Tiny Bites: Oolaa, Bridges Street, Central

When you find yourself in Central, laden with strollers, kids, bags and stress, Oolaa may well be your saviour! It’s something of an institution as far as the Sassy Mamas are concerned, and can always be relied upon to supply a scrummy snack for the kiddos and an emergency coffee for mama! As such, I must concede I approached this review with a positive bias… but then again, that bias is built on previous positive experience!

Our large group consisted of seven Sassy Mamas, plus one demanding toddler. The restaurant is super-large, especially for Hong Kong, and was fairly quiet on the day, so I didn’t feel like having a child with me (no matter how noisy!) would be an imposition on other customers. On the whole, it was yet another positive experience from Oolaa. There are a few things that could be changed to make it a bit more accessible for little kids, but apart from that, it is certainly a restaurant in Central that I would return to with the family.

Thumbs up: the brunch is great value here, and portion sizes are huge! Definitely no complaints from this hungry mama and kid! In fact, the servings were so big that – despite our propensity to eat a lot – one meal to share would have been more than enough for me and the hungry critter! The food was also delicious, with heaps of kid-friendly options such as bagels, eggs, and even a vegemite and cheese pizza! A double thumbs up from the Aussies at the table!

Thumbs down: by all appearances, Oolaa is very kid-friendly, however, the lack of stroller access (steps outside mean a fold-and-lift is required) or separate kids menu was a surprise. That said, none of these were a huge issue for me as there were plenty of mamas in my party to help me out. Also, the staff were all super-friendly and very accommodating, although service was occasionally a little erratic, despite the restaurant not being very busy.

Stroller access: Not exactly. There are a few steps to negotiate, although this was manageable. The staff were kind enough to store the stroller for me once in the restaurant.

Highchairs: Yes, although on this occasion, because we were dining in a big group, we were given a booth-style table, which was a bit high for my 2-year-old boy. Luckily, he was trapped in the booth by adults on both sides, making escape impossible!

Kids menu: No, however the staff did offer to check whether the kitchen would make a smaller portion from the regular menu.

I really liked the fact that eating from the adult menu meant my son got ‘proper’ food – no chicken nuggets, hotdogs or other garbage here! The flipside of this is that it starts to get a little pricy if you have more than one kid, so my top tip is to split the generous portions where possible!

Price range: Very reasonable, with egg dishes from $35, and most other brunch items from $95. The set lunch starts from $138.

Opening hours: From 7am… a huge bonus for all those of us who have kids that wake up way too early!

Oolaa, G/F, Bridges Street, Midlevels Central, Hong Kong. Tel: 2803 2083.

Wan Chai mamas can check out:
Oolaa Petite, G/F, 12&14 Regal Court, Star Street, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Tel: 2529 3823.

www.casteloconcepts.com/locations/hong-kong/oolaa-hong-kong