Cafe Gloucester 告羅士打餐廳

I don't frequent HK style cafes for a number of reasons. Bad service is one of them. Pseudo fusion food is another one. This is how I explained what HK style cafes are to my non-Chinese coworkers: "Chinese people go there thinking they're eating Western food, and Western people go there thinking they're eating Chinese food." There's nothing wrong with that; I'm just not into it. My experience at Cafe Gloucester didn't change my opinion. As soon as we stepped in, we were greeted by a loud and rather rude "How many?" followed by "Over there by the window!" with a point of the finger. This sort of attitude is very common at Chinese restaurants, but I don't think that makes it right. Despite the mediocre service, I have to give them credit for their tasty baked rice. TC's baked pork chop with rice (焗豬扒飯) had a very rich and creamy tomato sauce and a thin layer of melted cheese on top. The pork was fatty and tender, kind of like the Japanese tonkatsu.

Kish's baked sole fillet, cheese and spinach with rice (焗芝士菠菜龍利柳飯) was likewise very rich and creamy. The cream sauce combined with melted cheese was very filling, but satisfying and comforting at the same time. I liked the fish as well, which was soft and tender just like the pork chop.

The one item that ruined the otherwise good impression of the food was the toast with butter and condensed milk (奶油多士) ($3.99). I know it was silly of me to order toast, but I had a late lunch and just wanted a light snack for dinner. Believe it or not, it actually came several minutes after the 2 baked rice. Since it took so long, I was expecting a pretty darn good toast. I was surprised when I saw this... 2 pale and thin slices of bread with barely any butter and condensed milk between them. I wouldn't even call this toast since half of the bread was still completely white. And this cost $4! What a rip-off...

So in conclusion: delicious baked rice, a toast scam, and rude servers. Would I go back? No, I'm sure there is delicious baked rice elsewhere.