A simple lunch @ simplylife - The East The West, Hong Kong

The simple things in life are often the best. Kicking a ball with my 3-year-old. Getting a solid 8 hours of sleep at night. Even seeing sunshine in the oft overcast and gloomy skies of Hong Kong. Last Saturday I enjoyed a simple lunch with my two guys at simplylife - The East The West. A bakery near the entrance tempts passersby with delicious looking baked goodies, and beyond the entrance is a spacious dining area perfect for a leisurely meal or coffee. The West section is a semi-self-service setting which subtly extends to a full-service area of The East (and apparently each side has different opening hours). We enjoyed full table service over on The East with polite and efficient waitstaff who was also helpful with regards to our son's food allergies. By the way, simplylife is directly opposite that German restaurant where we recently had yummy pretzels, sausages and roasted pork knuckle.

The dining area as viewed from The East section, with views into the open kitchen. There is also an al fresco area, open during the warmer months:

My cappuccino and hubby's hot chocolate in the background. Not the best, but decent enough:

This bakery café has an east-and-west theme, offering two distinct menus with dishes of both western food (such as pizza, pasta and burgers) and the eastern cuisine (predominantly Thai and Vietnamese dishes). The food is quite affordably priced, and nothing in the western menu was over HK$88. The East menu is more extensive, offering noodles, rice and curries as well as more pricey items like king tiger prawns and crab.

Hubby's Clams with homemade Tagliatelle - delicious and spicy, but very oily:

My order of Eggs Marine (poached egg, smoked salmon on farm bread) - yum! Smoked salmon beats ham/bacon hands down. The farm bread was a nice variation to the usual English muffin:

Perfectly poached egg with soft runny yolk:

I spied kangkung (aka water morning glory) on The East menu, and just had to order it. Deliciously garlicky and spicy with a generous amount of dried shrimps - one of the better versions I've had in HK:

Hubby spied some Chocolate Jaffa Tart on display at the bakery section, and had to order a serving. It was utterly rich and decadent - chocolate fondant, orange cream and whips of chocolate ganache. Chocolate pairs well with orange, and this is a truly indulgent treat - I could only manage two bites and hubby happily polished everything else:

We were told the tart came with a scoop of ice cream, and I chose durian flavour (no, we didn't eat the ice cream together with the tart!). I now know where to get good durian ice cream:

Delicious danish, croissants and pastries for sale:

We could also watch the bakers in action! It was great showing the boy how bread is made and the finished product:

This was a simple family lunch, and I really enjoyed it. simplylife is worth a visit if you are in the area.

simplylife The East The West
Shop G19-21
G/F, Olympian City Phase 3
1 Hoi Wang Road
Tai Kwok Tsui, West Kowloon
Tel. +85 2 2750 1875