Hon Cafe

Came here after having dinner up the street one night for some dessert and boba. There is plenty of seating, the service was great, and the desserts/​bobas were very delish!
Sad that this place closed. =(

This café is now CLOSED. Stopped by for afternoon tea and then some sweets, but was baffled and in dismay to discover Hon Café is all boarded up for closure.

Dessert, Dessert, Dessert! I visited Hon Café a couple of times for the bakery. The cake is good at a good price. I don’t feel like I’m being overcharge. I do admit, some of the cakes are a bit dry (have a bottle of water ready). But there’s so many options to choose from. Whenever I’m in Chinatown, I make sure to stop here to buy a cake. I brought bubble tea from here once. It was good. My friend also brought bread from here for her mother. She said it was good. Her mother approved.
I need to food here. Shame on me for never ordering real food here. My sweet tooth gets the best of me whenever I see so many desserts.

The environment is welcoming and makes you feel at home. The range of foods, beverages and pastries is wide. The price range is incredible so be prepared. It could also be packed on weekends.
There is a wider dining area in the back of the café section where you are seated by maitre ds and waited by the waitstaff.

The only Chinese bakery that is open after 9PM!

I highly recommend the Sizzling Udon Noodle!!! It really sizzles starting in the kitchen all the way to your table. Deeeeelicious!
Again, the HK Milktea is still good, BOLD and BITTER just the way I like it!
And yet again, the unisex bathroom is a disgrace. They need better maintenance.
In addition, the newly discovered «ROAST HONEY CHICKEN WINGS» are very ADDICTIVE! I KID YOU NOT. They are crispy on the outside and extremely juicy and tender in the inside. OMGOSH, what a MUST order!!!
NOTE: You have to pay tips when you sit inside and order restaurant-​like food, BUT you can save on the tips when you sit near the entrance and order bakery goods.

Not good.
The cake is missing something. And the drinks are made all wrong.
They need to shape up! There are so many bakeries right next door that are so much better, I don’t understand how this place is still up and running.

Breakfast for two weeks…$ 3.50?!
That’s right! One whole big bag of NINE steamed plain buns or «mantou» for only 3.50! If you hop around the corner to Fay Da bakery they sell these guys for 90 cents each. The buns at Hon Café are bigger and fluffier as well! I had actually made the trek out to this little café because I simply liked their mantou better. I had forgotten how ridiculously cheap they were.
But how do you get that fresh steamy quality of mantou from buying in bulk? I’ll let you in on an ancient secret chinese instant steaming technique.
1. Place mantou on a microwavable plate
2. Grab one piece of paper towel and rip it in half
3. Fold each half of paper towel in half and wet them in the sink
4. Squeeze out the excess water from the paper towels
5. Place one paper towel underneath the mantou and the other right on top
6. Microwave for 30~40 seconds
7. Remove from microwave and throw out hot wet paper towels
8. Enjoy fresh steamy mantou that is perfect with a hot cup of coffee!
If you have JUST purchased them from the store, the next day or two don’t necessarily need the wet paper towel (microwave only), perhaps just one underneath. As the mantou’s get older and a little harder, you will definitely need the wet towels to soften them up again.
Quick and easy to prepare on the go, or to grab and microwave at the office.
They have other flavors of buns that are sold in bulk but I have been pretty satisfied with my usual morning plain mantou and coffee. I haven’t checked out exactly which other kinds are here but traditionally, mantou also come with scallion, or in taro flavor.
I have never tried their kitchen food, but a few other note worthy baked goods that I can’t help purchasing are:
Corn bun: bun with buttery creamed corn on top — absolutely delicious
Mango roll: fresh mango chunks are stuffed in this soft cakey roll
Lemon custard bun: fresh baked bun… lemon custard inside… need I say more? The custard isn’t too sweet and doesn’t have that usual creamy texture of american custard. It is more of a jelly consistency.
Steamed BBQ Pork bun: of course.
Curry beef bun: deep fried bun with beef curry inside, great for mid day snack though not the healthiest of items
If you aren’t too into sweet traditional cakes, Hon Café also has amazing fruit cakes here for about 8 dollars each for the smaller size and 12 for larger. It’s a personal favorite birthday gift of mine. You get a subtly sweet cream wrapped around a light sponge cake with fresh fruit mixed in within the layers. If you don’t want to commit to a whole cake, these bad boys are sold by the slice as well.
Now you know how to remain as a frugalista without having to give up the most important meal of the day! You and your wallet can thank me later :)

Never am I ordering here for lunch ever again. my coworkers and I were getting take out so I thought i’d try this place. I got the minced beef with egg over rice. It came with a soup, the lunch special. The minced beef turned out to be way too greasy! Not only that, there’s suppose to be a discount for take out, but they didn’t include it. The soup was medicore, I got a cream of corn. They also have a vegetable soup too. I’ve had MUCH better western style food else where.

I had never eaten at a Chinese bakery. I was quite surprised at how cheap, and tasty, everything was. After stuffing myself with free bowls of dim sum and cheap beer at Nom Wah Tea Parlor’s Chinatown Chow Down event a bunch of us dessert craved Unilocalers headed over to Hon Café for a sugar rush.
The place itself is large and bright with lots of seating in the back half. The front features all the delectable pastries in the glass cases where you choose your selections and place your orders. Grab a table in the back and they bring it over to you. As we were a large group we took over a long table in the back and swiped extra nearby chairs. The staff here were cool and did not mind this, or care about how loud and crazy we acted.
I could not believe how cheap it is here. I chose two cakes — a blueberry cake and a crispy topped egg white cake (angel food cake really) and each was only $ 1.25. Seriously! Seemed like everything was $ 1.00 — $ 3.00. It’s crazy! I think our whole group bill with all the cakes and desserts we destroyed came out to around $ 45 — and there had to be at least 15 of us at that table. Everything had good flavor but also seemed lighter then the normal bakery goods I am used to. We all tried out each other’s desserts as it became a communal table, and by the end we were stuffed.
Not a bad option at all for something different and you have a craving for a sugary treat when in the area. Cheap, friendly staff, lots of tables, and good desserts.

After eating complimentary food and cheap booze at Nom Wah Tea Parlor for the Chinatown Chow Down event, us Unilocalers headed out for dessert nearby. The only place I usually go for dessert in Chinatown is for ice cream so I’m glad that we were led to this place!
This place has lots to choose from, all reasonably priced. A lot of the single servings, which were large in size, were about $ 2! We all shared our dessert, everything tasted good. I chose the Chocolate Tiger Roll and this was huge — only $ 1.95! I didn’t expect much when I picked it out but it was actually pretty good.
Clean.
Spacious.
Friendly service.
Plenty of seating and booths in the back to enjoy your meal/​dessert.
Great for groups!

I was hungry and running errands around Chinatown, so wanted to grab a quick pork bun. I came into this place and looked around, not noticing that a worker was tailing me until I looked left and there she was, without any personal space given to me.
I asked for a pork bun and she handed it to me right away, and took it to the cashier. Maybe that was just prompt customer service. It was $ 1 and I dug the bun for it’s oiliness, but the pork was mediocre and it wasn’t super fresh/​hot like at Mei Li Wah.
Still only $ 1 though, so I guess I can’t have the highest expectations. But maybe I can, since there’s tons of competition over them pork buns ’round Chinatown.

I like coming here late for their buy 2 buns get 1 free special to get rid of whatever baked bun products they have left. Not everything is on sale so ask which ones. I like their bun with the crunchy top and egg custard inside… KAI YAN BAO. YUMMO.
Their roast pork bun ain’t bad either!
I had the Mexican bun here too and it was yummy. Reminded me of my closest friend from Mexico City. not that he ever ate it just that it’s called Mexican bun. ha! YUM TOO!
It’s okay priced to begin with but with the discount late at night. WOWEE. hehehehhe I am your favorite cheap eats finder!

I tend to come here quite often for cheap pastries, cakes and bubble tea. To be honest, their cakes are not very good. They are very cheap but they don’t taste like what they should be. We got a tiramisu cake and it tastes nothing like tiramisu! Nonetheless, the cake is not bad.
Bubble teas here are inexpensive so I like stopping by here. Food selection is sporadic though. I came here last night and they ran out of bubble already.
There is also a back room for sit-​down meals. It is mainly Cantonese style food and it is not bad. Again, price is great for what you got here.

This review is for the restaurant.
It seems that the restaurant was empty… No one was eating lunch nor getting orders from Hon. Everyone else was getting their bakeries at the front. So I went to pick up my order at the back.
Surprisingly it was good. I got baked spaghetti with beef and an egg on top. My order also came with a free bowl of creamy soup! The spaghetti wasn’t overcooked or any thing. It was just perfect. I love it. I ordered the same thing 3 times already and it’s just as good as it gets!!!

I stopped by here for a quick snack on the run in between meetings in SOHO.
Hon’s serves both Chinese fast food like roast duck, bbq pork and chow mein and Chinese baked goods like pineapple buns, pork buns, custard tarts and my favorite sesame balls.
That is in fact what I got, two huge sesame balls filled with red bean… so yummy. I wish I was more hungry at that time, I would of bought a few extra items.
Next time I am back in NY, I will come again!

When you crave something sweet to balance out a meal of (probably) MSG-​laden Chinese food, Hon Café calls out like a bright beacon of «I’VE GOT YOUR SUGAR FIX RIGHT HERE» on Mott st. late at night when most other bakeries have closed up.
I ordered the Tiger Chocolate Roll ($ 1.75), a mostly chocolate sponge cake roll with a silky chocolate center, surrounded by a thin coat of cream and yellow sponge cake. The center was my favorite part, since the rest was a bit dry and the flavor less pronounced. Not too bad though, just not something I would keep craving. My friend’s green tea roll with mango center was okay too. Just make sure you get a drink to go with these rolls.
I stayed until 10:30pm and they were still open, so I recommend it as a post-​dinner stop, but not a destination to go out of your way for. It’s never too late for dessert, even if it is just «meh».

HK style food takes a hit with Hon Café with offers rice and spaghetti plates characterized by a lack of taste and freshness and small portions. While prices are fair with most plates going for less than $ 9, you are definitely getting less for your money than you would at Wing Sing or XO Café. Both of these restaurants offer selections that are «all that and more» compared to Hon.
In addition to being a restaurant, Hon also operates as a small bakery offering a smaller selection than typical bakeries along the same block. Unfortunately, this additional ornament doesn’t make the tree look brighter. The buns are also hit by the same problems that is reflected in the restaurant offerings, but I would also point out the further reduction of appeal thanks to the dull coloring on the buns. Do you really want a pineapple bun that resembles a half-​baked bun?
While it is convenient to have a café that provides a double offering of a bakery and a restaurant, the problems that plague the food in both the restaurant and the baked goods is a double whammy that will have you knocked out and seeing stars. Two stars that is…

Hong Kong style comfort food, and actually done somewhat well. I have only tried the spam and egg with spaghetti, and the spaghetti with meat sauce, but both were completely tasty. My coworkers all loved it too and it has become our lunch option of choice. The portions are also huge, which is nice, since I am sort of a glutton.
However, being that this place really does market itself as a Hong Kong snack food/​comfort food sorta place, I would not try to get anything else there, because it’ll probably be of somewhat poor quality and be disappointing.

3.5 would be more fair, but eating here over 5 times in 2 weeks with my brother has laden this venue with memories that will never fade. We even ate the same meal each time.
That’s right, breakfast — instant noodles with egg and grilled spam with a side of coffee or iced milk tea. The six bucks were well spent. Service was timely and the music was full-​blown cantopop.
It’s a diner with a bakery. High calory, and rather tasty to boot, it will retain a warm spot in my memory for many years to come.