For those that have never heard of or tried HK-style egg waffles, then you're seriously missing out! One of my fondest food memories of Hong Kong is of their fresh egg waffles (along with the dragon's beard candies, sticky rice balls, and egg tarts with flaky puff pastry shells) - the sweet fluid batter is cooked on a special waffle iron so that when cooked, the waffle forms a lattice of egg-shaped pieces with a crispy exterior and gooey, custard filling. There are a few Asian cafes/restaurants that do sell fresh egg waffles in Sydney (e.g. in Eastwood for $3-5), or you can attempt to source an egg waffle machine or iron online that makes these awesome waffles... but sadly, you'll be out of pocket by at least $100 in order to get it shipped to Australia (yes, I've checked).
Hence you can see my eagerness to start off my food-driven day (note: this meal was followed by a visit to Koi Dessert Bar and The Waffle Shack... and Hotel Bondi) with a visit to Haven to see if their egg waffles live up to the ones from Hong Kong.
 Above: Outside of Cafe Top Right: Window Sign (Reversed) Bottom Right: Counter |  |
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I have read online that Haven can get crowded but not so at 10am on the morning that I visited. Upon being seated, I was given an interesting jar of water containing a chunk of charcoal - I always wondered if these were really effective in purifying water... the water doesn't taste much different.
 |  Top Left: Pastries, Breads and Muffins Bottom Left: Cold Drip Coffee Above: Water Purified by Charcoal |
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To go with my brunch, I ordered a Chai Latte - with much emphasis on the 'latte' so that they won't get confused with the Chai tea option -, which came in an elaborate system of hourglass, teapot, jug and drinking bowl (reminiscent of a soy sauce dish):
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| Chai Latte | Teapot Containing Chai Tea Leaves |
Having never seen this before, the waitress kindly explained the process: the hourglass is used to determine the required brewing time for the tea before you pour it into the jug, from which you then pour the tea into the drinking bowl that you use to drink the tea - this all seemed like a complicated system for drinking Chai and a bit too fancy for me. Next time I'm just going to ask for a normal cup to use because the whole process made the tea cool quickly and there was considerable sediment left in the drinking bowl. As for the tea itself, it had a strong spice flavour with a healthy kick of ginger.
Anyway, shortly afterwards, the egg waffle was served:
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| 'Sexy Me' Egg Waffle ($16.50) + Chai Latte ($5) |
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| Close-up of 'Sexy Me' Egg Waffle |
The 'Sexy Me' egg waffle dish looked amazing and was loaded with ample sesame to provide an adequate flavour hit. However, I was a little disappointed that the egg waffle was served cold - I did take a considerable number of photos of the dish but if egg waffle was genuinely served warm, it would have done some serious damage to the ice cream but it was barely melted on the base by the time I started eating. Also the egg waffle looked a little deflated in the pictures, another sign that it had cooled. You are required to let the egg waffle rest after cooking in order to ensure the crispy exterior of the egg waffle but it seems like they let it rest for a bit too long (I know from experience that the egg waffle will retain its heat for 5-10min after being cooked and taken off the hot iron). Flavour-wise, the egg waffle itself wasn't quite as sweet or custard-y as the ones found in Hong Kong and parts of the egg waffle was borderline overdone. Sadly, no gooey custard inside the egg waffle as it wasn't hot anymore.
The glutinous rice exterior of the mochi was more gooey than your standard mochi but inside was a surprise hidden dollop of cream with a dose of sweet sesame paste - quite enjoyable to eat. Contrary to the menu, the sesame chips were replaced with toffee shards with a sprinkle of sesame in them, which gave an additional crunch element to the dish. However, there was something wrong with the black sesame sauce that came with the egg waffle - it had a bitter aftertaste that was very off-putting. I know that black (or white) sesame naturally has a slight bitter taste, especially when pureed, but the bitterness was way too strong for that, like the sesame and/or the sauce had been burnt at some stage.
Overall, the 'Sexy Me' egg waffle didn't quite live up to expectation of the real deal. Back to daydreaming about my next trip to Hong Kong...
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