From Saturday 10 February Tea Room, the 1960s-inspired Cantonese cocktail den below Bun House, will be dishing up an all-day brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, taking cues from the indulgent brunches that every good weekend revolves around in Hong Kong.
Founder Z He, along with her husband and co-founder Alex Peffly, has devised a menu based on the flavours of her childhood as well as dishes from the Hong Kong street cafes, or dai pai dongs. A Guangzhou native, Z has vivid memories of cycling to school past street vendors ladling out steaming bowls of noodles and broth.
From 11am to 5pm, guests can pick from Kowloon breakfast staples like Pumpkin Congee with Cured Egg Yolk and Braised Pork Mince, topped with yao zha guai (fried dough), pickled leeks, and fresh basil, and Classic Hong Kong French Toast stuffed with peanut butter, cheese, butter and syrup. Z’s childhood noodles are reinterpreted as Satay Beef Noodle, with silky beef slices, fried egg and Chinese ramen noodle; for the Spa Egg with Soy and Kaya Butter Toast, eggs are slowly braised with a dash of soy and served alongside toast with coconut jam and butter.
Other classic brunch dishes which have been given a Cantonese spin include Cumin Potato Hash with Fried Egg and House Pickles, and a Hong Kong Egg Scramble & Beef Butty sandwiched in fried sweet-savoury dough. Sides will include Braised Pig Guts with yau zha gaui, Sa Yong, a Chinse doughnut filled with persimmon cream, and Bo lo Yau, a pineapple bun.
An exclusive list of brunch cocktails will feature the Ma Lì cocktail, a reworked Bloody Mary, in a trio of colours. Sweet red pepper, pickled garlic and chili is garnished with a chicken heart skewer; the Green Ma Lì takes its colour from leafy greens and kow choi; and the white papaya is spiked with white pepper-infused baijiu and a prawn skewer.
For those who over-indulged on baijiu cocktails the previous evening, there’s also an Eye Opener drinks list including hot Silk Stocking Milk Tea, a Hong Kong-style milk tea named for the sackcloth bag that the tea is filtered through, and Cold Yuen Yeung, chilled milk tea combined with coffee. Housemade soy milk is the result of a labour-intensive, in-house process.
Tea Room will also be launching mid-week lunches from 12noon, featuring Tea Room favourites from Lacey Dumplings to Clay Pot Rice.
Tea Room will launch brunch from Saturday 10 February 2018 and lunch from Monday 12th. Brunch will be available Saturday and Sunday from 11am-5 pm.