolls that ends up on the dry side. Face Cafe did a great job keeping them moist and soft. When they finally end up inside my mouth, they just kind of melted and then slipped down my throat smoothly.

I personally think steamed rolls are among the best simple foods out there. But I have taken a friend once who found the texture disturbing. I suppose the slipperiness of it could seem wacky if your mind took you to that place. But if you like soft textured foods, this plain steamed roll will certainly satisfy your cravings. It may not be the absolute best steamed roll I've ever had, but it's certainly good enough for me to go back for more.

Face Cafe
301 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 282-8899

Plain Steamed Rolls - $2.95