JC Cafe & Bar & The Hong Kong Night Life

JC Cafe & Bar was located right next to my hotel, which was Hotel Panorama by Rhombus in TST (i.e., Tsim Sha Tsui).  Tsim Sha Tsui is one of the areas in Hong Kong known for its night life along with Central, which is across the Victouria Habour in Hong Kong Island.

JC Cafe & Bar is a small cafe/bar with no more than 20 seats with a huge garage door.  The garage door stayed open and provided a breeze into the whole place; there’s a small bar area, some bar tables and a few more tables in the back of the cafe.  There were only a few unoccupied tables.  The staff spoke English and were really helpful; it was very chill but lively at the same time.  I really liked the vibe here and they played a number of American songs.  In addition, I noticed there were a number of expats and tourists in the place.

When I landed in Hong Kong, I was coming off a 14 hour flight and was starving like a fat kid who didn’t have a lu

nch.  They provided flavored shrimp chips to snack on versus the peanuts in American bars, which I gave a grunt cause it’s not what they serve in American bars.  I was a bit offended when he spoke to me in Cantonese and assumed I knew the language even though I’m Cantonese.  Seriously.  How dare he not speak to me in English?  I could not believe they didn’t follow American customs even though I was in a different country across the world.  Don’t they know the world revolves around American culture?

Anyway, I decided to stick around cause I assumed other establishments would have been the same.  If not, worse.  I glazed over the menu as I sipped on a couple of Hennessy and cokes.  When I say a couple, I mean around 6 to 7.  Like all women, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat so I asked the waiter for suggestions and shot down every suggestion he had.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have any American Fried Chicken or Pancakes.  Such a disappointment.  I decided to go with the Rib Eye.

The rib eye was a mediocre steak.  It was a pretty flimsy piece and too lean for my preference.  The buttery and rich texture was missing from it and there was no tenderness to the steak at all.  I prefer my steaks to be covered in marble and not be sous vide.  I’ve had everything from A5 Japanese Wagyu with a marbling score of 10 to A5 Japanese Kobe with a marbling score of 10 to Australian David Blackmore Wagyu to the ever so robust flavors of American Kobe Style.  What’s the best?  The American Kobe Style cause it says “American” in front of it.  American built means American muscles means Americans in lifted trucks and dirt bikes screaming “Braaaah!”

However, I have lowered my expectations and pretentiousness since JC isn’t a steak house and I didn’t pay much for it.  I’m kidding about the pretentiousness. Just kidding about the kidding.  Anyway, the steak was laid on top of mashed potatoes and some gravy.  The mashed potato was fairly decent.  It’s sweet, slightly seasoned with peppers, creamy versus water and the richness from the butter was noticable.   I’ve tasted come fabolous mashed potatoes in my lifetime and KFC is still at the top of the heap.  Let’s disregard that it’s made from powder.

Overall, it’s a cool spot to start the night with fairly price drinks, which include beers like Hoegaarden.  I had a “few” drinks at the bar while people watching.   It’s lively, the staff speak English, and located in TST.  It’s not a smoke free restaurant but it wasn’t too bad cause of the huge garage door.

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