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2014-12-25
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For coffee lovers, the more café, the merrier. And I was quite happy to find another café that open its door in the area I frequent these days which is Tin Hau. Initially I thought this area will be another place for café crawl in Hong Kong. Turn out, after this visit, it will need some time to reach that stage to rival Sheung Wan/Central and Wan Chai.Typically, I don't really like visiting a cafe early on as most will need some time to whip itself up to be in a decent shape. Unlike others who l
For coffee lovers, the more café, the merrier. And I was quite happy to find another café that open its door in the area I frequent these days which is Tin Hau. Initially I thought this area will be another place for café crawl in Hong Kong. Turn out, after this visit, it will need some time to reach that stage to rival Sheung Wan/Central and Wan Chai.
Typically, I don't really like visiting a cafe early on as most will need some time to whip itself up to be in a decent shape. Unlike others who like to be there first to tell people their experiences/stories, I don't really like to put myself through things like this just to be among the first to have such experience before others at a certain new place. I usually prefer to give them a 6 month period for all that kinked to be iron out.
But this one is different as it is in the area I spent quite a few of my time there. And the café looks real good from the outside. The machine setting looks decent and the décor is good, a nice change to most cafés that is good on coffee but seems to fall short on other details in term of comfort and well thought out place, in my humble opinion.
Once I step inside for the first time, I thought I was singled out for the type of service I received. When I showed up at 10:57am, the shop told me that they had not yet opened so I needed to wait till the official hours which started at 11:00am. But the impression I got was that nobody was quite in charge and I needed to leave the shop waiting outside until 11am. So, I asked the shop whether I can just sit and wait inside, in a way inviting myself of sort to be there inside the shop. It took them a moment to come up with a ‘yes’ at the time. Strange as it sounded then and now to me. So I sat and waited.
Once another customer came in at 11:00am, the barista proceeded to take order right away, ignoring me in the process while preparing drinks for that customer. I really hate this kind of service I felt like I was cut the line while lining up. Mad was beyond the word I would use. A very big complaint here on the thing I hate the most.
Also, the barista didn't show he cared or bothered who he served the coffee. Whoever and whenever get his coffee in order or not did not matter; that seems to be the attitude that the barista showed to me on that day. Or this is a last-in-first-out kinda practice because if that's the case they should put it in writing clearly on the wall somewhere so customers can see and prepare. I was at the shop first, a first customer to be exact on that day, almost felt like I put up a fight to be seated and waited patiently to order but got pass/cut the line with barista showing no remorse, feeling, care or anything at all about my being here. Should I not complain?
It's easy to solve but, for customers, it can be like a straw that breaks the camel’s back, easily cause a drama in your cafe so this should be one of the focuses of any cafe, don't let customers feel they were cut in the line like this again.
This is one of the main reasons I don't like visiting a cafe early on as most will need some time before it can whip itself up to be in a decent shape.
Back to the interior, this café has a two island setup which is a nice change to any other café with a long counter enclosing all things be it food or coffee. A person I respect on the Indy café operation did mention that this is not a good and efficient use of space, cost and manpower.
But for a consumer like me I welcomed a change like this like a breath of a fresh air to the same old same old thing forced upon us by the regulation, operating efficiency or whatever. You can really see and smell things while they cook. Unfortunately, I wasn't really there for food on that day though I will try it next time.
Long time no see French Press in an obvious display for Indy cafes as French press seemed to fall out of fashion with Indy due to its rather 'murky' cup which seemed to reduce the clarity the third wavers these days crave for.
Also, on the décor side, the trend comes fast. I saw Hario used V60 funnel as a lamp shade at SCAJ World Specialty Coffee Conference and Exhibition 2014 toward the end of September this year. Artisan seems to play homage, accidentally or intentionally, by using siphons as a lamp shade. Very creative and nice indeed.
My first order is my usual milk drink, cappuccino. The drink came at a right temp per my request i.e. not scalding hot like most served to fit the local requirement. For the cup itself, the milk was neither luxurious nor bad.
The coffee base of the Capp feels good but is mostly basic generic genre for espresso that is caramel sweet with hint of exotic nose and acidity, not those brighter coffee that seemed to be the "IT" thing these days.
Some weakness of the coffee base is a bit roasty tone at the back. The roasty back get worse in the milk when it cooled down further but, luckily, it is not that much of a distraction I can still enjoy the coffee.
Espresso tastes like a very basic blend with a hint of darkness trying to punch through milk on a rather traditional/classic note closed to what I tastes years back in Hong Kong. Again, it is neither good nor bad i.e. more or less a hint of dirty back but not much to bother me. I considered myself lucky after I talked to more folks that tried coffee at Artisan as I was told it's bitter and the cup felt like grinder wasn't set right. Still this is a given for a cafe just in operation not too long ago though some manage to outdo this like the first two week at the Cupping Room when it was still in Stanley. And you know how far the Cupping Room has come now!
This type of lemon water did damage to my tastebud in Singapore at Chye Seng Huat Hardware so that you can't really get a good taste of coffee itself. I need to get my own bottle water to visit this type of cafés but I forgot. I ended up asking for a water from the filtered faucet right beside the espresso machine. I can taste coffee much better with any regular water than this spiked water. If you think coffee served was real bad, drink this lemon water right after you finish the coffee, it will save your day and allow you to be fairer to other cafes if you plan to drop by right after the one that serves horrible coffee. Otherwise it will twist your tongue further away from how the coffee really tastes like and it will be a shame if that café happens to serve good coffee with a good pull. Also, Artisan used pancake syrup as you can see from the bottle in the picture, not the real maple syrup! Just FYI if you are after the real thing.
My drip coffee is coming and the dripper seemed to show a decent move so far but the proof is in the cup, isn't it? The drip coffee of Brazil, the barista and the owner's recommendation, was ok vs other drip in town but this cup can still be improved significantly. I got the taste profile of some acidity and caramel but was rather blurred/not clean and clear. One can partly claim it is due to Fuji Royal grinder's easy cup profile. At that time, I'm sure once it cooled down the cup will be undrinkable. And as expected over brewed tea are dominant when it cools down with unpalatable "chocolate."
After I dropped by this cafe, all the negative comments ensued and seemed to flood in both on openrice and from all the people I drank coffee with. Typically I would just say Artisan had bad days but as I was there to witness the service myself, I could help sympathize with all those complaints and wonder how much worse they get vs. what my treatment I received. Even after a nice café like Artisan opened in a conspicuous location vs others in the area, when I walked pass by the area, Silly Boo is almost always full to the seam they needed to turn customers away at times and I heard Espresso Alchemy has a relatively good business. Artisan, however, is typically relatively less busy most time I wonder why people need to wait and wait at Silly Boo. I know the answer after I drop by; it's not difficult to see once you are at Artisan.
Still, all in all this is still the beginning/early days as the cafe opened a week or two so one needs to give the place some time to settle. In addition to the décor, the owner seems to be very enthusiast but not overly which is a nice. Also, I feel like I cannot put the finger on this café on the direction it will go in the future. It’s in a ‘transition’ phase and there is almost an equal chance for the place to go up or down on quality.
I consider myself lucky on coffee beverages I had which is just OK vs. others that I haven't heard any good word at all on the coffee. The service needs significant improvement so it's a crying face. Overall, ok cup, bad service and just opening at the time I just placed it barely OK.For now, you can enjoy the decor and ambience at Artisan with owners that are more of an enthusiast than businessmen which can't be bad for enthusiasts, IMHO. We'll see how the cafe turns out to be in six months time. I can only hope Artisan improves by then but what I heard so far has not been encouraging at all.
張貼
