Bayao Cafe opened right before the Chinese Lunar New Year, and it’s been long lines for lunch ever since. I finally made it over to try 2 weekends ago, and planned to hit it when it opened. The queue was already in place, and winding down the side walk, but the first batch at least moved the line quickly. For those coming after that first seating, it probably would be a longer wait. I’ve heard the secret is to come later in the afternoon and evening.
The space inside is bigger than I expected, but still fairly cozy - it sits maybe 30-40 in total. Apparently, it’s still in soft-opening mode, so they are cognizant to not seat the entire dining room at once because the kitchen is still in training mode. They - and the staff - can’t keep up.
The interiors call out HK locations (the cafe is a Guangzhou based chain), and tables have mahjong themes. The menu is a lot of typical Hong Kong cafe style foods, including classic milk tea, variations of french toast, macaroni noodle soups, and various noodles, rice and baked pasta dishes.
I don’t eat much in the mornings, but I wanted to try a few classic items.
Fresh baked bolo bun (aka pineapple bun) with a cold wad of butter. The buns are baked onsite, and is a good size. This is a popular item in a lot of HK bakeries as well. As the warm bun sits, your butter will melt. Some eaters enjoy eating the bun and getting a bit of the cold butter before it melts. Warm bun is always delish, and this version is not too sweet.
Rice noodles, pre-sauced. I like adding the sauce on my own. Tables didn’t have the usual sesame/peanut sauce, hoisin sauce, and the chili sauce that you would expect to find in a real cha chaan teng. Noodles were fine, if served a bit sloppy. Those little stick skewers don’t add much. Yes, it is common in HK to use the toothpicks to eat these, but they should just let people at it with the fork.
To be honest, I’ve never ordered a fried chicken leg at a cha chaan teng, and I’m not sure if this is a recent trend. But I heard this was good, and it’s on their walls and menu as a signature dish. This came out hot, and was indeed really tasty and juicy. A little hard to eat with knife and fork, but highly recommend if they can still make this fresh to order.
Ordered a milk tea+coffee - aka - yin yeung. This was passable, but not the best flavor I love. I think their milk tea is a bit off (someone else had similar feedback). The tea portion actually tasted over steeped or too strong. HK milk tea is made with super strong tea, but this seemed a bit over and had bitter notes that lost the tea flavor. I hope this improves with more training. The milk tea is described as “classic” hand pulled milk tea – meaning they should be pouring the tea back and forth in two containers to enhance its flavor and smoothness of the tea.
Worth a visit if you are in the area and the line isn’t out the door. I’m not sure I would wait for more than 15 minutes for this, and maybe crowds will stabilize over time.
