Cafe Encore

I love being able to get just simple but delicious Hong Kong style food without the typical Hong Kong service. We had the mixed vegetable and shrimp fried rice — simple, typical, large portion, and delicious — as well as the salted egg fried tofu that everyone seems to say to try. The tofu was definitely more unique and it did not disappoint. It took a little while to come out (though the fried rice was out in no time) but it was fresh and piping hot from the fryer and delicious. The tofu was cut in larger chunks than I expected but it had a good ratio of non-​fried tofu inside to the crispy salty fried outside crust. The waiters were attentive and friendly enough. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for some good authentic Hong Kong style food or if you’re just waiting to pick someone up from the airport and need something to eat!

So frickin good. I come here when I crave savory carbs which is always. Classics that I always get: milk tea, beef rice noodle soup (comes with veggies so I don’t feel too bad), Angel hair/​spaghetti with creamy clam sauce, and something fried. The fried tofu with egg yolk was pretty bomb, chicken wings here are good as well. They could fry a shoe and I’d still eat it.

I’m a fan of their HK milktea and rock cod with corn over rice. It’s perfect.

People who work there don’t seem to communicate well either in English or Chinese Mandarin. It’s very frustrating when we dine in and when we order the food… They got my take-​out food order wrong tonight even though my husband was placing an order in person by giving the item number AND they still got it wrong! Although food is good… all service is just making customers so uncomfortable:(

First time visit. Was good but had its limitations:(. Wanted hot & sour soup but was unavailable in a cup (bowl only), and they couldn’t accommodate. Wanted kung pao chicken with chicken fried rice, but it only comes with either white rice or rice with fried egg. Food was good though, and it must be a local fav as people kept on coming in.

Great HK style food. I love their baked pork chop over baked rice or spaghetti. And of course the milk tea is great. Convenient location too.

I waited 20 minutes to get seated and eat because I’m starving and these Chinese owner set the people that just walked in before me so I just walked out cannot believe I’ve been discriminated!!!

Waited 20 minutes for snacks. And it wasn’t worth the wait — 8 bucks for roughly around 8 pieces of Salt and pepper calamari!!! WTF. As if someone took a few bites and then realized it was our order. The boba in the drink was hard and not good. Banned!

Weekday afternoons serve special deals. Trouble is they are closed in Tuesday’s. Excellent alternative to In-​N-​Out and L&L next doors for a quick bite. Okay service if you can do without a smile; bring your own.

Just came from a long drive from Sacramento in traffic and was craving some Chinese food, reviewed some Unilocalers posts here & walked in. Was browsing the menu and stood in line & did not get any hello or can I help you. Others who walked in with preorders were being taken before me with still no acknowledgment for my order. Turned around and went to L&L for my service instead.

Yet another 1-​hour layover at Millbrae waiting for the 9:04pm Caltrain. That gave me a opportunity to visit Café Encore. Depending on how fast you walk, it takes around 8 – 10 minutes from the station.
I went to Café Salina on the other side of the station last month and feel satisfied. And I decided to try something new after reading Unilocal reviews of Café Encore on DL241, especially the Egg Yolk Tofu. My mouth can’t stop watering on BART, and I rushed like a dog from Millbrae station to Café Encore in 5 minutes. I didn’t even touch the menu and ordered right after I sat down. But 8:15pm on Wednesday with only 1 table occupied? All the potential customers must have gone to In-​n-​Out next door.
Here’s what I ordered:
HK Style Milk Tea (Hot) — Solid 4 stars. Milk Tea’s done right. Not too sweet with the right balance.
Baked Pork Chop over Rice — 3 stars. A little bit disappointing.
Deep Fried Egg Yolk Tofu — 5 stars! Crispy and savory outside; Soft and silk inside. What can you ask for?
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Overall = 4 stars. Some of the dishes could be hit or miss. But as a family-​run small business, it did the job to comfort Hongkongers like me. I will be back to try other dishes the next time I have a layover at Millbrae.

Its my 4^th time here. This place is hidden just across the Millbrae Bart Station next to In&Out and they serve some dishes that are not that usual. I really recommend you to come in and try some of the unusual items on the menu, like the house special spaghetti and shrimp, or even mire crazy rock cod fish with corn over rice… When I first see it I was «am I gone eat this ?? » … But what a great dish… amazing taste. Became one of my favorites. So come try this place if ever around SFO Airport. It is well worth it.

My first time at this quaint HK style shop located in a plaza sharing space with Panera Bread, LL Hawaiian, and In N Out burgers.
Been looking for a place to replace my once favorite HK Café in San Jose before they had switched owners nearly 10 years ago.
Offering Hong Kong style fare like portuguese pork chop over rice, creamed corn soup, instant noodles and club sandwiches.
Friendly and fast service with an extensive menu which I look forward to continue trying out.
There is a whiteboard of specials in Chinese, please ask about them.
My orders:
Ham, chicken and corn in cream sauce — Nostalgic comfort food
Salted Egg Crusted Tofu — Not on the menu — whiteboard special
(delicious crack!)
Beef Curry — Tender beef with carrots and potato chunks
Can’t wait to make this my repeat spot.
What you need to know:
Happy hour is 3pm-​5pm

Definitely the best tomato beef chow mein ever. The Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce was also amazing.
Great service too. We will definitely return here next time we’re in town!

My favorite comfort dish: HK Baked Pork Chop Rice.
Something about that tenderly juicy pork chops laying atop a bed of carblicious fried rice topped with rich, tangy tomato sauce and cheese that’s baked until the cheese is oozy and bubbly hot puts an instantaneous smile on my face. Kinda like that «glow» you get after you get laid.
Mr. NSS: «Dayam, that sounds like some pregnant sh*t right there… uhhh, you’re not preggo are you?»
Me: «Well, have you ever tried HK Baked Pork Chop Rice?»
Mr. NSS: «No.»
Me: «Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.»
Café Encore is hidden in a small plaza in back of a car wash off 101. Like most other HK cafes, the menu is like a small book with hundreds of items ranging from a ham and cheese sammie to Indonesian chow fun. They have a whiteboard specials that’s written in Chinese so bring a friend that can translate it or ask the waitress to. The best things at a Chinese restaurant tend to be on those whiteboards written in Chinese. Most dishes are $ 7.95-$ 8.95, and nothing is over $ 14.95 (if I remember correctly). Upon request, they will prepare your food without msg. CC’s accepted.
We started with the Turnip Cakes ($ 5.50) which were nicely pan fried and chockfull of shredded radish:
. It was solid and better than a lot of turnip cakes I’ve had at dim sum places. We also ordered the Salted Egg Crusted Tofu ($ 11.95) from the Chinese whiteboard specials which was sadly disappointing:
. The tofu was nicely silky but there was not enough salted egg in the batter. The portion was huge so I would only order this in a larger group. We had to take home 80% of it and fried items never make for good leftovers.
I don’t get to often indulge in my favorite comfort food because the majority of HK Cafes marinate their pork chop in msg beforehand so there’s no way to request it to be prepared without. At Café Encore, they don’t so they were able to leave out msg in the preparation of my HK Baked Pork Chop Rice ($ 8.95):
. The pork chops (3) were super juicy and tender, and the tomato sauce was satisfyingly rich and tangy. The fried rice, however, didn’t taste fresh. It was dry, hard, and separated. Also, there could have been more cheese.
We also ordered Beef w/​scrambled egg chow fun (wet — $ 7.95) which is another comforting dish (thanks, Josie C. for posting the pic so I knew what to order):
. The noodles were firm yet soft and the eggy gravy was silky. The beef slices were very tender. This was also prepared sans msg so it was on the blander side. Nothing that a heaping amount of chili sauce couldn’t solve.
The staff was surprisingly nice as in, they actually say, «you’re welcome» when I say, «thank you», and greeted us «goodbye» as we left. They even packed all our leftovers when I asked for boxes. Such a welcome change from sh*tty service from most Chinese restaurants.
Décor is sparse but it’s clean, the tables are nicely spaced apart, and there’s a flat screen tv.
There’s plenty of parking in the shared lot with a L&L Hawaiian BBQ and Panera Bread.
Me: «So how did you like the HK Baked Pork Chop Rice?»
Mr. NSS: «Ehhh, you got some weird tastes.»
Me: «Well, I’m with you aren’t I?»
Mr. NSS: (–_​_​– )

Ordered the Curry Beef Brisket Stir Fried Ramen Noodles for take out the other day and was appalled to see Curry Beef Slices Stir Fried Ramen inside my box…
The portions were huge but the quality of the noodles were poor. The curry sauce was too thick and strong…
…what a waste of $ 9.73…

I finally decided to write a review on Encore. Occasionally Bf and I came here for lunch. Personally, I think there food quantities are slightly above the average in around the area. Services are friendly and efficient, And we usually ordered different food, but today we ordered Napoleon Style fired spaghetti and Clam cream sauces fired angel hair pasta.
Napoleon Style fired spaghetti was ok. It like the basic fired spaghetti. It has ham, bacon, eggs and onions.
Clam cream sauces sauces fired angel hair pasta. Whenever, I don’t know what to eat. This is my to go dish, because I know this dish tastes good. But remember to request for less salt for this dish. There were a few time, I forget to request less salt. It was so salty, tasted like I just took a spoon full of salt in my mouth.
The reason I give 3 stars because they only have 2 servers on the floor. Sometime, it takes a while for the food to served. Specially during the lunch hour rush, where everyone is on the break at same time. The second thing, i dislike is sometime there are flies flying around your food when we are eating. It is really annoying and gross.

The beef with scrambled egg! The only thing we ever order here. Probably the only thing we will ever order here. Be careful when you order this. The waitresses aren’t consistent when asking you about your order. The first time they gave us a choice of wet or dry egg. What?! Haha. We were so confused when they asked this, but we went with dry. Another time when we went we ordered the same thing and specified dried egg, and the waitress looked at us like we were crazy! She said there’s only one type. For some reason, no matter what we say, we get the same exact order. Totally happy about though. Because that egg, beef, plain ol’ steamed rice with sriracha, though. Soooooo goooood. I could probably eat it every other day. And it’s only like $ 8.
Tip: don’t order the HK style iced milk tea. It’s not like regular milk tea. It’s bitter. Unless you like yours that way. I don’t prefer it. And bring your own water. That tap looks, um, dirty.

Pretty good HK style bistro.
Clearly a family-​owned restaurant. The interior is really basic. The food is pretty good though – the drinks are clearly pro-​level HK style, and the pork chop fried rice is Huge, with fried rice underneath, and topped with hot melted cheese.
The price is a little expensive ($ 13+ for a baked rice and a drink), and they don’t serve you tea at the beginning etc., which is not a big deal given it’s a small family owned restaurant. Also the service is pretty good (the place is very clean, and the food comes fast etc).
Come here if you’re craving some HK style bistro food.

11÷11÷13 Lunch
We returned to try other stuffs on the menu. Actually my white BF suggests coming back here. Woo!
*Grilled Pork Chop ($ 8.95): it’s actually their lunch special of the day. Three slim pieces of pork chop, grilled, served with fresh tomato over white rice. The special includes cream of corn soup and a beverage. For $ 0.50 more I had the iced lemon tea.
*Sweet and Sour Chicken ($ 7.95): the usual Chinese plate, battered chicken sauteed in sweet and sour sauce with diced pineapple and green bell peppers. We were surprised to find mix of dark and white meat, so if you want white meat only, you have to tell the waitress.
It’s pretty good food in a very casual setting. The «truck stop» is pretty busy with car wash, In-​N-​Out, Panera Bread in Millbrae.