It wasn't busy at all for a Saturday night. From the name and décor, it seems this place may have previously been a Japanese restaurant. I ordered the baked pork chop and chicken over spaghetti, a classic Hong Kong café dish typically served with red tomato sauce. However, the sauce looked and tasted more like gravy than the usual tomato-based sauce. The pork chop was a bit tough, while the chicken was decent but cut quite thin. Prices were reasonable, but the flavors and dishes didn't quite match the traditional Hong Kong cafe dishes. read more

Great portion size, friendly staff. We arrived right at opening time and were immediately greeted and seated. There were many menu items I did not expect to find from a cha chaan teng and from the myriad of options I knew I wanted the hk style french toast. We also ordered a few bowls of noodles and rice rolls. The hk style french toast was a little different than what I'm used to and equally delicious. Food was hot! Our drinks were also very well mixed. Will be back next time to try other menu items. read more

After reading other reviews we must've just missed the mark in terms of ordering food. Therefore giving 2 stars, as we are the choosers of our own destiny. We tried the pork ribs, pineapple bun with ice butter, and the wonton noodle soup. The pineapple bun was tasty and they give plenty of butter but the entrees both tasted "off". The wonton soup, smelled like bad water or something and ultimately gave me a really bad stomach ache. I took the leftovers home but ended up trashing them again after smelling the container. Hard to explain the smell but it was "old." I will not be returning read more

Inshou Cafe - Pineapple bun - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Inshou Cafe brings true Hong Kong comfort food to Austin, and it's as legit as it gets. We stopped in on a chilly day and ordered the fish ball noodle soup -- the broth was warm and flavorful, and the noodles were exactly what you want in a bowl like that. Simple, satisfying, and done right. We also tried the dim sum sampler, which was perfect for a little variety: two har gow, two shumai, and one BBQ pork bao. Each item tasted fresh and traditional -- exactly the kind of dim sum you hope for when you're craving the classics. To round things out, we had hot milk teas, and they were spot on. Rich, warm, and nostalgic. The service was quick and the location was easy to find in the strip mall. Nothing fancy, nothing overworked -- just solid Hong Kong café staples that hit the mark. We'll definitely be back. read more

Inshou Cafe - Fish ball soup - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Inshou Cafe is a quiet Cantonese cafe in a quiet Asian plaza. I came here mainly for their happy hour menu, available between 2:30-6pm (extra charge if you take out), which isn't too much of a significant cost saving to be honest. They also have a breakfast menu and a dim sum menu that they don't advertise really well. I do like that their drinks are cheaper while being tasty. - Fish Paste Noodle Soup Plain vermicelli in a simple subtle wonton soup with fish tofu. Make this yourself from 99 Ranch. It won't make you full, but the amount of vermicelli is above average. - Pork & Preserved Egg Porridge On the bland side but that's okay since I like to add chili oil (theirs is pretty flavorful and garlicky). The porridge is comforting and comes in a big bowl, so I would get this again from the happy hour menu. It had a good amount of pork and preserved egg pieces, though I wish the egg pieces were bigger. It was more watery than thick. - Spicy Salt & Pepper Tofu Freshly fried small pieces of tofu tossed with salt, pepper, jalapeno pieces, and garlic. Inside was hot and soft, and exterior was softly crunchy with a little chew, so pretty good with a lot of pieces. - Spicy Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings They had a good hard crunch, were hot and juicy, but in the end they're kind of expensive chicken wings! I like that they came with extra garlic crunchy bits. - Milk Tea Delicious milky HK tea, not too strong or sweet but it was amazing for $2. - Lemon Tea I really liked this! The tea and lemon flavor were strong, and it's another good pick for $2 from the happy hour menu. It comes with a couple slices of muddled fresh lemon! I love how the ice came in crunchy small bits - I think it helped these drinks a lot. For Hong Kong/Cantonese cuisine, it's a bit expensive and nowhere near the caliber of food from Chinatown, but the service was kind, it was quaint and quiet, and the interior was pretty clean. read more

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With its Japanese name, it took me a really long time to find out that this is a Hong Kong cafe, and a rather good one at that. Their meats are cooked to my favorite doneness. They do Beef Brisket Noodle Soup exceptionally well. Super tender tendons that I love. Noodles arrive al dente and flavorful, but if you wait, they become soft. The Pork and Preserved Egg Porridge has flavorful pork cooked to my perfect doneness, love their preserved egg because it is way flavorful and not mushy. Porridge texture is milky smooth and thick with few distinct grains of rice. It is super filling and is probably thickened with starch of sorts. I like this porridge version, but I soooo like the Chicken Porridge from Cheung Hing (San Mateo) that I always eat that (for porridge). French Toast is yum when doused with the syrup. Had their: Baked Pork Chop with Egg Curry Ox-Tongue Love the doneness of their meats, but their sauces can be flavored way better, and their veggies less raw. I prefer Steamed Flat Rice Noodle with Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce at good dim sum restaurants over their version. read more

This is a to star restaurant. They serve authentic Hong Kong style Chinese food. They put lots of effort into the food. If you really taste and look at the food in details, they were never oily. Everything we have order has always come out the way they are supposed to. Porridge was smooth with the rice completely melted. Milk tea was brewed correctly and traditionally. The ribs were clean and tasty, not full of sauce or oil. Just nice and clean food. You cannot go wrong eating here and I highly recommend anyone to try this place if you're in the bay area. read more

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I have had this dish, hk style baked pork chop rice from different places for like a hundred times in my life. Their tomato sauce tastes way off, it's like half tomato sauce and half pepper sauce, on top of that they put a lot celery in the sauce. Very weird flavor. Other than that the pork chop is good. 3 stars for that. read more

Inshou Cafe - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Solid Hong Kong style cafe! We came on a random week night and made it in time for happy hour. There was no wait and got seated right away. We ordered a bunch of different things. Poore and preserved egg porridge 4/5 Delicious and tasty porridge. They also give you a lot considering it was happy hour. Took the other half home. Pan fried rice noodles 4/5 Perfectly pan fried and tasty. Went well with the sauces. Wish I had asked for more hoisin sauce. It is kind of expensive for what you get though. Chicken wings 4/5 Chicken wings are juicy and fried perfectly. Has a nice crunch. They also season these well so you don't need the sauce that I did not really like. French fries 3/5 Standard fries. I drowned them in ketchup. Mini crispy chicken over rice 3.5/5 This was pretty tasty and the sauce wasn't super over powering. Perfect amount for a meal. Wouldn't say it's the cheapest thing on the happy hour menu though. We also got the happy hour milk tea and lemon tea. Both were good and they let us take home the extra. Overall, I'm excited to come back and try more things here. I especially want to try the breakfast specials. If you are craving Hong Kong cafe food, you need to stop by! read more

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YES! Finally a place that makes the porridge I grew up with in San Francisco!! Got to try this place with the kids and I'm so glad we got to try it - it's HK style - a bit of comfort food for those of us who miss Cantonese food! We started with the pork and preserved egg porridge and I was SO HAPPY - the pork was tender and there WAS pork... but the big plus for me was the preserved egg. So many other places give so little and the yolk melts into the porridge so you don't get much of the preserved egg. This place provides CHUNKS so everyone gets it with their serving. And the consistency was the way I like it. Everyone has a preference - I like mine a little thicker - not soupy which this place served it that way. This is definitely our go to for rice porridge!! And we added the chinese donut - a bit decadent but totally worth it! :) We got the pan fried rice sheet roll - it came with a sesame and hoisin sauce. It was tasty - especially with the sauce - and you get quite a bit. Crunchy on the outside - chewy on the inside. Flavor was mild so you definitely needed the dipping sauce. I'm used to it at dim sum places where the rice sheet roll is flavored so it was a nice change. We also go the Fish Combo Rice Noodle soup - I have to say - it was okay - not something I would order again but I'm glad I tried it. There was definitely chunks of white fish but flavor was lacking a bit. They give you something you can add on top - but it was spicy as heck. And the Rice Noodles were a bit overcooked so too mushy for me... A hit with everyone was the pork ribs in black bean sauce over rice! MEATY and flavorful pork ribs in a mild black bean sauce! Demolished this dish - and brought back so many memories. But the pork was huge and meaty which was nice. Not like the kind you get at dim sum - definitely dinner worthy dish. Am definitely coming back to try more dishes! Nice to have a HK style cafe that serves dishes I grew up with! read more

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3.5 Yelp Stars *** My colleagues and I tried Inshou Cafe's dim sum many times because our patient was a regular here and would bring us take out every few weeks. The patient ordered lots of siu mai, shrimp dumplings, xiao loong bao, bbq pork buns, and rice noodles. Their siu mai was my favorite! Finally took my family here a few weeks ago! I wanted their siu mai since it was tasty, so I thought the other cafe food here would be just as good. I ordered the pork chop with meat sauce that many people talked about on Yelp! I expected the orange tomato paste meat sauce, but it was more similar to a salty pepper meat sauce. Not what I wanted. Same goes for their spaghetti. My husband and I prefer the tomato paste instead. Siu mai was good but it cost slightly more than regular dim sum restaurants in SF or DC since it only came with three pieces. 15 minutes for all dim sum orders as they were made after placing the order. Inshou Cafe had a happy hour menu where the regular entrees were mini plates for a few bucks cheaper, and HK milk tea and iced lemon tea was cheaper too! The HK milk tea was authentic and very good. Iced lemon tea was decent but not the best. They charge more for to-go drinks. The service was pretty quick! We went on a weekday in the middle of the week. It was not crowded and plenty of tables. They also play HK pop songs so it did remind me of some cafes in HK. This restaurant was situated inside a plaza that was not too busy with lots of parking in the lot. Not my favorite HK cafe. I would rather stick to my usual ones in SF. read more

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Solid spot for this area and one of my go to's. Love the Yuen Yang (coffee + milk tea) when you kind of want coffee, but prefer something a bit toned down with less caffeine. Haven't found any other places in the area that has this! I also usually get any of their porridges + Chinese donut which are great as well and are very comforting. What could be better are the steamed rice bowls, which have a bit too much rice and not enough meat or veggies. Meat quality could be a little better here also. All in all, would recommend! read more

Amazing quality and friendly price ! Try their happy hour and order 10 dishes. Try them all read more

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Very very yummy and authentic. We had to catch a flight right after and the worker super fast to get us serviced once hear it. The staff are also very helpful read more

Inshou Cafe - Rou Bing, youtiao, red bean mochi ball - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

This is my 4X here in 2 yrs in a row. I only came up here during Thanksgiving for family visit. And was craving for good dim sum, wonton noodle, congee, dumplings and soy milk w/ Chinese donut. This place got it all and at really reasonable prices. They also have beers and sake too. If I don't have to visit my family, I would be there for breakfast (congee, dim sum, soy milk w/ donuts), lunch (everything else w/ milk tea or beers), dinner wonton noodle soup, dumplings and sake). Service is better than I expected and fast too. I ordered and within 10mins, our foods came out. The places is in a strip mall so minimum decor but simple & clean cut. I would definitely come back again and again whenever I'm in the areas or within 30mins drives. Yeah I like the place more than I can say. read more

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This little Hong Kong cafe has become my dragonboat team's go-to spot after morning practices. The food here is respectable. There are some things they do really well here like the the hk milk teas (I love that they serve it in a metal cup so it keeps cool), dim sum, noodle soups. Some other dishes I've had better elsewhere, such as the baked and rice dishes, but still good enough for me to order when I am feeling the craving. Their menu also has great variety. You can pretty much find anything you would expect out of a HK cafe here. The food comes out fast despite us always coming in with a party of 12+ and the staff here are super friendly and accommodating. At this point, I think they expect us every weekend haha read more

The food is just average and the staff is not very attentive. I would not go here again in a short while..

Not impressed. I ordered pork and preserved egg congee and the pork bits tasted old. Then I ordered the skillet pork chop to take home and attached is what a $22.00 pork chop plate with gravy looks like - not worth it. read more

Inshou Cafe - Pork skillet with gravy. - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

This was close to our hotel so we thought we give it a try. It is a casual place with great service. The waitress let us know that if we wanted to dimsum to order it first because it could take 20 mins so that was nice. We ordered the soup dumplings, hargow, wonton soup and the beef brisket noodle off their set menu and they were able to substitute the rice noodle for egg noodles. The ice milk tea was a nice presentation. Overall we enjoyed the food. We came on Saturday when it just opened but when we left the place was busy. read more

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Best services ever! Go Hong Kong Style Cafe! We go here for breakfast and lunch all the time. It is one of the best in Foster City. read more

Inshou Cafe - Best service ever! - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

My family came to visit me in the bay area, and we decided to go eat here. Parking is not an issue because this place is a part of a plaza, and there was no wait when we entered. The food was really tasty and we enjoyed everything we ordered. Our server was friendly and attentive too. They got our table ready super fast, even though they seemed busy. I recommend the baked rice dishes, you will have to wait 15 minutes but it is worth it! My dad loved the fish balls and the noodle soup. Overall, this was our first visit and we were pleasantly surprised with how authentic their hk cafe food was. I will definitely take my parents here again when they visit! read more

Inshou Cafe - Fried fish balls - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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average food quality. I think the butter that came with the bun tasted off. (Not spoiled but didn't taste like real butter; maybe margarine?) Waited a bit for a table. Got seated very soon. Staff are quick and friendly. Lots of tables inside. Bathroom is located behind the drink counter. Overall not bad. read more

Inshou Cafe - Beef Baked Ox-Tongue w/ Lisbon or Tomato Sauce - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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Tons of comfort food options with reasonable prices. Would recommend the wonton noodle soup and fish ball soup with seaweed. The pineapple bun with butter is meh unfortunately, not crispy and butter doesn't melt inside the bun. The tomato ox tongue rice has good flavoring but I wish the rice is fried rice, not white rice. This is a very clean Hong Kong restaurant (compared to others in the area). Quick service. read more

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Came by for lunch the other day and it was a mediocre experience. Parking was available on the surface lot inside the shopping plaza along with the street. Staff wore a mask and nitrile gloves. Dining was available indoors. There were a couple tables outdoors as well too. Started off with the hot milk tea and it was mediocre. Ordering the tea to-go results in a cup of tea that's 2x the quantity of the one for dine-in. The tea was on the blander side, which was a bummer. I was looking for more of a deeper and stronger tea. Moved on to the complimentary Russian borscht soup which was decent. The soup was strong and bold. Opted for the beef brisket pan-fried noodle as an entrée and it was perfect for sharing. The portion of pan-fried noodles was huge and came with a generous portion of super tender beef brisket along with Chinese broccoli. There were sufficient leftovers for an additional lunch too! There is a slight discount for paying in cash. read more

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Came here during Christmas after a night of drinking to cure my hangover. I got a fish congee and honestly it was pretty bland. I grew up eating fish congee and when it's made right it's super flavorful and the fish is perfectly marinated. This however just tasted like plain congee and fish pieces were mixed in. Overall it still hit the spot since I needed it but I don't think I'd get it again. I also tried a shrimp dumpling aka ha gow. The skin immediately fell off which isn't a good sign and it was just okay. read more

Inshou Cafe - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Not sure why the ratings are so low but this place is legit, coming from my canto husband. So far we've had chicken mushroom steamed rice, curry beef, wonton soup, Portuguese baked fish- all delicious, and decent portions. Will come back read more

Wanting hongkong style milk tea and since we are in the area this Inshou is on our mind. We've tried the milk tea before and so good. Now we wanted to try a bit of their Food. Hong Kong style milk tea is always good , Fish noodle broth is good and pair with French toast. Service is great. And ambiance is nice.Feels like I'm in read more

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I was desperately looking for Hong King Style noodles. The restaurant sign says Street Food Cafe, but the receipts says Cafe Tsui Wah. I ordered take out and asked about the cash discount... the lady gave me 12% discount. Considering the wonton mein is $15.50 and the noodles I ordered were $21.95, the discount was welcomed. I've never spent that much on Chinese noodle dishes. Now, they better be really good. Got home and quickly opened to packages. Did not want the quality to suffer because of me. The noodles were nice and crispy although the portion is not as big as Blue Sky...sauce and ingredients for the beef brisket was ok... flavor ok, not great, lots of fat and meat. The won tons were nice and tasty, but the broth wasn't good. To me it seemed to have a lot of msg or be made with a powdered broth base instead of boiling pork bones. I actually did not serve the broth to my granddaughter. I gave her chicken broth instead and tossed the restaurant broth away. All in all, I would not return. Prices are high for what you get... people a bit abrupt. No printed menu for the pan fried noodles... Parking is fine. read more

Inshou Cafe - Braised beef brisket on pan fried noodles - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

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This place is so underrated, they have authentic HK style cuisine, and so much more. Service is fast even during peak times. We ordered fried tofu, Baked spaghetti meat sauce and Baked chicken curry with rice Their ice lemon tea is Definitely recommend this place and will come back when I'm in the area read more

Craving classic Hong Kong breakfast food? This is the place! Ordered the porridge set with pork and preserved egg and pan fried rice rolls. Delicious. We also tried the ham and egg and toast breakfast and a side of the French toast. So flavorful and hits the spot. Just like home cooking. Service was efficient and friendly. Tea was great. Very nice environment and setup. Will be back. Highly recommended! read more

Inshou Cafe - Ham, egg and toast - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Very average, mediocre food. I'm a huge fan of HK style cafes and found the spot to be underwhelming. Saw that they had happy hour specials from 230-6pm for $12.95 which includes a few baked items. I ordered the baked pork chop and wow, it was the most disappointing dish ever. I might as well have ordered the regular version that isn't considered a "mini" special, for an extra 2 bucks on regular menu. One small, sad piece of pork chop over PLAIN rice. Most places give you egg fried rice. Service is non-existent so don't expect it. They charge you extra for take-out on the specials.. not sure about other items! read more

Nice hong kong breakfast here open at 9:00 am. hard to find hong kong style cafe open this early in the bay area. Good service too. Highly recommend! read more

Inshou Cafe - Love the breakfast here. The boss lady is also very nice. My new favorite hong kong restaurant for breakfast. - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

Had the chance to go and try their breakfast. I did enjoy the food on the breakfast menu better overall. The service and personnel were all fine and nothing to complain about there. We got the fish porridge that comes with a side so we chose the pan fried rice rolls. The rice rolls were my favorite, but the porridge was a little to bland for my liking though you are definitely able to add pepper as you please. We also ordered the spam and egg macaroni noodle soup. It was just a craving, pretty basic dish there as well, nothing good or bad either way. I was interested in whether the version with corn tasted any different or better so may go back and try that. But the rice rolls were definitely my favorite and would be interested in going back for those. We also got a hot HK style milk tea that came with one of the meals. It was fine, but not sweet enough for me personally. read more

Inshou Cafe - Fish porridge with pan friend rice rolls Hot HK style milk tea Spam and egg macaroni soup - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

A solid 3.5 stars. Spontaneously decided on a mid morning meal, never been here before, didn't Yelp the place. Picture of the wonton noodle soup on the window drew me, and Hong Kong style milk tea, both of which I ordered, sitting at one of their outdoor tables. There was no expectation which was why I was surprised after my first taste. Flavorful broth, noodles plentiful, generous number of wontons. This was enjoyed. HK milk tea, great. Recommend this place for sure. Thank you. read more

Came here today with my friend because we were both missing hong kong cafe food. I got the chicken steak with pan fried onion over rice and my friend got the pork chop baked fried rice. Each dish was $19.50 Both dishes were pretty good and satisfied our cravings. My friend likes that the baked rice sauce was not too sweet. However I think the prices are really high so that is one thing that would make me reconsider going here. read more

Inshou Cafe - Chicken Steak with Pan Fried Onion over Rice (bottom), Baked Pork Chop Fried Rice and Egg (top) - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

3.8. This old place is still very good, even though the high prices will scare most folks. Thank goodness they are still barely surviving and still in operation. I miss these Hong Kong type comfort foods. Yes, prices are very high due to the pandemic. It's been this way across other Hong Kong style cafe/restaurants too. Inflation highs. Businesses are struggling. Chef is passionate for sure. It was this way prior to the pandemic as well. They remodeled a bit. Excellent customer service today. Not many people or staff after 2-3 PM on a Friday. The food is very authentic and delicious, filled with ingredients and generous portions. I really enjoyed coming here in the past and I still liked the foods today. The menu selections is huge. Not much is at the little bakery counter these days. Upkeep is great and it felt clean inside. Scan the menu at the door or take seat and they will bring the physical menu. Honestly, the jelly grass drink was very good, not too sweet if you stir it a bit. Hot red tea was very strong, but good. Beef noodle bowl has generous spinach and the flavors was authentic like what you would find in Hong Kong. Combination noodle bowl was very delicious too. Add a butter condensed milk toast if you like. They didn't have the peanut butter toast today. Overall, place is still very yummy and legit. Cash and credit cards accepted. Easy to find parking in the lot. Hardworking for sure. Seats were comfortable in spacing. I really hope they will survive. Good is just too good and there's also other items: Dim Sum, sandwiches, french fries, curry dishes, baked meat and rice, rice plates, fish soups, Hainan chicken, etc. I think this place deserves more stars (just know that yes, the prices are very high, but food is very delicious and tasty). They got my 4-stars today. Still love it! read more

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The food here really reminds me of the cafes in Hong Kong. I always come here when I want to have some homey comfort food! The service is exactly how it would be at a Hong Kong cafe - they'll stop by to take your order and bring you food but don't expect them to constantly check in on you. The place is very spacious. There's a big parking lot so parking is never an issue. read more

Inshou Cafe - Baked Spaghetti and Meat Sauce and BBQ Combination Platter - Chinese Near Me - San Mateo, California

The prices are ridiculous for thus type of food. Sizzling plates are even much higher prices: rib eye sizzling plate is $42! I will not come back again. I came because I though Tsui Wah still existed. This mall no longer have affordable and delicious food. It is so sad since we used to frequent thus mall. These dishes only taste ok. If you like Hong Kong Cafe style food, these are very typical dishes. It was just under a $100 when we walked out the door. Nothing special, spectacular or delicious. Will give 0 star if I can. Totally extremely overpriced. read more

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This place has three stars, that only means the food is delectable. Have you ever had French toast deep fried, but not soggy? Well, you can try it here first. Amazing. If the place has good chicken paws, then the place is A1. The porridge was the one-- real simple but top tier. Don't @ me.. I don't want to fight. read more

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Curry fish filets were good! Great flavor and large fish filets with vege and potatoes. Baked pork chop was tasty and a very generous portion of pork chop baked with rice and sauce. Service staff was very courteous and helpful. read more