New menu review: The Coffee Academics, Harbour City

Amidst the challenges of the past year, it’s great to see homegrown success stories. Recently we went to check out The Coffee Academics’ (TCA) new Harbour City location… its 22nd outlet in Hong Kong.

The Harbour City location is part lifestyle cafe, part sensory retail store. All of their cafes have recently had a menu revamp (more below). And the retail store is a coffee-lovers dream selling everything from TCA coffee capsules and totes to sleek reusable cups and gooseneck kettles. Soon they will also start to offer a customized Roasting Experience workshop where guests can learn about and then participate in the roasting process before leaving with their custom bag of beans ($488).

So we already know TCA’s coffee is great. How’s the new food?

We started with the Sunny Side Up French Toast ($108) and were blown away one bite in. I rarely go out for pancakes in Hong Kong because it’s been so hard to find a good one. No idea who came up with the recipe here but if you read this please accept my thanks! My friend and I both agreed this was our favourite dish. The pancakes were fluffy but substantial and moist, and the batter just tasted really eggy and delicious. As well, the fact that the sunny side up egg had super crispy edges was the cherry on top. Can’t wait to come back for this.

Next up was the Croque Madame ($118). To me, this was fine. I would have preferred a more interesting bread. But my colleague really liked it and said it paired really well with the fresh salad (which I totally ignored). Seems like this one is good to have all together.

The Pasta Laksa ($158) was pretty good. There were a healthy amount of prawns, bouncy noodles, and mild (though maybe too mild for spice lovers) and addictive sauce. I wonder if you can ask the cafe to make it extra spicy.

How gorgeous is this Fresh Lobster Roll ($208)? While this was nice, it wasn’t particularly packed with lobster. Larger appetites may need to order another dish to be full. On our day, our curly fries were also overcooked but hopefully this isn’t the norm.

We ended our meal with Espresso Butter on Fluffy Pancakes ($118). Three fluffy pancakes were topped with chopped apricots, pistachios and espresso butter, and served with espresso syrup and whipped cream. We really could not get enough of TCA’s pancakes and ate these up too. These might be a little too sweet for one but are perfect for sharing.

Verdict

There’s a lot to love about TCA. They know what they’re doing and it’s great to see them doing so well. Check out the Harbour City location when you’re in the area next and enjoy the greenhouse and glamping vibes (so much natural light!) along with the coffee and food.

Shop 4201K, Gateway Arcade, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui

*For Foodie