Red Ant, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

We had a late lunch / afternoon tea at the Red Ant restaurant on Saturday just gone. It is local chain of eateries serving a mix of Hong Kong style cafe food to more elaborate dishes. 


The restaurant was busy but there was still room to fit my wife and I. There were enough staff and we gave our orders fairly quickly after seating.


They had set menus and I opted for their 'E' set, which was Curry Beef Brisket Noodles. When ordering there is a choice of about five different noodle and soup base types. I chose rice noodles as my starch selection and chicken broth for my stock. A drink was included so I chose Iced Milk Tea for a small supplement. Generally in Hong Kong cold drinks in a set menu carry an extra charge.

My wife in the other hand, went for a sweet option and chose the numerical choice of 13. This set comprised of three desserts: Hokkaido milk pudding, banana crepe and peanut & hazelnut sorbet.

My Iced Milk Tea on the left

The order arrived fairly quickly, with the drinks first (shown above). When waiting we were given cutlery but this was swiftly swapped for chopsticks  when my dish came as I was not going to eat my noodles with a knife and fork. The noodles were cooked well enough. The meat was soft and spicy but the chicken stock meant that it was not to hot and still good flavour. There were about two slices of Chinese leaf for the vegetable content. I had a few bites of the brisket, which initially looked like cooked turnip but it was the gelatinised collagen. It was chewy and edible but I could not finish all of it.

Beef brisket noodles

I did have a sample of my wife's order. The crepe did not taste that fresh and had a slight rubbery texture to it but the banana and cream filling was nice. The pudding (I am not sure if it was made in Hokkaido or just from that milk), although cutely presented in a small bottle was a little bland. The best of the three sweets was the sorbet, although that was more of an ice cream as it had a creamy texture but a really lovely nutty flavour.

Dessert Menu

My drink was cool, not too sugary and refreshing, given it was a hot day. However they tend to turn up the air conditioning when outside temperatures rise so this place got a bit nippy. Nevertheless it has modern decor, is fairly spacious for a cafe, efficient staff, decent food and not an ant in sight.


Scores:
Food: 3/5
Presentation: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Setting: 3/5 
Overall: 12/20


Total bill: $91, about £4 a head.


I ate: Curry Beef Brisket Noodles.


I drank: Iced Milk Tea.


I wore: Polo shirt and cargo shorts.