The convenience store 7-Eleven is practically at every street corner in Hong Kong. With some of them gearing up to offer local popular hot food and drink, travelers to the city may find it easier to have a taste of local fare.
The 7 Cafe, as the hot food counter in 7-Eleven is called, is the idea of Dairy Farm, which owns half of the 1000 7-Eleven stores across Hong Kong (the rest is franchise).
The 7-Eleven on the busy Tong Chong Street in Quarry Bay, in the eastern part of Hong Kong Island, is among the first that have 7 Cafes, which sell such popular local snack and drink as curried fish balls, siu mai (made of dough, but in the name of a famous Cantonese dim sum), milk tea and egg tarts, as well as breafast, lunch and afternoon tea from a big food counter.
Not every 7-Eleven has, or will have a 7 Cafe, though. But count on those in high-traffic locations, such as Causeway Bay, Central, Mongkok, to have one in future.
According to Dairy Farm, future 7 Cafes would occupy 1,000 square foot of space – that is fairly big compared to the tiny hot food counter you can occasionally find at a small number of existing 7-Eleven shops.
Despite the convenience, there is no guarantee that the fare offered at 7 Cafes are just as good as those offered at some of the traditional street food vendors. But Dairy Farm said they have hired a 5 star hotel executive chef to look after the cafe business.
