Oldish | Hong Kong - All Style But No Substance

Rating: ❤❤

More and more hipster cafes are popping up in Hong Kong and Oldish, located in the up and coming PoHo, is probably the most stylish of all with a focus on the "Good Old Days". In addition to a cute little antique car with their restaurant sign parked on a nearby street, the cafe is decorated with retro and vintage items throughout from stereos to pictures and more. In the right lighting, looking out from inside the cafe can make you feel like you are perhaps somewhere in Europe

The lunch menu is simple with 5 items to choose from - Oldish Hash Brown, Red Curry Linguine, Pesto Spaghetti, Garden Salad and Chocolate & Caramel Cale with prices ranging from $75-$118 plus 10% service charge. 

All lunch sets came with soup, sourdough bread and coffee or tea. The soup of the day was a mushroom cream soup but it was really watered down with little taste and the texture was too thin for a cream soup. 

Red Curry Linguine with Sliced Chicken ($108) - an interesting and bold creation to use red curry as a sauce for pasta. It tasted as it should with a hint of spiciness but it didn't really "wow" me or left me wanting for more. I don't know how I feel about this - I mean just because you can doesn't mean you should. The amount of chicken was also really little. [3/5]

Oldish Hash Brown ($118) - served with egg, bacon and sauteed mushrooms. It arrived in a cute little pan but while it looked the part, it was completely bland and tasteless. I don't get how one can screw up hash brown - or breakfast for that matter - but parts of it was burnt and had no flavor. Even the ketchup and sour cream couldn't save it. I left most of it uneaten and I usually don't like to waste food. [1/5]

Latte (+$10) - how can a hipster cafe not get their coffee right?! Aside from the nonexistent latte art (it's not a requirement but it does signal how serious you take your art), the milk was way overheated so it virtually destroyed the delicate texture of the milk froth and any sweetness in the taste. Again I didn't even manage to finish a third of it. [2.5/5]

Verdict - full marks for decor but thumbs down for the food and drinks. Ultimately I go to a cafe not just to ogle at decorations but to eat and drink. If only they spent the amount of time that they did on the decor on their food, it may be worth your while. 

Oldish
53 Tung Street, Sheung Wan
+852 2697 3313
https://www.facebook.com/oldishhk


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