Cha Kee Hong Kong Cafe, Mount Waverley

Gaz was wanting to do his good deed of the day, to donate blood at the Red Cross but he was told that because he had gone to Thailand less than 5 months ago, he would have to wait until after the 5 months mark to donate blood. Different countries in South East Asia has different waiting periods. For example, Singapore had a waiting period of 4 months. This is because the risk of contracting malaria in Thailand is higher than in Singapore. 

Instead of donating blood, we ventured to the nearby shops and spotted some new restaurants that we had not dined at before. There was a new dumpling place which seemed quite mono-menu serving dumplings only. The prices did not look like they were value for money so we shifted our attention to another restaurant we had passed by but not dined at before called Cha Kee. 

We ordered a dish off the lunch special menu: steamed pork ribs with rice ($18.50) and a special combo ($16.50) of rice macaroni with satay beef which came with toast and 2 of the following: egg, luncheon meat, sausage or ham. I chose the egg and luncheon meat. Both our meals came with drinks so we ordered a hot HK milk tea and iced HK milk tea. 

The steamed black bean pork ribs sounded delicious on paper - I think we had expected something like the dim sum steamed pork ribs but what we got was quite different. It was less 'silky', the sauce did not stick very well and had a strong black bean and soy flavour. I guess it's important to approach matters with an open mind. I already had a preconceived idea of what this dish should taste like, so I was disappointed when it did not meet the standard in my head. 

The special combo on the other hand, was great! The satay beef on top of the macaroni was cooked beautifully. It was well coated with satay sauce and even had some wok hei dare I say. The sauce was fragrant, wish I knew which brand of sauce they used. There was generous pieces of bok choy on the side which was good because the pork ribs did not have any greens. 

 The special combo is a good value, filling meal of HK classic cha chan teng food and is something I would order again. We saw couples ordering the steamed free range chicken (half for $29) and sizzling mixed grill (steak, chicken fillet and pork) ($35) that came with a gigantic bowl of rice. For brunch. They must have been very hungry..