MACARONI soup in one minute, egg sandwiches in two minutes, tea in 30 seconds? Sounds like fast food? Actually, it's a cafe, called The Australian Dairy.
Ask any of The Australian Dairy's waiters where it got its name and you won't get much of an answer. Instead, one waiter asked me which country I got my name from. 'Australia', I answered, suddenly realising that I have as much a right to be eating here and asking questions as anyone.
Thirty years ago, an ex-seaman, Tang Kam-ming, decided to set up a cafe serving (among other things), custards and red bean iced-milk, a sort of Chinese version of the Aussie milkshake. The curiously named The Australian Dairy actually owes its name to the founder's fond recollections from the time he spent Down Under.
Back in the 60s, given the traditional Chinese distaste for dairy products, such a menu could have spelled disaster. But apparently Hong Kong people took to the custards like a baby to the nipple. Now the cafe in Jordan's Parkes Street is still going strong and must have some of the best budget food in town.
The seaman is now long dead. But his son, Tang Ki-nam, 47, and two older brothers now take it in turns to keep an eye on the cafe, making sure it runs faster than clockwork. In the very beginning, Tang says, service was slow, as none of the family had much restaurant experience. But Tang's father was 'very strict' and he and his brothers worked a punishing 16-hour day, starting at six in the morning.
Even today the waiters do not get a day off. The Tangs only hire those with 'a good attitude'. 'If they don't want to work hard, we don't take them.' What they do get is good pay, around $10,000 a month.
