Cafe Locomotive
Over the past two years Tai Hang’s Wun Sha St has gone from a dimly lit residential street filled with tired looking walk-ups to something of a Soho in the making, with plenty of stylised eateries popping up all over the place. Among them Vietnamese eatery Café Locomotive sits proudly, with all the buzz of a current culinary darling, its queue spilling right out onto the street and the bodyguards of high-profile Rolls-Royce owners standing rigidly at the entrance.
We were lucky to get one of only three bench seats inside the small dining room, which seats about 50. Nostalgically decorated as a classic train carriage, with a fake "luggage rack" filled with old suitcases, its muted mustard walls, ceiling fan and rattan chairs all create an old world charm. But décor can only do so much for a restaurant's reputation; Vietnamese eateries abound in Hong Kong but most are bastardised with Chinese dishes.
Vietnam's signature Pho noodles with beef are generally reduced to a murky soup seasoned heavily with star anise, fish sauce and ginger to mask its lack of flavour. This is where Café Locomotive shows its difference – the Pho Dai, Vietnamese noodles with raw beef ($38) is a large, savoury bowl with a mildly sweet broth that comes from hours of simmering with copious amount of beef brisket and bones. The kick from the star anise, cinnamon and ginger is there, but the richness of the broth combined with silky, al dente noodles and paper thin beef with just the right amount of fat is perfectly balanced. Topped by a helping of crispy garlic and raw onions, this meal in a bowl costs just $38 and for double the price we also tried the super-sized Locomotive Special ($63), a pho containing all of the above plus a generous helping of tendons, brisket and meat balls. However, two of Vietnam's most popular appetisers – spring roll ($33) and minced pork wrapped in rice paper ($38)– failed to impress. The spring rolls were appropriately short and thin but weren’t wrapped tightly enough, so that too much oil had seeped between the layers during frying. The pork was even more disappointing, with the rice paper being too thick and the accompanying brown dip tasting too much like Teriyaki. The Brownie points total was boosted by the shredded chicken and cabbage salad ($62), though, as the chicken shreds were tender and moist and the cabbage was crisp and refreshing.
Café Locomotive’s service suffers from the small size of its kitchens and any requests that don't relate to food are quickly forgotten, too. Luckily, the fresh lime soda is made with plenty of lime and just the right amount of sweetness, so it makes the wait worthwhile. Our dinner ended on a positive note nonetheless, as the desserts were much more sophisticated than most of the competition’s. We tried the crème brulée ($39), which had a perfectly soft and creamy texture and a surprising hint of ginger. And thanks to the crispy biscotti sprinkled with cinnamon served alongside, this meal was all in all an entirely civilised affair.
Lesile Chung. Meal for one: around $180.
Cafe Locomotive
Address: 11 Wun Sha St, Tai Hang
Area: Tin Hau
Telephone: 2882 8227
Open Open Mon-Fri 11.30am-3pm, 6pm-11pm; Sat, Sun & public holidays 11.30am-11pm
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