HABITŪ — Restaurant in Kowloon

We visited Habitu Table in the basement of Mira Mall for a late breakfast whilst staying at The Mira hotel opposite. The food was ok, but the service was terrible. I’ve never felt so unwelcome in a restaurant in Hong Kong - the woman who served us was quite obviously put out by the fact that we could not speak fluent Cantonese. I’m guessing this is because my fiancée is from HK and therefore many people assume that she is fluent at first, but whereas this is normally handled kindly when it becomes clear she isn’t, the attitude of the waitress at Habitu quickly changed.

We ordered two breakfasts, one of which arrived at least ten minutes before the other. I asked twice for no mushrooms as I simply can’t stand them, but the meal arrived with them regardless. I didn’t complain and just ate around them as by that point we both just wanted to leave as quickly as possible. We struggled to get her attention but at the same time noted that the tables around us were given much more attentive service. There was a second member of staff who delivered some items to the table who was much more pleasant, so this really did seem to be an issue with this one individual.

We’ve both worked in similar customer facing roles before so are far from difficult or unpleasant customers. We are always kind and appreciative of servers as we know how hard this type of role can be, and we actually generally benefit in return from pleasant service. I only say this as I often assume that people who receive poor or indifferent service are demanding or difficult customers, but this could not be further from the case in this instance.

It’s a shame that we had such a poor experience as would have likely returned at least once or twice over the course of our eleven nights at The Mira for breakfast. Easily the worst dining experience we’ve ever had...

Habitu is a chain of casual European style bistros with branches in a handful of malls around the city including this place at B/L Mira Place in TST. Opening hours are 11am to 11pm daily, they have a fairly large seating. You can do take-away and delivery in the area as well.

Had a brief lunch here recently and was happy with everything served. The sweet potato and fat chips basket was a good starter/snack order. Fries were prepared well and tasted good with the truffle mayo. We equally enjoyed their 3mm thin spicy meat pizza, a light, well-prepared, wafter thin pizza with good quality ingredients. For drinks we had their lungo which is just fine. A bit better was the Garden Lemonade, a refreshing drink on the day.

Service was friendly and timely, similar to what we have experienced at other Habitu branches this year. Prices are a bit higher than average cafe but quality is noticeably a grade or two above the majority of cafes of a similar nature around the city. In short, worth a try if in the mood for western dishes of predictably...

Cafe is located in B1 Mira Place, turn right when you come down the escalator.

I ordered the green all-day breakfast, and a matcha latte. All ingredients were fresh, especially the avocado. The eggs were cooked perfectly right, tomato was bursting with flavour. The balsamic with the salad was sweet and tangy, and goes well with the toast and scrambled egg. Yogurt comes with strawberry jam at the bottom, makes for a sweet and sour dessert. Matcha latte was rich and creamy, not bitter at all, overall everything was just surprisingly good. It’s a filling portion, thankfully, since the price is on the higher end. Service was lovely, and I stayed for 2 hours. No one rushed me.

My only critiques are that the pumpkin was a bit dry, and the toast was a little too hard.

In short, very pleasant experience, and will be coming again to try the...