茗香園冰室 - 中山店 — Restaurant in Datong District

Hungering for some Hong Kong style cantonese food, I ordered the 滑蛋牛肉飯 Smooth Egg and Beef over Rice，Beef Chao Fun 乾炒牛河，Authentic Curry Fish Balls 正宗咖喱魚蛋，and Pork Chop Bun 豬扒包.

Seeing the 4.7 rating on UberEats, I was excited to try another cantonese style restaurant after years of disappointment in Taiwan.

The only reasons the restaurant received two stars from me are as follows: The Pork Chop Bun 豬扒包 was passable. The meat was well seasoned/marinated. The bun was the right consistency and flavor. The food arrived and was edible. I didn't die while eating.

If it wasn't for the above, I would give this restaurant chain 0 stars. The 滑蛋牛肉飯 Smooth Egg and Beef over Rice was an absolute travesty. It wasn't even滑蛋 Smooth Egg. The egg is supposed to be runny and wet in consistency. What arrived was like a fried egg. There was a lack of overall flavor too even with the pooling soy suace/brown sauce at the bottom of the rice. Don't get me even started on the state of the beef. The beef cuts poorly chosen.

They used the same beef for the Beef Chao Fun 乾炒牛河。 That and a certain lack of MSG and that they used over cooked Hefun to make the dish made it near inedible.

Will not order ever again. Will not visit the restaurant now.

A begrudgingly kind 2...

The good: Not bad with the food. Comparable to competitors.

The bad: Terrible service. Called the waitress three times just to deliver water and basic silverware.

Very tight seats. Barely any privacy. I know this is the norm with Cantonese restaurants but this place takes it to the next level. It's like you have to eat with strangers face to face, side by side.

Loud, super noisy. With the amount of noises cramped up and bouncing around the walls you can't really chill and talk here. You can't just have a cup of tea with snacks.

Adding on top of that, you got time limit (I know it's the norm, but it's like you're eating while you're in the conscription service)

Don't be fooled by the queue and the line. We know Taiwanese people love to get in queue for something basic. Especially young Taiwanese people who haven't travelled out of the country much. (No disrespect because I am Taiwanese so I know the logistics.)

Not recommended. Even Honolulu has better space, service and...

With only about 30 seats, this small Cantonese style tea house has been popular. Got there 20 min before opening, there were 15 people waiting in line already. The milk tea, hot and cold were both excellent, authentic, flavors and taste! The hand cut daikon steamed cake was excellent in both texture and flavors. Also liked the rice porridge, good texture, not too thick. The pork spare ribs with black bean rice was pretty good. Beef with Chinese broccoli was ok. Overall, really liked everything. Seatings were right though...