Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Cathy is blogging today. Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are busy with other things.
The other day, I got a frantic SMS from Mr. C. who was at work and apparently was hungry and wanted to know if there was Hong Kong style food in San Diego. As if I am my own Google.
Of course, I immediately answered with 
this photo. I appeared to be organized. "A" Cafe is on Convoy Street, and part of the parking lot from hell group of restaurants.
This is the sign on the building from the parking lot side.
There is a menu in the window at the door. Yes. It says "Hong Kong Style Specialize".
You are seated quickly and asked about beverages. There are many boba/juice/2 pages of beverages on the menu, but ordered hot tea ($1.75. Each.) It is small inside (8 tables) and there is a patio area. 
The tea apparently is brewed and put into a cup and them more water is added to the container using the same bag. It brews a nice second cup.
We ordered two dishes to share and a good size cup of a nice, not salty egg drop soup was brought out for each of us.
Chicken fried rice ($6.99). Not bad. Not great. Chicken fried rice. 
Mixed seafood chow fun (rice noodle)(no gravy) ($8.99). Lots of seafood. Not bad. Not great. I liked the noodles and onions most. The shrimp was large and flavorful, pieces of fish good, squid was tender.
Turns out that Mr. C also had not found what he was craving, some sort of noodle dish…which he says can be found at Garden Cafe in Rowland Heights, off the 60 freeway at Colima and Fullerton. Road Trip!
We were still hungry, so walked through the parking lot, to Tapioca Express.
Mr. C. had not been here before, but he was the person who introduced me to boba drinks. He was fascinated with the 'snack food' aspect of this place. We decided on just a dessert, which took less time than choosing beverages…
We each got a coffee tea milk: mine hot, his cold with boba. We shared the fried baked donut dessert, which comes with dipping sauces of whipped cream and-yes, diluted frosting. (total was ~$11)
Not a bad lunch. But not great.
A Cafe 4646 Convoy San Diego 92111 (858)874-6989 Open 7 a.m.-midnight Sun-Th (until 1 a.m. Fri- Sat)
Tapioca Express 4646 Convoy San Diego 92111 (858) 636-7889 Open 11 a.m.-midnight Sun-Th (until 1 a.m. Fri-Sat) Website
I tried this place during the summer, and I had the same conclusion: not bad, but not great. I’m trying to remember what I ordered, so I guess it wasn’t very memorable.
That’s unfortunate about A Cafe. I wanted to give it a try the other day but then opted for Shabu House. The fried rice dish there looks comparable to the Tea Garden’s fried rice dishes. Have you been to Tea Garden – I was telling Kirbie they seem to have the best Asian fast food items for now.
But man, those fried donut thingies look amazing from the boba place! Is that a new item or something? I thought they only had fried tofu and chicken there. They look like Asian beignets!
Nice post 🙂
The steak dish at A Cafe is very good they use rib eye.
The former owner of Dede’s is now the owner of A Cafe.
Well Sandy, at least we don’t have bad memories. Those are the most difficult to forget.
Thanks, Faye. I will try Tea Garden-always park in front. I corrected the post; the donut thingys were more baked and not fried, but also not cake-y…kind of healthy…but the whipped cream and frosting dipping sauce makes up for that. Those have always been on the menu, but I usually don’t order sweets. Thanks for the tip, Lori. I don’t want to write off A. Maybe I will try a juice drink next time.
I tried the boba. It was just O. K. too. It always look to empty when I poke my head in.
That strip mall has the worse college students parkers ever.
It reminds me of a Hong Kong Denny’s. Hong Kong style comfort food like wonton noodle soup,or fried rice but then they also have spaghetti, and macaronni soup with spam. And can’t forget the Horlick.
But damn adding another restaurant is sure going to make parking a lot more fun
The dishes look good and at least the noodles weren’t all clumpy. I’ve passed by this place several times and always thought what an odd name. It makes me think of Fonzie. (how many people have their thumbs up right now??) hehe
I’ve passed by A Cafe so many times on my frequent trips to Convoy meaning to try it out. Thanks for posting!
That food looks delicious!
Mike
RecipeMatcher
Hi TFD! I am going to give it another shot and try some sort of ‘fancy’ beverage. I’ve never seen it packed, but also never completely empty. I need to make a different entree choice.
Exactly, MikeW-It is comfort food. I think the fact that almost every establishment is a restaurant with large seating capicity doesn’t help the parking lot situation.
Hahaha Carol. I did the thumbs thing before reading your whole comment. It isn’t bad here. I need to find a reason I want to go back.
I drive in circles and don’t plan much, Liz. I love discovering new places. If you can find a place to park, you can be like me.
Welcome to our blog, Mike.
Anyone know if they have the Hong Kong style baked pork chop with tomato sauce over fried rice? I’ve been looking all over San Diego for it!
There is a baked pork chop over rice or pasta on the menu, Mr A, for $7.99. Since the menu states “Hong Kong Specialize”, it should be tomato sauce, but I have never ordered it here. Welcome to the comment side of our blog.
I am absolutely in love with A Cafe’s fried shrimp roll appetizer!
It’s deceptively simple, just shrimp, a sliver red bell pepper, some greens (yu choy?), and cilantro rolled up in an egg roll wrap and fried to crunchy perfection.
Take a bite of that then a bite of the pickled carrot that comes with it and you’ll see what I mean…just eye-rollingly good.
That does sound good, SteveC. I’ll be sure to try it next time. Welcome to the commenting side of our blog.