W & M Cafe

***********CLOSED*****************
This place is now another chinese restaurant, serving northern chinese food.

We love W&M Café’s Pan-​Fried Noodle. Unfortunately, they just changed ownership and will reopen on Feb. 02, 2009 under a new name. I hope they can preserve the food quality.

One of the better HK Cafes in the area.
I come here all the time when I feel like cheap chinese food. They make good dishes such as the yang chow fried rice.
My favorites items to get are the shrimp wonton noodle soup, their wontons are not like the normal wontons at the typical HK café. My girlfriend loves their porridge with the chicken and century egg with the chinese donuts.
Usually a dinner for 2 would be about $ 20.

So, it was a chilly Autumn Saturday evening, and the favorite Unilocaler was feeling a bit under the weather. What is poor little Chinese guy to do? Get jook (porridge)! Yes, since the dawn of time, nothing has cured those cold day blues like a good, hearty bowl of jook. It is like the Asian equivalent to chicken noodle soup.
My destination was actually in the opposite direction, but remembering that W&M was one of the finer establishments of the sort in the area, it was no big issue to backtrack a bit. The time was around 8:30 pm, and the joint was about half packed. I placed my order for the preserved eggs and lean meat porridge, plain won tons, and some bitter melon chicken rice crêpe. «10 minutes!» the owner lady said in Chinese, so I decided to take a walk. In the meantime, I jogged on over to 99 Ranch, and got a few auxiliary items to complete our little meal.
When I returned, the owner told me without hesitation that the jook was sold out! Uhh… say what? Jook sold out? On a Saturday evening, when it’s not even that late, you run out of your signature dish? That would be like Val’s Burgers having no more meat or Subway saying they have no bread!
I was not a happy Eric W. The sole purpose of me going to William & Mary was for the jook, and all the extra stuff was just to complement it. I wouldn’t have gotten any of it had she told me earlier about the predicament. So, now I was stuck with it all. I was contemplating just storming out, and not even purchasing anything altogether, but then again, I didn’t necessarily want to be in bad standing should I ever decide to come back (most likely not).
I don’t know if the lady truly didn’t know they were running low on the one thing they are best known for, or she was just being shady, luring me in to ensure that I bought something. If it is the former, shame on her for not being more alert to the kitchen. The latter? Well, that is just plain wrong. In any event, –1 for keeping the favorite Unilocaler sick and hungry!
Luckily, in the process, I was able to locate an establishment able to meet my simple demands for a preserved egg and lean pork jook, which is Hong Kong BBQ in Castro Valley (
). I think I have now found a new go-​to spot.

I used to come here all the time when they were open late till 1am. Me and my boss would eat here after work. The food was exceptional and the service is not bad too. The bbq pork cheeks are very tasty. I order the the hk combination crispy noodles, mao po tofu, brasied beef which is a little to much fat for me and the crispy salt and pepper squid is probably the best ive had here in fremont.
The crispy chicken wings are very tasty as well but they tend to undercook them and always have to return them to cook them again. I came here again for dinner and it just wasnt the same. The portions got smaller and it just didnt taste the same to me. I wonder if they changed the chef.

My buddy wanted to come here for their 3 dish dinner special for $ 16.99.
Since we were unable to find their black bean rock cod on their $ 16.99 menu, we opted for:
— Hainan Chicken — 4 stars @ $ 6.95
Delicous! Chicken leg was nicely cooked w/​a side of soup and ginger/​scallion for dipping. The garlic rice was delicious too! :D …wished they gave me more chicken!
— Chow Fun w/​Scrambled Eggs & Shrimp — 4 stars @ $ 6.95
Marvelous! Portion was just right. Definitely cooked to a HK style café way, very tasty and fresh. Not too oily either.
Total for our party of two was $ 17. Definitely a nice HK style café that I’ll come back to, when I’m in the area! :D

The menu here is fairly standard for a HK style café. I’ve never had anything awful but nothing’s ever been amazing. Actually, one time I had the Roast Duck Lai Fun which was delicious. The duck was extremely lean with very little fat, and the lai fun was very smooth. It totally hit the spot! The BBQ pork isn’t bad either. I’ve tried the porridge and noodles here as well and they are fine. This is a good place to go if you are craving HK food but don’t want to go too far or spend too much.
The décor is a little nasty but you can’t really expect too much.
There’s also a waiter who resembles Tuxedo Mask from Sailormoon. So I gave this place 4 stars.

I’m porridge-​obsessed. My porridge craving brought me to W&M, a no-​frills, affordable Cantonese restaurant with rice plates, BBQ, rice noodle soup, wonton soup, desserts and 18 kinds of porridge. They also have a 3 dishes for $ 18.50 (or something like that) deal.
I had the pork with preserved egg porridge ($ 4.95) which came in a big bowl. I like how it was thick and topped with fresh scallions but there wasn’t much preserved egg, the marinated pork was way too salty and they didn’t use any ginger. It was okay. We also shared a Chinese donut wrapped in a rice noodle and doused with soy sauce (2 wrapped donuts, $ 3). The noodles were already broken and soggy; it just didn’t seem fresh.
It’s cheap yes, but the food is just passable. I doubt we’ll be back.
The credit card minimum is $ 20.

I think this place gave larger portions in the past, but due to the economic situation I think they are skimping on the food. That sucks. I admit, the dishes were tasty… my friend and I got the 3 dishes for $ 16.99. However, we weren’t filled up after we ate and we also didn’t feel like spending more money.
The charging of the rice is tricky. I thought they charge $ 1 per person for rice, but instead they charge by bowl. Isn’t $ 1/​small rice bowl a bit excessive? I know the price of rice went up but this is a bit excessive to me. Also, I never got the free dessert that Shannon T. mentioned. I think this place actually deserves 2.5 or even 2 stars but I am giving it 3 because the service was rather good and the speed of the dishes coming to our tables was also at a reasonable speed.

3.5 Stars
After a tough workout, my girlfriend and I were craving for some Chinese food. We both are not familiar with the city of Fremont and where to find decent Chinese food, so we decided to cruise north on Fremont Blvd. We drove into the Ranch 99 plaza and found this café. She knew it was a Hong Kongese food by the photos of their menu on the window, so we decided to give the place a try. Plus they had a «Yelp» sticker on it.
The atmosphere was nice and clean. Service was quick considering we were the only ones there eating. We had congee with preserved duck egg, won ton noodle soup and deep fried tofu. The food tasted good and as close in taste as to cooking from Chinatown. The price was also pretty reasonable. We will definitely eat here again whenever we’re craving Cantonese cooking.

decent food, but a bit on the greasy side. Cantonese food generally is. they have all my favorites and sometimes give me free dessert. I used to come here a lot, but haven’t lately, concerned about eating too much grease.

not like the hainan chicken from LA. oh well. not juicy, rice dry, mediocre ginger sauce.
menu has decent selection of congee
acceptable, but I’d still drive farther for better.

Mediocre food, average prices.
Didn’t know that they have chinese donuts, maybe I’ll be brave and try it out again.

This is a Cantonese style café that serves barbecue meats, porridge, noodles and rice plates. Prices are reasonable since the store is located in a suburban strip mall (next to Ranch 99) and not in Chinatown.
Crispy stuffed rice noodle roll (2 rolls for $ 2.50) was really good and makes a great appetizer. The roasted duck on rice ($ 5.95) included about 7 pieces of duck, served with some bok choy over rice. The duck was tasty but just not a lot of it. In retrospect, I should have tried their porridge instead, with 17 varieties to choose from and most of them for $ 4.95 (specialty ones such as frog, abalone & chicken or fresh oyster porridge, are $ 7.95 each). I saw the couple next to me order a porridge, and it was a very large bowl.
Bottom Line: Service wasn’t all that great when I visited, but the food is pretty good.

Best place for Cantonese comfort foods in this neck of the woods. Situated right between Oakland and Milpitas where you can expect to find reasonable fares. Very clean and spacious. Good service. Best Macau style roast pork outside of Chinatown. I overheard a construction guy who came all the way from Burlingame for it and complainted he had to wait for it to come out. The pork does not come out until at least after 11:30 a.m. And when it’s gone, it’ll be mañana. There are two styles of beef stew, both excellent, depending on what your palate fancy that day. The wonton is always good; best if the boss man made the batch. I echo the comment on the portioning on the rice/​noodle; they are not a precise science — far from it. If they give you more, eat more; less? enjoy it slowly. The Hoi Nam chicken rice is a good combo that includes a bowl of «old fire» soup du jour and a bowl of specially spiced rice. We go at least once a week for lunch and for late night snack just before closing time.

i likes this place, but i just couldn’t give it four stars, just not solid enough for me. Maybe 3.75 stars. It’s very casual, almost cafeteria-​like, a place to grub, in a speedy fashion. The food is not so much Americanized Chinese but more authentic and/​or exotic in nature. A lot of the offerings seem to be one dish plates to be served individually but easy enough to share if you wanted to sample. i’ve tried several items on different occasions, some late night cuz i live fairly close and they stay open late 11 – 12 which is a nice convenience.
Macau style roast pork is a fatty indulgence. Roasted pork belly is served thinly sliced. Mouth-​watering crispy exterior with tender center, if you like bacon, this should be a treat for you. A little salty for me however, mine was saltier than commercial bacon. But served atop some white rice may be not so bad.
Shrimp Dumpling soup was good. The large dumplings were exceptionally delicious, with both ground and chunk’d shrimp, with that Chinese fungus to add an additional flavor and texture. The broth of the soup was weak and the thin noodles added a filler factor. A nice bowl overall.
Seafood Porridge was very good. Surprisingly tender and fresh seafood (fish, shrimp and calamari) swim in suspension in the perfect consistency of the rice porridge. Would definitely order again.
Dry Scallop & Seafood fried rice was nicely executed, not oily or greasy at all. Nice textures and the seafood being nice and fresh. Sometimes i get this as a side dish to go for other meals. It’s good.
Malaysia Style Chow fun is okay. It’s just chow fun with generic yellow curry powder sprinkled into the dish. i’d rather have basic beef chow fun, which is what i will probably do the next time.
The kitchen does a good job here and i hope they stay a while cuz like i said, it’s nice to have that option and convenience within minutes from my hood and at hours when the rest of the town is already in bed. i surely will do my part as a patron.

This is my standard «I’m craving porridge» stop. Not only is the service super quick for take out (ready within 5 minutes), but the porridge is still piping hot by the time I get home– the way it should be. And all for under $ 5. =)
They also sell the Chinese fried donuts here (it’s actually salty not sweet like American donuts, but it goes PERFECTLY when you dip it in your porridge). Not only do they sell it here ($ 1.50 for 2), they deep fry that sucker per order, so it’s never soggy. Perfecto.
On one of the occasions where I actually ventured away from the porridge staple, I tried the soft scrambled eggs with shrimp over rice. EXACTLY like how I wanted it – soft and runny eggs with perfectly cooked shrimp tossed in the mix.
You know this is a reliable place when you walk in and see mostly native Chinese patrons sitting at the tables — always a good sign. =)

We went tonight and it seems to be going downhill. My gf noticed the cashier/​manager scolding the server for putting too much rice on our Braised beef brisket rice plate, so she proceeded to remove some of the rice. This dish was the best of the meal but we only had about 4 pieces of beef and underseasoned bok choy.
We also ordered the Shrimp wonton noodle soup. The wontons were really good but the broth was too salty and the noodles, not great.
My gf ordered the Singapore style mei fun which was simply rice noodles with shrimp, thin slices of bbq pork, scallions cooked with a yellow curry sauce that tasted like it came from a can.
Our bill came to $ 19.74 and the cashier obnoxiously refused to let me use my credit card ($ 20 minimum).
Our first time was much better, we had the Macau style roasted Pork, and even got a complimentary dessert.

A rare find for reasonably good Cantonese comfort food in the Bay Area (especially down here — poor us South Bay folks!)
One of the few places I would probably keep coming back to, if it were not for its out-​of-​way transit-​unfriendly location in a strip mall. The siu mei was better than average, and I thought the prices were quite reasonable (only ~$ 5 for pork neck with rice?!)
They also serve passable dessert (I tried the tofu flower only).

Had dinner here 6÷11÷06, it’s a Chinese restaurant which serves typical Cantonese food. It’s pretty good. I wish the prices were a tad bit cheaper but they are decent.
We ordered:
#4 Macau style roasted pork, $ 5. It has the best crispy pork skin. It crackles in your mouth. Lots of fat, then tiny bit of meat. It’s good.
#58 shrimp wonton soup Large $ 5.25. I should have gotten it with noodles since I really wanted that. Instead it comes with 10 large shrimp wontons in a brown broth. Just ok.
ordered a special dish chicken w/​veggies chow fun $ 6.95. Too much large chicken and not enough veggies. I’d skip it next time.
#114 chicken w/​salted fish fried rice. $ 7.50 Mom really liked this dish. I don’t care much for salted fish but it was good.
They have a huge menu 146 items! I’ll try more of the noodle dishes ($ 5.25−6.95), or porridge ($ 4.95), and the desserts tofu flower ($ 2); HK style milk tea $ 2.
Recommended.