HK-style French Toast @ Hee Kee Café
73 Renshaw St, Liverpool, L1 2SJ
Hee Kee Café is possibly the best place in Liverpool to eat char siu pork. The poached chicken with scallion oil is also excellent, as is the braised aubergine with minced pork.
Why, then, is my suggestion that you try the French Toast? Well, for one because it is that good. A real Frankenstein’s Monster, it’s a cross between eggy bread and a toasted sandwich — served with squeeze bottle each of golden syrup and condensed milk.
Crispy on the outside and soft and fluffy inside, the dish’s intense sweetness is offset by your choice of filling — whether the salty, earthiness of peanut butter or the sharpness of yuzu pomelo jam.
The other reason that you should get the French Toast is because it’s a Hong Kong café classic and this is, to my knowledge, the only place in the city where you can find this kind of food.
Hong Kong cafés (cha chaan teng) are a kind of diner that sprung up following the Second World War. Greasy spoons, catering to the city’s burgeoning working class — and circumventing the hefty taxes imposed by the British colonial government on full-service restaurants — by serving western-style sandwiches, cakes and tea modified for Southern Chinese tastes.
Have I been to Hong Kong to try one for real? No, but I will. And until I do Hee Kee Café will scratch the itch.
Alongside French Toast, Hee Kee serves a selection of other ‘soy sauce western’ classics, including instant noodle with luncheon meat and cheesy baked pork chop (served in tomato gravy over white rice).
In every corner of Liverpool you can find takeaways, menus filled with Chinese food heavily adapted to suit British tastes. Hee Kee Café gives you the chance to try it the other way round for a change.
Worth noting that every customer at Hee Kee is entitled to a free, and usually very delicious, bowl of the restaurant’s daily soup. Tofu and tomato was on offer during my most recent visit.
