14.10.2008 | 雨後春筍

繼前一排港式茶餐廳如雨後春筍般降臨本土, 嗰一股熱潮過後, 而家開始逐漸被人淡忘.. 緊隨而來嘅, 係最近突然異軍冒起, 以cafe方式經營嘅地道kopitiam(即係馬式餐飲店).. 賣嘅當然係地道拉茶, 咖啡, 加央多士, 椰漿飯, 咖哩麵, 煎餅之類啲嘢, 但係價錢就因為cafe經營而提高數倍.. 而家週圍都係呢啲kopitiam, 而且間間個名都起得差不多, 有時都頗混淆, 比較有印象嘅係以下呢幾間..

• 最出名最多分店嘅, 唔駛講一定係Old Town啦, 唔好意思講句, 其實我未幫襯過囉, 咪就係因為太過普遍, 覺得應該都冇乜QC架喇..
• 至於Kluang Station, 試過一次咁大把, 老實講真係一句boh hor jiak[潮州話, 即係唔好食]..
• Toast Box其實係小攤子經營, 主要喺商場某個角落.. 又唔係咁, 咪就係賣多士啫, 冇咩特別囉我覺得..
• 噚日同舊同事去Pappa Kopitiam, 個海南鴛鴦冰好正喎, 不過嘢飲價錢就有啲過份..
• Hainan Station, 我食個咖哩麵幾差囉, 不過友人聰明叫椰漿飯, 因為椰漿飯呢個「國萃」都好難整得唔好食嘅..
• 公司附近嘅Warong Kita, 煎餅之外其他都係普普通通, 咪就係貪佢就腳先去過兩次咁大把囉..

if you can remember the HK style coffee shop was infusing agressively into the food industry few years back, and as the trend slowly goes down about a year ago, there comes another surge of local kopitiam chains into the market.. cafe style management of old style kopitiam, focusing on retro menu - teh tarik, coffee, kaya toast, curry noodles, roti - all but selling at a price few folds higher.. it's like you could see one of those kopitiam chains every 100 steps you walk, and the names are almost all similar and thus very confusing.. amongst them, the ones i can remember are:

• the most famous "Old Town", pioneer and market leader, existing almost every corner of the country.. frankly, i have not even tried once, mostly because i think it's too massively franchised and should have less QC standard..
• tried "Kluang Station" once, and being honest to give a comment on the food, boh hor jiak [teochew, meaning not delicious]
• "Toast Box" is running in a more kiosk style, at a subtle corner in shopping malls.. nothing really special for they just sell normal toasts, perhaps modern breed..
• went "Pappa Kopitiam" for lunch with ex-colleague yesterday.. well, the Hainanese Iced Coffee with Tea (yuen yong) was superb and i love it, just that the drinks are really too over-priced..
• "Hainan Station" offers good set meal deals, the curry noodles i tried was lousy, smart friend ordered nasi lemak instead, but being the "national food" of our nation it just won't go too bad right?
• the one near our office "Warong Kita", i would say beside roti canai things are all of normal standard, the main reason why i've been there for two times was because of the convenient location..