Hawaii Bakery & Tea House

These were the exact words I used to ask my coworker to lunch.  "Want to check out a dirty Chinese restaurant?"  My coworker gave me this weird look that you must have on your face now.  I clarified, dirty to me doesn't actually mean dirty as in dirt, grimy, or bug infested.  To me, the use of the word dirty to describe a restaurant, usually means quick, greasy, simple food.  That is what Hawaii Bakery & Tea House seemed like to me.  Hawaii is essentially a Hong Kong style cafe that serves sandwiches, simple soup noodles, instant noodles, and because they're a bakery, they're also known for their bread.  But strangely, out of all the times I've walked there with another coworker, they only have pineapple buns on the shelf, no other Chinese buns.  That part I've never figured out.

My coworker ordered corned beef & egg on instant noodles, buttered dinner roll on the side.  I ordered satay beef on vermicelli, egg & luncheon meat with buttered dinner roll on the side.  Both served with a hot drink (eg. milk tea, coffee, lemon tea etc).  We both ordered Hong Kong style milk tea.  Wasn't strong enough tea flavour in my opinion.  My memory is getting so bad, but I think these combos are no more than $5 each.  While there is nothing spectacular about each of our meals, they were truly satisfying.  I try and eat as healthy as I can, but every once in a while, a girl has her unhealthy cravings too.   My coworker said it reminded her of her childhood.  I have to say though, the best part of the meal was actually the dinner roll.  It was fluffy, slightly sweet, and just delicious with the butter.  I could eat that forever and not get sick of it.

Corned Beef & Egg Instant Noodles

Luncheon Meat & Eggs with Buttered Dinner Roll and Satay Beef Vermicelli

Hawaii Bakery & Tea House
1100 Burnhamthorpe W.,
Mississauga, ON
L5C 4G4

Phone:  (905) 277-3333

Hours:  Monday - Saturday 8:00a - 6:00p
             Sunday 8:00a - 5:00p

So Good Restaurant

Leave it to the Asians to come up with weird names for restaurants right?  The names never really make sense or match what their Chinese name of the restaurant.  So Good Restaurant is a small hole in the wall type Hong Kong style cafe that most people would drive by and not even notice.  And honestly, I was almost not going to write a post about them.  If you go on Yelp, there aren't that many reviews for them.  And that is exactly why I decided that I would post about them.  These small types of restaurants where you get quick, cheap cooked meals, most people would just overlook them.  I've had friends ask why I bother going to Hong Kong style cafes and order breakfast from there because it can be done at home.  My response is usually, any meal that you typically go out for you can technically make at home too, just takes time.  Also my hubby enjoys these types of breakfasts, so it's his treat.  I have other friends that wonder why I would blog about these cheap restaurants, because in their minds blogs are only worthy of expensive fancy places that do weird things with food.

So Good Restaurant is open for breakfast lunch and dinner.  But I've only gone for breakfast/brunch.  Prices are low, so don't expect super high calibre dining, but it's decent cooked food.  One thing that diners may have to get over is the appearance of the place.  I've seen Yelp reviews say that the restaurant is not clean.  Thats not true.  The place is a bit older but it's not dirty.  I've eaten in restaurants that have stickier table tops in Toronto.

As we typically go for breakfast/brunch, we tend to order off of their all day menu.  It usually consists of eggs and toast, noodle soup with some protein, and coffee/tea for around $6.  The day that I took the pictures, I ordered pork & preserved veggies with vermicelli with scrambled eggs & toast.  The hubby ordered chicken wings & instant noodles with fried eggs & toast.  Friends ordered luncheon meat on instant noodles with fried eggs & toast, and beef brisket on rice noodle.  Portions were decent sized, and taste is what you typically expect at a Hong Kong style cafe.  Usually when you order instant noodles, the prices of the dishes are higher, but it was quite low here.  The milk tae is pretty decent as well  And service was friendly.  A rare find at a Chinese restaurant.  Since then I have frequented So Good Restaurant quite a few times.  I thought I'd share this place with my parents.  Turns out they've been coming for years!

Scrambled Eggs & Toast, Pork with Preserved Veggies on Vermcelli

Beef Brisket Noodle

Instant Noodles, Fried Eggs & Toast

So Good Restaurant
10 West Pearce St., Unit 12-13
Richmond Hill, ON
L4B 3K3

Phone:  (289) 597-6889