Ponty Café restaurant review: Hong Kong’s most upscale dive bar The Pontiac’s sister coffee shop serves up biscuits and buttermilk pancakes galore
- The Pontiac shifted from beers and cocktails to coffee and sandwiches amid pandemic restrictions – but what started as a pop-up is here to stay, with Winstons and Cupping Room’s Rachel Wedlock at the helm
When government restrictions hit the bar scene, The Pontiac – the city’s most upscale dive bar – pivoted from beers and cocktails to coffee and sandwiches as a means to survive. What was once a temporary pop-up has now become permanent reality with the Ponty Café opening next door to its sister establishment.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Pontiac concept without the involvement of Beckaly Franks who has helped craft the menus alongside Ezra Star, now fully involved with the bar Mostly Harmless. The real star, though, is chef Rachel Wedlock, who has worked across the globe for various big name brands and pop-ups, most recently in Hong Kong at popular cafes like Winstons and Cupping Room. Out front, Saskia Lopes de Souza is a typically amiable and enabling Ponty host.
The menu is small and focused. There are several types of biscuit to try, four small and four big plate options, plus a few sides and kids’ and dessert options. Although tempted by the healthier option of egg and avocado, we start with the sausage biscuit (HK$78) – a buttermilk biscuit (for the uninitiated, imagine a savoury scone) stuffed with a sage sausage patty, American cheddar, matchstick fries and Marmite mayonnaise. It’s like the best kind of hangover cure – meaty, a tad greasy, a tad salty and packed with carbs. In short, it’s delicious, even if the Marmite mayonnaise was anonymous.
Despite being in the small plates section, the whiskey-cured salmon (HK$98) is a solid portion considering it comes with a salad and yet more biscuits. Not for the faint of heart, the whiskey is quite overpowering and could provoke unwelcome memories of the night before.
The buttermilk pancakes (HK$98) are a mountainous stack of carbs, bacon (a vegetarian option is available too), egg and pickled chillies topped with a maple peanut butter sauce. These are no fancy soufflé pancakes, but they’re a flavoursome treat all the same – springy to the touch, and equal parts sweet, salty and buttery.
