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Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司: Hong Kong’s Most Iconic Cha Chaan Teng
There are certain places in Hong Kong that exist less as restaurants and more as rites of passage. Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司 is one of them — a cha chaan teng 茶餐廳 so legendary that it has become a benchmark for what local breakfast culture really feels like.
Located in Jordan, just off Nathan Road, this tiny corner café has been serving generations of office workers, taxi drivers, and curious travellers since the 1970s. It is famous for two things: impossibly soft scrambled eggs and a level of efficiency that borders on hostility.
The Cha Chaan Teng Experience
Cha chaan tengs are Hong Kong’s answer to diners: fast, loud, affordable, and built for function over comfort. They are hybrid spaces born out of colonial history, where Western dishes were adapted to Chinese tastes. Think macaroni soup instead of pasta, milk tea instead of cappuccino, toast instead of croissants.
Australia Dairy Company sits at the extreme end of this spectrum. There are no reservations. You queue outside. When a seat opens, you are ushered in and expected to order immediately. Hesitation is not part of the system.
Most of the menu is written in traditional Chinese, and while English translations exist online, they are rarely offered in person. The safest option is to order one of the set breakfasts, which typically includes scrambled eggs, toast, and Hong Kong-style macaroni soup. I tried to add an extra dish and was firmly refused.
The Food: Why People Endure the Queue
The reason people line up daily is simple: the eggs.
Australia Dairy Company’s scrambled eggs are unlike any others. Soft, glossy, barely set, they sit somewhere between custard and silk. They arrive piled onto thick buttered toast, trembling slightly, as if they might dissolve if you wait too long.
The macaroni soup is equally iconic. Elbow pasta floating in a clear chicken broth, often served with ham or scrambled egg. It sounds basic, and it is, but in the way that comfort food always is. There is something deeply nostalgic about it, even if you did not grow up in Hong Kong.
Ice lemon tea, strong and sweet, arrives in tall glasses. It is the kind of drink designed to wake you up and move you on with your day, not linger over.
The Service (and the Warnings)
Everyone will tell you about the service before they tell you about the food. It is part of the mythology.
The waiters shout. Orders are barked across the room. Dishes are slammed onto tables. You are reminded, implicitly and sometimes explicitly, that your job is to eat and leave.
That said, my waiter uncle humoured me. There was a brief moment of eye contact, a half-smile, and then the eggs arrived. In Hong Kong, this counts as warmth.
Why It Still Matters
Australia Dairy Company is not about ambience. The tables are cramped, the walls are plain, and the entire meal feels like a timed exercise. But that is exactly why it matters.
In a city where cafés are becoming more polished, more Instagrammable, and more expensive, this place remains stubbornly unchanged. It is a living snapshot of working Hong Kong, preserved through routine rather than nostalgia.
You do not come here for comfort. You come here for context.
Practical Information
Australia Dairy Company 澳洲牛奶公司
47 Parkes Street, Jordan, Hong Kong
Opening hours: 7:00am – 10:00pm (Closed all day Thursday)
No reservations, walk-in only
Cash only
If you want to understand Hong Kong beyond skyline views and rooftop bars, start your day here. Order the eggs. Drink the milk tea. Don’t ask for extras.
