I heard about the fascinating Australia Dairy Co. from a multitude of people. Tommy Ooi, a prominent travel blog based in Malaysia, recommends Australia Dairy as one of the 17 must eat foods in Hong Kong. My pops, who grew up in Hong Kong and travels back on a regular basis to maintain status for his Permanent ID card, also suggested Australia Dairy as a local favorite and strongly suggested setting aside time to try it.
When my wife and I arrived, a 20-person line out the door greeted us. Fortunately, the line moves very fast and within a minute, one of the employees came out yelling for a party of two (in Cantonese—it may or may not help to know a bit of Chinese, see below). For now, luckily, I understood him and shot up two fingers. These two fingers would eventually symbolize more than a number, it forshadowed a sign of peace and surrender.
We were brought in and sat opposite an older Cantonese speaking couple in a tiny four-person booth. This was awkward at first but became the least of my worries as I realized I sat down with a wallet full of U.S. dollars and I had forgot to exchange them for Hong Kong dollars. I tried to communicate to the other couple saying that we were going to leave because I forgot my wallet. Being a great example of how humanity still has a fighting chance, the husband suggested that I run back to the hotel to get my wallet. I had to explain that our hotel was a whole rush-hour MTR stop away in the wrong direction. The server saw me get up and asked what happened and I sheepishly told him that I forgot my wallet. He told me to get out and there was no chance of saving our seats (I had figured this already due to the rapid turnover and pace of the restaurant).
My wife was hangry and I couldn’t even look her in the eye. Mercifully, nearly every block has a money exchange and we were able to get some Hong Kong dollars just a few doors down from Australia Dairy. When we turned around to get back in line the length of the line had more than doubled. This made my wife even angrier. I could see borderline tears forming. I went to a nearby Circle K and bought water and some chips to tide her over. By the time I got back, there was another call for a party of two and once again I shot up two fingers and we were once again quickly ushered in.
We got seated two tables down from where we were originally, in an equally squished booth for four. This time, there was no one opposite us—yet. When the server saw me, he yelled out, “Did you find your purse?” Embarrassed, I slowly nodded and sank into my seat.
I used some horrifically basic Mandarin to ask the server to get my wife (not Chinese) an English menu. We had read that the English menu is very rare and only one exists in the whole restaurant. He yelled back that since I speak Chinese, I don’t need an English menu. He said everyone orders the same thing (the set breakfast with elbow macaroni and ham, buttered white bread toast with the crusts cut off, heavenly scrambled eggs, and either coffee or tea) and suggested that I do the same. Not one to argue in a language I am not completely fluent in, I simply agreed with a swift, “OK.”
Within the next minute, our eggs and toast were brought to the table along with two dining companions. Because our previous boothmates were so generous, I decided to pay it forward and start some conversation. We found out that they were from Singapore and knew just as little Chinese as I did. They made their first mistake by asking for the English menu, and by random chance, it actually appeared! All four of us stared at it in amazement until it was time for our Singaporean guests to order. That’s when semi-chaos broke out.
After looking at the English menu, they made their second mistake when they tried to order a la carte and the server irritably tried to talk them out of it and said they would save money if they ordered the set breakfast. Begrudgingly, they agreed. When their eggs came, the older of the two gals erroneously put her tea (this was the complimentary tea and not the milk tea that comes with the set breakfast) next to the eggs and immediately, a server came over and moved her tea to the top of the plate and repeatedly jammed his finger into the table showing her where he was going to put her macaroni soup.
The next mistake really set off the staff. Our Singaporean counterparts had not yet received their milk tea so the older gal notified a random server that was passing by that they had not yet gotten their milk tea. Then, as our server was walking by, she also told him that they had not gotten their milk tea just as the first server was rounding the corner with their milk tea. She ended up getting yelled at by both of them. The first server said, “You just asked me to get you milk tea, why are you asking someone else?” Our server said, “If you already asked him, why are you asking me?”
Next, she asked them to take away her plate of eggs so she could have more room to enjoy her soup. The server refused to take away the plate saying he will do it when she is all finished because it is more efficient. At this point, we quickly finished our food and paid and got out of there.
The experience alone is worth the trip to Australia Dairy, however, the food is also amazing. The star of the show is the egg. The scrambled eggs at Australia Dairy are cooked perfectly. I think they season the eggs with a hint of fish sauce because they come to you with the perfect amount of umami flavor. No tableside salt or pepper is needed. The color and texture are uniform. I’m not a huge fan of scrambled eggs, but this version changed my mind. No doubt, these are the best scrambled eggs I had ever eaten. Along with the eggs, you get a side of thick, generously buttered white toast with the crusts cut off.
The macaroni soup consists of elbow macaroni in a hearty chicken broth garnished with sliced ham on top. There is nothing special about this dish; however, I grew up eating this for breakfast so it brought warm memories of comfort food from when I was a child.
The last piece of the set menu was milk tea or coffee. Hong Kong style milk tea is different than most teas you will have in China because of the former British colonial rule over Hong Kong. Milk tea in Hong Kong usually means extremely strong black ceylon tea steeped in a stocking served with evaporated milk. The taste is very bold and bitter. The better option is to order black tea with condensed milk. This version of milk tea is smoother and sweeter.
The Australia Dairy Co. is a unique microcosm of how society functions in Hong Kong and offers a glimpse of the culture in the area. I arrived a bit skeptical of the Australia Dairy Co., but I definitely leave a believer.