IKEA Bistro     宜家家居美食站  

Came here for the Swedish meatballs because they are a cheap and fast fix when you’re in a hurry.

This time there was lots of jam but less gravy so it was slightly too sweet.

Bought a cup of meat balls for HKD9, and a cup of kiwi drink of HKD5.

Meatballs were tender and tasty. Not dry like some of the meatballs you'll get in the noodle shops in town.
The meatballs are served in a paper cup and are partially submerged in sauce. For HKD9, I'm not paying for fine dining. The taste is all that counts. On that count, Ikea scores top for their meatballs.

The Kiwi drink was good too. It is freshly squeezed. Can actually grind my teeth against the small seeds of the kiwi pulp. So I know it's fresh, and not kiwi fruit concentrate from a factory somewhere. It was a small cup though, around 250 to 300ml size. For HKD 5, it was worth it. Good thirst quencher after hours of shopping in Causeway Bay.

icecream
very creamy, although it's only $3 still gd~ the cone is cripsy, overall is cold enough and won't melt so fast. not too sweet too!

pop corn
very cripsy and hot, freshly made, but caramel portion is not enough to wrap around the whole pop corn so not enough sweet...also some of the pop corn is not "exploses"

hot dog
bread is soft and the sausage is very long, outer skin is sripsy and inner side is still juicy, add some custard and tomato sause is very good!!!

A friend brought me here once to try their meatballs. Back then, I thought what's so special with these meatballs???? And their sauces looks a bit gross. Anyhow, they really do have a secret recipe with their sauce .... the meatball itself was alright, but it's not like it's that hard to make meatballs in the first place ..... anyhow, with their two sauces (and must put both sauces on .... believe one of the sauce should be plum sauce) .... then "click" .... magical!!!! $9 for 5 meatballs are not too cheap ...... but it's not like fish balls where you can find everywhere .... so will still come back geh. But it was super crowded (probably cos their other snacks were cheap too ...... so it's just more packed with peoople than inside the furniture store!!!

I respectfully disagree with the Editors Choice review below me though you should take in mind everyone's taste buds operate on a different level.

Meatballs $9
What was once my favorite is now repulsive to me. I'm DEFINITELY not a big fan of the Meatballs made today as they are literally swimming in the sauce (which was always less tasty than the meatballs to me) and have become mini sized. You can barely taste anything BUT the sauce and the portion is fine as I certainly don't want seconds. Perhaps you'll still like them if you like the sauce or you'll get lucky and they'll skimp a little. But as the servers are on autopilot it's hard to control that. All in all if you want to taste the meatball you'll do better buying it from the market. I can't vouch and say the quality of meat is the same or worse because I honestly couldn't taste it.

Hot Dogs $6
On the other hand, I think the hot dogs now taste better. While I agree that both the meatballs and hot dogs shrunk, I prefer quality over quantity and for the hot dogs they hit that quality mark. It's now a snappier dog without as much of that processed taste that made me prefer the meatballs and it also goes along better with the toppings. That said don't make that mistake of overwhelming the meat in sauce and only use sparing amounts of ketchup and mustard. These of course aren't German franks but for $6 it's really tasty.

Popcorn $4
Quite good and a little bit sweet after you get to the end, but otherwise very fragrant and yummy. Great even if you're like me and don't like caramel popcorn.

Sundae $2
The waffle cone is really delish and the ice cream itself is quite good. It's comparable to McD's and has a lighter, icier feel to it. It's not milkier or less sweet, as one reviewer said, but it's still quite good. Especially the cone.

All in all ikea is value priced and their portions are quite small. Great for a quick bite to eat as it hits the spot, it's not great if you had fond memories of their old tasty meatballs.

Date: sunday 9th jan 2011 - 7pm

Ordered: Portion of meatballs ($9) & 1 hotdog ($6)Taste: Meatballs: I have had these meatballs in ikea at shatin before and they were absolutely beautiful. the only difference from these meatballs from shatin branch is, the shatin branch provided the crisp on the side with it. But ofc the cost will be difference. the meatballs looked smaller than ones i have had before. But the sauce is still teh same with the Cranberry jam (I think) To be honest 1 portion, is 5 meatballs, is definately not enough. especially it is so bite size. i wanted more. they are so good, so juicy and moist. with teh sauce it is definately a good combination. it is so good, decided buy a packet of frozen and have it at home. bought two packs of the sauce too. Definately just as good at home.Hotdog: I always have the hotdogs here everytime I come to Ikea, but i have notice it has SHRUNK!!!!! The sausage is really thin now compared to before and doesnt taste as good. The sausge being thinner makes the texture not as good. I accidently put too much musturd on, but to my surprise the musturd taste was not that strong. the hotdogs here have definately gone down. But for 6 bucks, what can you complain about?PS: The hotdog can come with a meal for only 11 hk dollars. but i will not have this meal before i walk round into Ikea as then i'll be in arush to finish the drink. so I would advice to have the meal/ drink after you have finished shopping in ikea.

BTW: The frozen packet of meatballs are 75 hk dollars, and you need get the sauce etc. so working out the cost, paying 9 hk dollars for 5 meatballs in Ikea instantly is quite a bargain!

Meatballs: $9
Ice-cream cone: $2
hot-dog: $6

total $17

that kind of value is pretty much unbeatable, but I'd avoid the hot-dog when eating here again. it just had a slightly unpleasant taste that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

the meatballs were by far the most interesting, with their mix of some kind of meat sauce and some kind of jam, which somehow worked well together. though they were also the least good value.

ice-cream cone was yr average soft-serve ice-cream cone, that you'd usually pay 10x as much for.

Meat balls served with Jam totally caught my interest so came here to try it, also tried their hotdog and popcorn.
The meatballs were quite soft, and the texture is a bit like a burger in meat ball form.
I was very surprised the Jam tasted really well with it, it balanced out the lard taste of the meat.

As for the hotdog, it was just a plain simple hot dog, not grilled with oil, but slightly dry.