Café Ou Mon

12 Travessa de S. Domingos, Macao
Visited 6th December 2008

Surprise, joy and a waves of ecstatic glee; Café Ou Mon is back! This little coffee shop, that's meant to be just near Senado Square, strangely vanished for over a year in time-warp like renovations. The 'new look', renovated Café Ou Mon doesn't really look that different, it's just a tidied up version of the same simple European charm; the polished counter at the back displays tasty cakes while the wooden tables and chairs are always packed with punters.

Café Ou Mon keeps things simple; there's a choice of daily soup, plate and dessert, but it's the baked goods that most come for. I went for a pork chop bun. The thin, char-grilled pork was slapped between a crispy ciabatta style roll that offered a tasty change from the usual round white rolls. My friends ordered an assortment of goodies including the famous 'milk buns' toasted and filled with delicious ham and salty cheese, beautifully flaky Portuguese egg tarts and a lemon cake that was divine. Unlike the milkshake style beverages produced by Hong Kong's coffee chains Café Ou Mon offers real coffee and the cafe latte I ordered was perfect; it wasn't overly milky or sweet, just simple well made coffee.

Café Ou Mon really is a little haven of civility. Service is normally excellent as the blokes who run the place are friendly, efficient and on the ball; our waitress was polite, but did unfortunately get one item confused. All up our bill came to MOP190 for coffee, cake and sandwiches for four of us, at MOP45 a head that's certainly fair value in any one's book. I'm so glad Café Ou Mon has finally reappeared.