Coffee Alley - Delicious Croissan'wich

Price: $$

Cravingness: ★★★☆☆1/2

Finally I got to try the Taiwanese coffee chain, Coffee Alley which landed in Hong Kong early last year 2013. While I was hoping the hype has gone down a bit after the opening of the Tsim Sha Tsui branch, I went to the Causeway Bay branch today and found out the queue was still crazy! I arrived 25 minutes before the cafe opened and to my very surprise, there was already a line of eager diners queuing along the stairs. Getting slightly worried, I counted the number of people ahead of me and looked up the available seating online and found 60 available. Phew...then I waited happily for the cafe to open, which they opened promptly at 12 noon.

Given the fact that Coffee Alley is located on the 1/F of a commercial building and with the never ending queue, I was expecting the cafe to be small and cramped. Yet once you stepped into Coffee Alley, you will be amazed by how spacious the place actually is. The cafe is paved in light brown wood tiles and have the walls decorated with green plants and flowers. With abundant sunlight shining through the windows, you feel like you are dining in a garden.

I was told the dining hours can only be an hour and a half, which is pretty fair due to their popularity. Table utensils and menu were set up when I got seated. Their menu reminds me of the English newspaper The Daily Mail, with the similarity in layout and the calligraphy. The multi-pages menu features loads of sandwiches, pasta, desserts and beverage choices with beautiful photos. I had a difficult time in choosing what to have, and with the time limit in mind, decision making has made even more difficult!

For drinks, everyone told me to get the Oreo Smoothies, but I opt for the Green Tea Smoothie - HKD52 instead as Orea's flavour is too easy to predict. The Japanese inspired smoothie was sweet, creamy, milky with ample green tea flavour and was not as icy as I thought it would be. I was happy with my beverage choice.

For my lunch, I had the daily limited Loin Cheese Croissants Sandwich - HKD62 as it looks too good to be missed. The croissant was heavenly buttery and flakey. Sandwiched in between were 5 layers of smokey ham slices (WOW), sweets tomatoes and crisp lettuce.

It was interesting to see Coffee Alley uses cheese sauce, as I have not had cheese sauce for years. The cheese sauce actually complements the croissant well, but I personally prefer real cheese. The sweet corn gave a pleasant sweetness to the croissan'wich which I absolutely adore. The crispy and savoury beef biscuit sprinkles, which I originally thought were bacon bits, were an interesting pair. Overall the croissan'wich was quite lovely and I would recommend it.

It would be crazy dining at Coffee Alley without having their dessert, so I packed away half of my crossan'wich and order the house signature Salty Caramel & Vanilla Ice Cream Waffle - HKD56.

I have to say I was hugely disappointed. The signature waffles were hideously thick, dense and stiff. I felt like I was chewing off some stone-made substances. The chantilly cream on the other hand was delicious. It was silky and thick, which I believed was freshly whipped. The caramel sauce served on the side tasted rather weird. It was thick and sandy, tasted savoury and buttery. The only thing I love on the plate was probably the vanilla ice-cream and the almonds which I believe Coffee Alley did not make them. Tell me again why are you people raving about their desserts again please?

I was shocked to find out how awful Coffee Alley's waffle is given its fame. I would be very pissed off if I waited hours for this crap. Having said that, the croissan'wich and the green tea smoothies were lovely. So if you are planning to visit Coffee Alley, come here only for their savoury items.

Rating
Food - ★★★☆☆
Service - ★★★★☆
Ambience - ★★★☆☆
Overall - ★★★☆☆1/2


Coffee Alley

Address (E) Room B1-B3, 1/F, Dragon Rise, 9-11 Pennington Street, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Address (C) 香港銅鑼灣邊寧頓街9-11號登龍閣1樓B1-B3室
☏ 2493 3033
Opening Hours: Mon - Sun: 12nn - 3pm | 6pm - 12am
Reservation Available? Yes
Walk In Possible? Yes
Bill Range - $$ (Lunch inc Beverages)
Website: http://www.coffee-alley.com/

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