Classified  

I had been hearing about this place from my friends for a while now and they've been recommending their breakfast menu. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time and instead popped by for lunch with my girlfriend. As soon as we came in we sat by the front open door area which was quite nice with the occasional driver honking his horn (TWSS). The decor, rustic and "homey" matched the food being served.
I had ordered the classified burger with stilton cheese ($114) and a large Caffe Latte ($34), whilst my girlfriend had ordered the Grilled chicken,pesto and sun dried penne ($127) and a apple julep ($44).Classified burger

The burger arrived and we started on the chips the taste was reminicent of those curly fries spicy and crunchy. The burger on the other hand was cooked well and was moist but lacked seasoning heck it was bland like white paper. The cheese didn't do anything much other than provide a different texture and the bacon was hard, not crispy.

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Caffe Latte

The coffee wasn't bitter at all, It had a nutty note to it at the end and the crema art was nicely done although they could've had a cleaner rim on the cup. For $34 it wasn't bad, but not perfect.

Service was excellent but on the day I went it didn't seem to busy but the penne took around 30-45 mins (wasn't timing) by the time i was done with my meal my girlfriends had just arrived. It was unbelievable had to followup on the order and still waited another 15 mins. Ticked me off quite a bit, but not enough to prevent me from coming back.

Went to church this morning and decided to have a brunch in Happy Valley. I looked up from open rice and decided to give Classified a try.

The shop interior gives me a raw feeling with wooden bench / seat. I like this a lot as it reminds me of the good old days back in Australia in which many cafes were in this style.

I ordered a scramble egg on toast ($36) while my wife ordered an egg benedict ($4x). The price was extremely decent for the portion we got. Just by looking at teh portion of the scramble eggs, I think they have use at least 4 eggs while charging us for only $40. What a bargain! Also, the eggs were extremely creamy meanwhile maintaining the taste of the eggs.
I don't some restaurant which uses lots of cream on the scramble egg which makes the egg tastes creamy but without the taste of the egg!The egg benedict was tasty as well. The hollandise sauce was also creamy with a little bit of sour from the lemon. The poached eggs were cooked perfectly with running eggs inside.Last come my latte. Usually I would not order coffee in this kind of restaurant as they don't care much about the quality of coffee much. However, as I noticed that the coffee bean they used were from Graffeo, a famous roaster from US, I was curious of how the coffee taste like and so I ordered a latte. To my surprise, the foam was frothed perfectly in which a single bubble could not be found. Even I left the coffee on the table for 10 minutes, the foam has no sign of collapse. Regarding the taste, I would say it is much better than the one in those chain store. Sweetness rather than bitterness was first i can taste in my mouth followed by the taste of nutty almond. Now that I know Classified has good coffee, I would definitely pop by more frequently rather than going to the coffee chain store on the opposite side of the street.

Happy Valley Classified is easily my favourite out of all the other Classified branches.

Not only is the location Super convenient, it also serves Crispy Chilli Fries, which FYI are always sold out if you go late!! AND they serve Thin crust pizzas*.. Total perfection!!

The fries are really a MUST-ORDER...So good with a glass of red wine or as a side dish!Here are some dishes I would always go back for:

Organic beef Lasanga * - Thin layers that come in a small round sizzling hot pan.. SO DELISH.

Piri-piri Chicken * - Half / whole, not super spicy but very tasty. You can always order a whole chicken and take home the rest. The next day, I would make a chicken sandwich out of the leftovers - after keeping them in the fridge and tossing them in the oven for a few minutes. You'll be surprised how juicy and tender the chicken still is!

Spaghetti with meatballs * - Spaghetti tossed in a spicy tomato sauce (my personal favourite) with meatballs.

For some greens, get a side of mixed green salad or the Chicken and avocado salad. It is very refreshing especially with the tomatoes and crunchy hericot verts.

Really like to have a brunch so we book a table for 11:30am earlier on. When we get there we are surprised that there is no booking under my name, luckily we can just seat inside.
The restaurant is very woody, chairs, tables. You can even bring your dog to seat at the table on the open door area.
I always like All Day Breakfast for brunch but not serving at Classified. So I order an egg benedict with spinach. (so veggie)
It is served quickly and the egg is nicely poached, on top of the spinach, and muffin at the bottom with the Hollandaise sauce – sauce ok, not exceptional tasty.We seat there until 1pm when more guests start to arrive.
Next time for brunch I will choose another place with my favorite All Day Breakfast.

I like this Classified better than the one at Tai Hang as the service is more genuine here. In the Tai Hang outlet the staff is a bit absent minded and their English is not that great.

Perfect brunch spot for couples or table of 3-4. My favourite dishes are their pasta of the day and pizza. Perfect chewy crust with nice roasted flavours and good quality cheese.

Tried their basic Brut which was HK$500+ (dry with lots of fine, long lasting bubbles and a hint of sweetness).

Lastly, the Classified Lasagna is one of the best in HK that I've tried and is served on a small metal pan that's hot!

In order to celebrate the 1st October, Jenny and I decided to have brunch at Classified right across where she lived.

It was only 11o'clock and the restaurant was already 3/4 full house.

It was probably the first time I go for brunch this year and so I don't really know what to eat. Jenny suggested me to try the egg benedict and she ordered herself a ravioli.

The egg benedict came with nothing but parma ham. The dish looked so plain without and vegetable to garnish but nonetheless, the taste was pretty good. But of course, if they charged me for like 90 dollars (with service charge) I expect the portion to be a little bigger or at least comes with some sides items like salad.Jenny gave me some of her ravioli for sharing. The sauce was similar to the hollandise sauce I had for my egg benedict and the taste was pretty good either. Overall speaking, the environment and the food in this place were above standard except that I found the price was a little bit expensive.

Woke up at 10 O' Clock, and since I didn't want to eat cha chan ting, we instead tried something new. We had seen the classified in Happy Valley many times before, and this time we just decided to try it. Finally..
Anyways we found out the ordering was individually based, and the menu was very flexible. I ordered a classic egg benedict, pain au chocolat, darjeeling tea, with side order of english sausage. And a spanish chozziro. We also ordered 2 more egg benedict, 2 side order of sausages, 1 of ham, 1 of bacon and 1 more darjeeling tea, 1 caffe latte, and a apple juice.
The food was really good. The benedicts were very well prepared, the egg was like a onzen egg, which was awesome, and there was ham in the benedict. A very good benedict. The spanish beans with toast and tomatoes was also very good, because the beans tasted good, the toast was well toasted, and the tomatoes were seasoned well.
The tea was ok, but it was not strong enough in taste.
The staff were very friendly, and the people there were also very chill. Liked the place a lot.
We payed 470 for 4 people. A good breakfast deal.

As a Valley resident I was delighted to see Classified open locally. Hubbie and I decided to try it for dinner soon after opening and were willing to forgive the poor service as it had only recently opened but were disappointed by the poor execution of its limited menu.

Happy Valley doesn't have many, if any, good brunch options so we decided to give it another go more recently for brunch. Big mistake. The service was terrible (we had to ask at least 4 times for our coffee and only got it 45min after we had finished eating...and it was only warm) and servings stingy and not very appetizing - scrambled eggs is literally a piece of toast with scrambled eggs, no salad or sides.

For dinner head a few streets down to Gusto for much better food and for brunch, Brunch Club in CWB is a thousand times better.

Had a dinner appointment in Happy Valley but arrived almost half an hour early
Originally planned on killing the time at the nearby Starbucks but noticed that there was this Classified place. Somehow I got the feeling that this place is related to the Press Room at Hollywood Road.
Been to the Press Room a few years back. Enjoyed very much the Press Burger there. So the decision was made to try out the Classified, not for food, but for a seat and a coffee
There were around 40 seats and only a few customers. The place has an open setting with no doors at the entrance. So I just walked in and took a seat. A waiter rushed over and told me that the table was reserved. But there were plenty of vacant seats in the place and the one I took was not a prime seat. Anyway, I didn't utter a word of objection as I had no problem taking any other seat to kill the half-hour wait.
The place was a bit dark for work or reading but was nonetheless rather spacious.
There was a wine rack at one end and an open kitchen by the side. I ordered a regular size house brewed coffee, which I would rate as a sub-Starbucks standard. I spent the half-hour there sipping my coffee and by the time I left, the table that I took originally was still vacant
Other than this "unused reserved table" incident, service was okay based on my observation on other customers.
I notice they offer a soup or salad + pasta set for $98, and a soup or salad + panini set for $80. Affordable price for dinner.
Will come back to try the set some other time if I happen to be around but would opt for Starbucks for just a seat and a coffee.

I went in asking for Parmesan cheese and the manager, after browsing their selection and looking lost, asked his staff.
The staff came and I asked which was Parmesan, and she replied... "this one, i think".
You think? I couldn't risk my recipe based on that.

Been there three times in the last four days.
It was good during the week when it was quiet. I enjoyed a bacon, spinach and Stilton cheese salad. (The brownie was sinfully tasteful too.)
So i went back for more salad today (Saturday).

There was no bacon in the salad, although it clearly states it is a bacon, spinach and cheese salad.
The lady manager was quick to bring me some when i pointed it out, but the bacon was overcooked, charred, and tasteless. It didn't do any justice to the salad.

I'm not fussy with presentation but the way the spinach was thoughtlessly or carelessly thrown over the top of the dish was just disappointing.
And there was much less tomatoes and cheese than earlier in the week. I think a good measure of a restaurant's quality is its consistency. But it was really quite a vast difference, so i was disappointed that i couldn't like this place better than i wanted to. I hope it is only because it is early days and the staff are still navigating their way through the busier sessions.

The long waiting cue outside made me feel pressured to eat-and-go so i didn't stay for coffee/brownie today.

Perhaps it is better to visit during the week when it's quieter.

I would like to give some feedback about the set lunch i had earlier this week as well.
The soup came but it was over-heated and seriously burned my tongue.
The vegetarian pasta was a mountain of angel hair pasta, with very few pieces of baby corn and zucchini.
The hot chocolate had alot of froth chunky bits of chocolate (not my ideal type of hot choc but maybe it's just me).

What i do like about this place though:
Great brownies
Great apple-mango juice
Great decor and ambience during the week.

And i look forward to trying out the cheese.

Thanks.

At the end of January, we welcomed a new resident to Happy Valley, adding to the food scene in our village. Classified is not a newcomer to Hong Kong, but its concept is new to Happy Valley and brings us the al fresco casual dining that many have taken to. However, on the night I went, it was just a tad uncomfortable since it was really chilly. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to close the doors, nor were there warmers out front. So we don out overcoats, brave the only seat available in the house (near the door) and hoped that the food arrived fast enough.

Let's not forget that Classified has come to be synonymous artisan cheeses. And they stock the stuff that cheese goes best with, wine and bread.

Baked Camembert with Truffles
So we ordered the baked Camembert with Truffles to start. Subtly scented with the garlic cloves and truffles, the aroma was enticing. After baking, the creaminess was not overly runny but good enough to spread over the toasted sourdough. However, because of the cold, we had to wolf this down so the bread wouldn't get too cold. Perhaps an excuse since we were also quite hungry. An excellent appetizer to get the juices going.

As my main, I ordered the spaghetti with spicy meatballs and tomato sauce. Hearty dish to beat the chills, although there was just a tad too much heat from the spice to make it a little uncomfortable. After all, you don't want to work up too much of a sweat and lose even more body heat! Overall tasty enough but better if they took the heat factor down a notch.

There wasn't much of a choice for dessert. The Black Forest Brownie tasted much better than it looked, forlorn and sitting exposed in a basket, to the elements. It was moist, dense and the cherries were a nice touch to break the monotony of the chocolate. I have to say, this is one of the better brownies I've had recently.

Drinks however were a let down. I ordered the Watermelon Agua Fresca, which is described to be fresh watermelon juice with a hint of lime and soda. There was no "zing" to this at all, and I didn't get hints of anything. Aside from the pretty pink color, it tasted pretty much like a very watered down watermelon juice drink. They have a thing or 2 to learn from neighboring Gusto, where drinks are phenomenal.

Overall, I'm happy they came. In life and food, who doesn't want options?

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