Yumminess from DiF Cafe (鑽石餐廳), Mongkok

I am a big fan of Mongkok.
To me, Mongkok is one of Hong Kong's absolute essentials. If you haven't been to Mongkok, you haven't been to Hong Kong.

It's super crowded, pulsing with life.
In summertime, Mongkok's scent is intense. It's a combination of sweat, cigarette smoke, money, oil and stinky tofu :)

I can never get bored exploring Mongkok and let me share one of my favorite finds with you, DiF cafe. It's buried somewhere at the last chunk of the alleys along Mongkok Ladies Market, and despite the location, the place is bright and sparkly.

Just in case you were wondering what the heck is DiF...

Diamond is Forever :)
Sounds more like a jewelry shop than a cafe eh? Can they do food right?

DiF cafe serves quite a selection of food.
From Hong Kong style western food to Japanese curries; snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks; coffee and desserts; as well as quite a selection of vegetarian treats.

Normally, I'd steer clear of salads in Hong Kong "western" eateries. But this time, it's summer and we need some kind of vegetable intake for the day, so we decided to brave the salad.

We had the caesar salad with smoked duck and smoked chicken, and we were pleasantly surprised. As expected, the "caesar salad" dressing doesn't taste like the classic. It has a lot more sweetness, more like a mayo-sugar-mix than caesar salad dressing, but it's delicious and refreshing nonetheless. The veggies were fresh, the croutons and crisps gave the salad a nice crunch, the smoked duck and smoked chicken made it hearty. The salad set comes with a serving of soup, and you could order any drinks half price to go with it.

After a hard and stressful day at work, SC ordered the much needed frozen margarita.

It was delicious. I only tasted a sip, I promise :)

More deliciousness followed...

I had the seafood cream soup topped with puff pastry, served with garlic bread.
The bread was buttery and crispy, and the soup was really tasty by Hong Kong western food standard. Flavorful, creamy, not too corn starchy, with generous bits of "seafood" (do we count imitation crab meat as seafood? ^_^)

We saw the snack menu and couldn't resists ordering some.

The breaded cheddar pints were tasty, crispy batter with chewy cheesy filling, remember to consume while they're hot. It's served with a sweet creamy dressing with a side of Hong Kong style fruit salad (i.e. canned cocktails mixed with sweetened mayo). Yummy!

Since I selected a main course with not much meat, we also ordered grilled sirloin with Japanese gravy.

Some parts of the meat were a bit chewy, but the sauce was nutty and delicious.

When I see something this pretty on the menu, how could I not order it?

My iced pink rose tea was pretty, not to sweet and super fragrant. The only think I was not happy about this drink...was having rose petals up the straw into my mouth :p

We had the pan fried foie gras with creamy wild mushroom rice served in hot pot.

Nicely cooked foie gras on a bed of rice, subtly flavored with mushrooms and a tinge of sweetness from onions to match the foie gras. Delicious! The only thing is...there's too much rice and too little foie gras :D

Hmm, I personally am not into crispy rice...but if that's your thing...

Rejoice!

The whole meal costs us HK$358 (2 persons), remember to go early (ideally before 7 pm) to avoid long queue ^_^

D.i.F. Cafe 鑽石餐廳
Shop F, G & H, 2A-2P Tung Choi Street, Mong Kok
Hong Kong
旺角通菜街2A-2P鴻光大廈地下F,G&H舖
Tel: +852 2385 2899