Stan Cafe - French Bistro in Stanley

Rating: ❤❤❤❤

Dining options can be limited on the south side, and even then many restaurants are overpriced and mediocre. Our friend recommended the Stan Cafe for brunch so the 3 of us decided to come here early one Sunday at 11am to avoid the crowds. Even at 11am, we just managed to get the last table available because all of the other tables were all reserved! Guess either make reservations in advance or come early like we did. The decor was simple and casual, and the seating was comfortable enough. The front part of the cafe sells French bread and pastries to go while the dining area is towards the back. As the cafe was on the top of Stanley Plaza, you get a nice view of Stanley Bay while you dine. 

The owners are French so there are mainly French dishes on the menus. There were 2 menus to look at: the regular brunch menu and the chef's suggestions which resides on a big black chalkboard. The waiter basically had to haul that huge board to every new table that needs to order. Between the 3 of us, we decided to share the steak tartar with fries, the eggs benedict, and the perigourdine salad. 

Baguette (free) - the baguettes here are pretty good as the outside was crispy but not too hard, and the inside was soft and full of flavor. My favorite place to get baguette is usually at DONQ, and I think these can give them a run for their money. 

Steak Tartar with Fries ($258) - absolutely scrumptious! The steak tartar was fresh and finely made. It is raw so this speaks to the quality of beef used in this dish. You are tasting the natural flavor of beef, which was oh so good! Probably one of the best steak tartar I've ever had. A mound of arugula sat on top, providing a nice contrast in taste to the beef as its taste is naturally slightly bitter. I usually don't like arugula but I thought this went very well with the dish. The fries were good as well, but they were more of an afterthought.  

Eggs Benedict ($98) - we wanted the eggs benedict with smoked salmon originally but they messed up our order and gave us the original one instead. They had already mess up once before by giving us another steak tartar even though we had ordered only one. The egg benedict came with 2 poached eggs with hollandaise sauce, sitting on top of a slice of bacon and wheat toast. The eggs were prepared perfectly as the yolk were still half runny on the inside. The sauce was delicous, and went very well with the bacon and toast. Even though it was good, it wasn't impressive like the steak tartar was. 

Perigourdine Salad ($168) - mixed greens with foie gras, duck gizzard, dry duck breast. Perfect for a duck lover like me! The salad was just lightly tossed with olive oil and a hint of vinaigrette to focus the flavors on the veggies and duck itself. The foie gras pate was rich and buttery which is delicious in moderation. The duck gizzard was chewy while the duck breast, which is cured (I thought it was iberico ham at first!), was fatty and yummy. The different textures and flavors of the duck went together very well in this salad dish. 

Verdict - the food was no doubt very good. The question we had in our minds was is it worth the price? They are marginal in my mind as the service can be better. Our waiter kept messing up our orders even though we were the only table in the restaurant, and the staff there weren't the most friendly bunch in the world. Let me put it this way - if you had to eat in Stanley, this would be a great choice; otherwise go eat on the other side of the island for more variety and choices.

Stan Cafe
Shop 505, 5/F, Stanley Plaza, Stanley
2324 9008

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