Heyday Hong Kong Cafe, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

Hmm, sometimes just wandering the streets and laneways in the city you come across places you might want to keep to yourself.  Heyday Hong Kong Cafe is one of those places to me.  I mean I really do like it, it's quick, it's simple, it's got some personality and you can get a filling meal plus a drink for around $10.  So why am I reluctant to share?  Well it's small, real small, like uncomfortably full with ten diners small and I'm worried I may not be able to get in anymore.  But there is something I just love about this place which means I am going to tell you about it



The first difficulty though is actually finding it, located in the same obscure dead-end alleyway as the legendary Supper Inn.  Second difficulty is securing a table.  If you can manage that it is time to start looking around, choosing from all the different set meal options posted around the cafe walls.



In addition to the generic free tea you can also order a drink more cheaply as part of the meal set.  Both Snooze and I used the opportunity to order the Hong Kong style milk tea, a hot, sweet, fairly strong flavoured milky tea.



The food here isn't going to win any awards but I like it.  It's lack of complexity works for it in some ways, as sometimes you want your tastebuds to be stimulated by something new and novel and sometimes you just want your own particular version of comfort food.  On this day for me it was the bbq pork omelette, char siu wrapped in an omelette and placed on a bed of rice.  Not the most attractive looking of meals to be sure but the combination of flavours is good, the pork fresh and the whole thing lighter and less stodgy than you would expect.



Snooze decided on the pork with sweet corn sauce, something she had tried in Hong Kong and was keen to sample again.  While we both agreed that the omelette was the better of the two dishes this was perfectly fine, the pork a little dry but not overly so.



Overall
So why do I like this place so much?  I suspect part of it is the warm inner glow of knowing it is there when most people don't, but mainly that both Snooze and myself felt it brought some of the flavour of a true neighbourhood Hong Kong eatery.  It also brings the opportunity to try the Hong Kong versions of some Western dishes, revenge perhaps for decades of Westernised Cantonese fare.

Verdict
Food - 6.5
Ambience - 7.5
Service - 6.5
Price - 7.5

Address
16 Celestial Avenue
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9662 1668