Central Hong Kong Cafe's Parkway Parade & Tampines Mall branches are both offering a Teatime Special promotion during weekdays (Monday to Friday) from 3pm to 6pm.

Order any food item & get any one of your favourite drink for SGD 0.30 only, which is a bargain since their drinks cost upwards of SGD 2.

The proliferation of HK-style eateries is somewhat both a blessing & a boon, as the missus is a BNO by birth; we tend to find it distressing when the food served comes out somewhat substandard.

For one thing, I can never understand why one has to pay an extra SGD 0.50 for cold drinks. That much for a few ice cubes sounds a bit dodgy, on top of which the drink ends up horribly diluted if left overly long.

Then again, I'm probably too spoilt; a restaurant that we regularly frequent in HK places the hot glass of 奶茶 in a bowl of ice cubes, eliminating the problem of dilution. Now that is service worth paying a little more for.

I digress.

PP's Central serves a pretty fine Claypot Stew Beef Brisket; the tender bits practically slides down one's throat, & the gravy goes really well with rice, as my daughter would attest. Sadly, now & then a tough chunk of meat with the consistency of old leather pops out & spoils what would've been an otherwise perfect dish.

If those were thrown in as a filler, I'd rather do without.

Their Milk Tea is passable, but nothing near what an authentic 奶茶 tastes like. Alas, when nostalgia sets in, we make do with what we can.

But I must admit that they do know their instant noodles (出前一丁 aka 清仔面) served up in a variety of ways; those come pretty close to that which we know & love. If you can't decide on what to order, that's probably your safest bet.

Service-wise, there isn't really much to critique; the food gets served rather quickly, & the fact that the staffs are able to speak Cantonese is a nice touch.

Central isn't a place that we'd frequent, but the occasional bite still fits the schedule.