Hong Kong Day.Cha Kee 香港地.茶記 was one of the spots that we had first read about on social media and had wanted to visit for a while — taking over the former premises of the now-defunct Crazy3 - Thailily at Goldhill Shopping Centre, Hong Kong Day.Cha Kee is located a short distance away from Novena MRT Station by foot, being situated opposite United Square and being neighbours with other notable establishments such as that of Craftsmen Specialty Coffee, Kamome Bakery and Shanghai Tan Pan Fried Bun. Whilst opening to much fanfare due to the article that had ran online about it, Hong Kong Day.Cha Kee had closed temporarily after its initial run following its official opening — the closure was made for the establishment to sort out their operations, and that they had since re-opened their doors in late February 2023; albeit quietly perhaps to still smoothen out its operations. We visited Hong Kong Day.Cha Kee for lunch service on an early afternoon during the weekends; the establishment was mostly filled with patrons and we gotten ourselves seated at one of the last few tables available before the queue started to build up — the establishment is decked out with mostly booth seating that one would typically associate with Hong Kong-style Char Chaan Tengs around full with the mosaic tile flooring as well. Hong Kong Day.Cha Kee’s hard copy menu lists down the food items segregated in several categories — this includes sections dedicated to Rice & Noodles, Noodles Set, Chef’s Specials (mostly sharing dishes), as well as Freshly Baked (comprising of the various Bolo Bun and pastry offerings that they have). The online menu also sees assorted sandwiches and beverages listed — the latter comprises of hot and cold beverages that one would typically find in a Hong Kong-style Char Chaan Teng, think items such as that of Authentic Cold Milk Tea, Hot / Iced Ying Yang and Hot / Iced Honey Lemon.

One of the dishes that caught our attention almost immediately when we were first presented with the menu would be the Fatty Char Siu & Scrambled Egg on Rice; it was also a dish that we decided to settle upon eventually when we made our order via the QR code being stickers on the table itself. There was a choice for patrons to opt for Hot Milk Tea, Hot Lemon Tea and Hot Honey Lemon at an additional top up of $2 with every order of an item from the Rice & Noodles and Noodles Set section of the menu — we eventually went for the Hot Honey Lemon for our order. The dish came to table with the scrambled egg being much of an omelette with five pieces of fatty Char Siu coming on top of the bed of rice beneath it — the egg and the fatty Char Siu all drizzled with some sweet sauce on top; pretty simple a dish as it seems. Digging into the dish, we were not particularly impressed with how the scrambled egg was done; the scrambled egg was barely runny; felt that it lacked moisture and came close to being an omelette. We did, however, like how the Char Siu came in pretty thick cuts — the thick cuts were a good balance of fats and lean parts with the former carrying a good bite despite its gelatinous nature; pretty easy to eat and not particularly jelak whilst carrying a meaty flavour without any of that undesirable porky stench that might have come along with it. Much of the sweetness of the dish did come with the sweet sauce that was being drizzled atop the egg, though we wished that they could drizzle a bit of that sauce onto the rice before topping it off with the egg; the rice was rather dry considering how the consistency of the egg just did not help with it as well, while the rice also lacks flavour since much of that sauce could not get to the rice either.

Despite how the Fatty Char Siu & Scrambled Egg on Rice turned out to be, it seems that Hong Kong Day.Cha Kee 香港地.茶記 was somewhat better with their bakes and pastries than with the hot food. There was a bit of waiting time involved with both the Bolo Bun with Butter and the Egg Tart that we had ordered — both of which seemingly being freshly-baked upon order considering how they did come after a substantial period of time after the Fatty Char Siu & Scrambled Egg on Rice turned up at our table, but were served up piping hot. Between the two, we preferred the Egg Tart a little more — despite the pale appearance of the cookie crust, the Egg Tart was pretty well-made; the Egg Tart coming with a smooth egg curd within that was eggy without being overly sweet, while most of the sweetness came within the cookie crust that came with a milky note as well. In retrospect, the Bolo Bun with Butter came with a buttery, sweet crust over the top just like how a good Bolo Bun should along with a slab of unsalted butter. That being said, the bread beneath to be a little bit too airy and light for our liking, lacking that bite and tension we desired. The beverages were decent — the Hot Honey Lemon was a balance of sweetness from the honey and that zingy note from the slice of lemon, while the Hot Coffee was done in true-blue Hong Kong-style emphasising on the silkiness of evaporated milk; pretty much well-done, though not something that went with our very own preferences of local Nanyang-style Kopi. Prices of the mains range from $8.80 to $13.80, while their bakes ranges from $2.50 to $5.80 — a pretty decent price range although portions sizes are on the smaller side of things here. We wouldn’t be rushing to return to Hong Kong Day.Cha Kee based on the items we had tried; there is certainly room for improvement when it comes to the execution of the Fatty Char Siu & Scrambled Egg on Rice. That being said, for those who must check it out for the fact that it is pretty much a Hong Kong-style Char Chaan Teng, it is a spot that one may consider visiting once just to get it checked off the list.