Ching Yip Coffee Lounge

Ching Yip Coffee Lounge is one of Chinatown’s best-kept secrets, and getting there is half the fun. Hop on the creaking escalator from Dixon Street and ride your way past travel agents, herbal stores and accountants until you find the blinking neon sign at the end of corridor. This Hong Kong diner is all about comfort food for cheap which would explain the dining room full uni students and pensioners, all talking a mile-a-minute in Cantonese. Most people here are regulars, and the hyper efficient waitstaff are ready to take your order as soon as you sit down. The Set Menu offers the best value – the dish of day with soup and coffee or tea costs $9.80 – or go your own way from the comprehensive menu, printed on both sides of a pink A3 page. Fill up on generous serves of hot pot rice with Chinese sausage and chicken ($10) or the ubiquitous beef in black bean sauce with rice ($8). Western-style snacks are hard to resist, like bacon and egg on toast with chips ($7.50) or French toast ($4.50). We have a soft spot for the condensed milk peanut butter toast ($3) and don’t miss the hot Coke with fresh lemon ($3.80).