Kubrick  

Miss Kubrick

I since youth age have regarded the area of broadway centre as a secret garden in the concrete jungle of yau tsim mong district
you will find some old traditional hong kong restaurants sitting next to a cozy stylish low dense area for film/book lovers
funny

had a quick lunch here before the movie with my beloved one
there are sets for lunch at acceptable prices
the foods are fresh and still warm when served
kind of disappointed with the quantity
the whole set could be finished in fifteen minutes
I am used to a light lunch but the one sitting in front of me is not
the cabbages are fresh although they're literally tasteless
more like a veggie lunch
significant half's spaghetti is awesome and I am sure it was not made with canned sauce
still heard complaints about the amount but to me that is fine
kubrick cafe might not be a good place for food for men
would be delighted to spend some time walking around the bookshelves but unfortunately we are in a hurry

love the environment
could see the efforts paid in the design and setting of the whole cafe
I first thought the quotes along table sides are bible versus but in fact they aren't
somewhat like diary lines
overall kubrick is a good place to 'hea' in yaumatei
walking through the hustles of temple street to this area is somewhat like entering a secret garden
totally different atmosphere
and hong kong people do need a cultural life

Came to find Kubrick specifically one day around 2 months ago. Despite hearing that they use Lavazza Coffee, nowadays they are using an Organic, Fair Trade Coffee blend. *As a side note- Fairtrade coffee or Rainforest Allianced Coffees can sometimes have complications. The problem is that almost all high-end coffee shops internationally already buy the highest grade beans which commands really high auction prices anyway, hence the cupping quality is much higher. The biggest offenders of non-fairtrade or allianced coffees in the past were the big chainstores. So personally speaking - it doesn't make a lot of difference to the end quality since quality cafe's will already be using Estate or Higher Graded beans worth at least double the price.

A glimpse of past reviews reveals that coffee drinks here aren't overly impressive - however my Caffe Latte seemed ok-enjoyable in the end! Nicely smooth and with a bit of a roasty character, without any annoying bitterness at least.

The Workers here however, could do with a bit of smiles! Most of them look like zombies the night I visited

Yau Ma Tei is not an area I frequent but it is an area I am yet to explore and I am here on this day for a movie a movie. With over 30 mins to go before the movie starts, my friend and I were thinking of finding a place to chill. Being unfamiliar with this neighborhood, MacDonald was our initial idea but within 10 steps out of the ticket booth, we found ourselves delightfully surprised. The Kubrick Cafe is not just a cafe but a bookstore with a cafe. This kind of establishment is not very common in Hong Kong and I was fairly surprised. The bookstore is not that of mainstream, mass-market commercial type but more focused in the categories of Film, History, Cultures, Humanities and Travel.

The cafe offers various types of coffee as well as all day breakfast. The cafe occupies only a small part of portion of the establishment leaving much room for books and its music section.

I ordered a cappuccino but it was too watery and the foam was rather plain in taste as well. I guess it was not the quality of the coffee that mattered most to me at that particular moment, it was the fact that when I close my eyes, all I can hear from the surroundings were not normal chit-chat about local entertainment headlines but about films, film directors and Hong Kong cultural landscape! That was something unexpected, at least to me; it was a nice change of atmosphere indeed. Although there is much room for improvement for their coffee (and the comfortableness of their seats), I might just come back someday to check out their selection of books and musics.

Likes:

* great location to chill before a movie
* not so common bookstore + cafe establishment in Hong Kong (many others i know are either very far or they are upstairs establishment I think)

Dislikes:

* Much to improve coffee - too watery for mine
* Can be quite noisy

Avg Spending: Below HKD 100 per person

Original Blog: http://jason-bonvivant.blogspot.com/2009/09/kubrick-cafe.html

A lovely plac to hang around, to enjoy a cup of tea while reading your favourite book, to meet up with friends - no doubt - what a place of uncommon flavour.

Food is reasonable with reasonable price - quite fair.

However if you are a dessert lover, and want to enjoy a nice piece of cake with a nice cup of coffee/tea, you might be disappointed with their cakes - which are often too dry and solid, probably not fresh enough, been left over for a night or two, or otherwise it's simply a recipe problem.
I have been there a number of times eating, but when it comes to afternoon I ended up leaving disappointed and unsatisfied. Yeah, nice time sitting around, aah...but such a pity they don't have nice cakes as well.
.
All in all, it's a place I'll still visit continuously, for the sake of nice atmosphere.