Smart N Save Cafe – Reminds Me of My Childhood
Smart N Save Cafe is a tiny little mom and pop shop on the second floor of a commercial building on River Road. You would never, and I mean NEVER see it from the road because it is that hidden and discreet. But if you go closer, you’ll notice that despite that fact, the restaurant is always busy. Clearly they have a loyal clientele.
Meta Knight and I came to visit after seeing a few posts on Instagram mentioning their awesome HK style snacks and food items. Specifically, the old school HK snacks that if you used to live in Hong Kong, you would be able to get it from the little corner stalls on the street.
We came on a weekend and to our surprise, the restaurant was completely full when we arrived.
Their menu is quite extensive and I loved how they mentioned the “No MSG Added” bit. Just gives you peace of mind. 🙂 They serve everything from sandwiches, to noodle soups, to rice, to fried snacks.
One of the coolest things I found out about this place is that you can scan the QR code and it brings you to an ordering system online. You can order, view the picture menu, call for the bill, do almost anything using the website! It’s quite amazing how a small little restaurant adopted such a high tech ordering system.
The first thing we got was the Imitation Shark Fin Soup (~$3). It tasted similar enough to the real thing that both Meta Knight and I don’t ever need to eat the real thing again.
The Classic Hong Kong Milk Tea ($2.50) was smooth, velvety, and perfect with or without sugar.
One of things I KNEW I had to get was the Ultra Man Instant Noodles ($6.95). It is one of the easiest things to recreate at home, but it just brings back so many memories of watching Ultraman when I was in Hong Kong. All this is, is a bowl of Nissin Instant Noodles (sesame flavour), two eggs, two slices of spam, and one sausage. BUT, it is arranged in the shape of Ultra Man. 😀
For those of you who don’t know who Ultra Man is. 😀
Classic unhealthy breakfast for the win.
We took a gamble on this item but we both were so impressed with the execution of this. This is the Fresh Beef and Egg Sandwich ($4.95) and it’s just a beef and egg mixture sandwiched between two slices of soft, white, crustless bread. The egg was PERFECTLY cooked. It was not too runny yet not completely solid. The beef was also not overly broken down by acid (which a lot of cafes like to do to make it more ‘tender’). All in all, super solid dish and I would gladly get this again on my next visit.
Service Rating: 3.5/5
Food Rating: 4/5
Price: $
Overall Rating: 4/5
Happy Eating!
