Simplylife restaurant

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    14

    Simplylife restaurant

    Simplylife
    Cafe and bakery, Unit l2-42 lvel 2 Festival Walk Kowloon Tong

    Due to popular demand one review immediately follows another. Though I don't eat out this often, though at least once a week.

    Eating at "Simplylife" for the first time was a surprise and a very enjoyable one at that.
    A one off small restaurant and bakery, unusual for a smart shopping mall in Hong Kong with its same same franchises.
    The first thing you notice when you sit down at one of the charming little tables arranged in the open air under gay umbrellas, are all the happy diners filling almost every table, and the long line building up of those wanting to eagerly join you.

    The food is simply delicious, well prepared, reasonably priced and genuine. All the dishes are prepared on the premises from scratch by a team of eight chefs in view of all, and behind that the small bakery produces delicious freshly baked breads like walnut loaf and tasty pastries with fresh fruit toppings, forget your frozen potato wedges and freezer burnt burgers this is the real deal and as convenient.

    The menu is small but well put together, there are meat dishes,fish dishes and various vegetarian dishes plus pasta's , the dishes are are all chosen for their all round nutritional value and flavour using only fresh ingredients whole grain and organic produce. There is no particular national cuisine on offer but rather a small assortment of fine well prepared southern Continental dishes plus the perfect hamburger should you feel like one.

    They have no alcohol permit, but feel free, as we did, to pop down to the City Super one floor bellow and get yourself whatever you need, they will open any bottles and provide appropriate glasses.

    As I play tennis near by this has become somewhat of a tradition the past few months. On this occasion there were five of us plus a toddler so we made an advanced booking. Recommended if there are more than two of you as it is very popular especially on weekends during the afternoons, what with the hoards of shoppers and mums having naughty treats while waiting for the kids to finish up on the nearby ice-rink.

    For starters there are soups like iced gazpacho and steaming pea soup and large salads that everyone can share. We had the smoked and oven baked mozzarella salad with a crudo topping, which was eaten up before it even hit the deck, absolutely delicious, served with copious amounts of their free fresh warm crusty loaf.

    For mains I had the wild rice zucchini and wild mushroom bowl with parmesan shavings, a very comforting dish, with the rice having a nice nutty bite still to it , the veg equally perfectly al dente, dish after dish we excitedly swopped, finding each one as good as the last.

    The desert menu has some indulgent little numbers but the sportsmen that we are, at least when we are together, made us decided to skip those and instead pick up some equally indulgent pastries and some fresh bread for home.

    Simplylife is highly recommended, well worth the effort before it has to expand to accommodate the growing hoards of fans, all after good food and the luxury of what is after all the "simple life".
    Last edited by Patric; 23-08-2007 at 02:58 PM.

  2. #2

    Join Date
    May 2005
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    Hong Kong, from UK
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    3,838

    For the record - I can tell you that there are two SimplyLife cafes, since I ate my lunch in the other one, in Cityplaza, today.

    As a much much shorter review: The food was pretty decent - not stunningly good, but good enough that I'd go again. The service, on the other hand, was not particularly good. I was eating with a Chinese colleague, and we both had the onion soup and iced tea, I had the pesto pasta and he had some chicken. He didn't get the tea he'd asked for - it came hot, not iced - and I'm not sure if I got mine with sugar or not, having asked for it without. We waited a few minutes for the main courses, until mine came. After waiting a few more minutes, he asked the waiter where his was, and then a few minutes later, I asked where it was. I don't want to sound like a brash expat, but... when I ask a waiter in a restaurant a question in English, I do not expect him to turn to my companion and reply to him in Cantonese without a word to me, even if the question was about my friend's food. At the very least, I would expect a Sorry! to me, then an explanation to him. After the meal, my friend pointed out to the waiter that he'd been rude to me, and he apologised. The apology may have meant slightly more if it hadn't been... to my friend in Cantonese, rather than to me in English.

    Those who know me will know that I'm not someone to complain at a lack of English - I'm generally pretty impressed when staff in shops, restaurants, etc. make a genuine attempt with their English, when it's obviously not easy for them. If nothing else, their English is (almost?) always better than my Cantonese. I am insulted when a waiter won't even speak to me, in a restaurant whose menu is mainly in English and which is still on HK island, even if a bit out of town.

    Sorry, this turned into a bit of a rant. Summary: food good but not great, service bad but not appalling.


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    14

    Vmlinus, it must be teething troubles, has this one just opened? When the one at festival walk opened and it did only a few months ago, same same.
    I know what you mean about English, fear not I had the same trouble when staying at the Grand Hyatt for two months. Ordering room service breakfast was more or less like picking up the phone and saying just send me up whatever you feel like this morning, hard or soft just whatever.
    It seems endemic to Hong Kong, just across the Border in China however I rarely have this problem at similar establishments? No idea.

    The longer you live here though the easier it is to see this as less like rudeness and more just a simple lack of skill. You just have to work around it to keep your sanity, even though it is always very unexpected for a world city.
    But I always remember, that I even have the same problems when I am in America, no idea sometimes what they are trying to say to me.
    For example, to me a "Super salad" is just that, some kind of large healthy thing on a plate. But when I say yes thanks I will have the "super salad" they treat me like a retard from the home counties. What they are trying to say of course is "soup or salad". Its tough being a global nomad, but also quite amusing at times.

    Last edited by Patric; 24-08-2007 at 10:47 AM.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    17

    i've been there once, enjoyed their salad & soup very much, in fact, i was quite surprised with the food quality in compare with a lot of the pricey ones in town. I've written most of my reviews in this website, so you guys can take a look:

    www.vibesasia.com


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    14

    Simplylife

    Quote Originally Posted by hils625:
    i've been there once, enjoyed their salad & soup very much, in fact, i was quite surprised with the food quality in compare with a lot of the pricey ones in town. I've written most of my reviews in this website, so you guys can take a look:

    www.vibesasia.com
    That is a good point, it is the very reasonable prices plus only the highest quality, compared to practically anywhere else in HK, and this is a very pleasant surprise for a change in a dinning experience in HK, very.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    N.T.
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    43

    I remember walking past the one in Fest Walk and thinking 'wow', nice try re decor in a mall, if you know what I mean.

    Tried dinner, it was good, not great, but for those prices, it fares well, imo.

    On another note, it's owned by maxconcepts, i.e. the trendier arm of Maxims. Their idea, i suppose, was never to do truly wow food, and it's never authentic (e.g. simply thai doesn't do authentic thai food, it's tweaked for HK tastes) but still very acceptable.


  7. #7

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    435

    I like the ambience though food is just OK.

    It's my understanding that the restaurant is under Maxim's management. A quick glance at pastry will remind you of Starbucks, which is also under Maxim's.

    To me, espresso is not its strength. The manager told me they used Starbucks' bean.