| rev:text
| - We stumbled upon this little gem purely by accident. It was late summer and our excitement had been building all morning anticipating another delicious meal at Faley but, when we arrived, there was a sign on the door indicating it was closed until the end of August! Talk about build me up, buttercup. As my colleagues' tears started to set in, I knew I had to quickly come up with a Plan B. Then I remembered that there was another Hakka restaurant in the same plaza. We were all in agreement that we would try it but didn't expect too much.
It was about the same size as Faley, the décor was simple and it was very clean. We all ordered off the lunch special menu - mango chicken, crispy beef and dry chili fish. Similar to Faley, the food arrived very quickly, it was hot and fresh and the portions were quite generous. It's difficult to compare it to Faley as it's a different interpretation on Hakka cuisine so it would depend on your taste palate. Faley's dishes are a bit more bold and saucy, whereas here, I could more taste the Asian influence. We all really enjoyed the food as it was prepared with good quality ingredients, not greasy and no MSG. Prices were competitive as well; the specials were all under $7.00 and came with rice, springroll (delicious) or soup. We even ordered food to take home from the regular menu.
Service was not as entertaining as Faley; however, our server was very sweet and accommodating and, when we were leaving, the owner genuinely thanked us for our business.
My only complaint is regarding the Manchurian Shrimp Hakka Noodle. It was very flavorful, had great texture, good portion size BUT it only had about a dozen small shrimp. At first I thought they gave me vegetarian in error.
The long and short is if you're a foodie that wants to branch out to various Hakka restaurants or if you're craving Hakka and it's a Tuesday when Faley is closed, Hakka Cottage is an excellent alternative.
NOTE: I'm not sure if they accept credit cards.
|