Red Idea Cafe is a cosy place to sit, eat and relax with friends

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We find Hong Kong’s hottest eats ‘n’ treats

Joshua Lee |
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Duck breast with orange and lime sauce.

Red Idea Cafe
Shop B, 1/F
Jolly Garden
151 Reclamation Street
Yau Ma Tei

Grub: HK-style Western food

Vibe: It’s a comfortable space, but definitely not the most aesthetically interesting restaurant you’ve ever seen. It’s a small room, with red walls and dark-coloured furniture. There is a lot of stuff hanging from the walls, including two television screens, projectors, signs, and musical instruments.

Despite the clutter, the restaurant is fairly cosy, making it a pleasant place to sit for a while.

Who to take: A small group of your closest friends. This is a great place to hang out and chat, and there is a shelf packed with board games that you can play together after you’ve finished eating.

Sirloin Steak with Gravy Sauce.
Photos: Joshua Lee/SCMP

What’s hot: The food here is simple, but in a good way – and there’s plenty of it. There’s plenty to choose from on the menu here, and most of the items are some variation of meat or fish, with a salad and a choice of rice, pasta, or mashed potatoes on the side. There are also many different pasta, salad, or snack options to choose from.

The range of dishes is huge, and we love that there’s an entire separate menu with vegetarian and vegan options, which is pretty rare in Hong Kong.

With all this choice, you’re bound to find something that you will like. Although you won’t find anything on the menu life-changing, the savoury dishes are almost guaranteed to be reasonably tasty and satisfying.

Buttered Bread that comes with meal set.
Photos: Joshua Lee/SCMP

What’s not: Although the main dishes here are good, the dessert and side dishes leave a lot to be desired.

For dessert, we tried the green tea cake with ice cream. The cake was quite bland with very little tea flavour. The ice cream was a little better.

We opted for the meal set, which includes additional bread, a soup or salad, and a drink. Although it might be worth upgrading to the set if you’re very hungry, there isn't much to recommend the extras. The bread lacked flavour and had a rough texture, and the soup
was fairly standard, with nothing hugely extraordinary about it in terms of flavour.

Cost: Main dishes range from HK$80 to HK$140, but you can pay an extra HK$20 to HK$30 to upgrade to the meal set.

Desserts range from HK$40- HK$60 – but considering the small portion size and bland flavour, it’s probably worth going elsewhere to satisfy your sweet tooth.

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