The name 7-8 Coffee Shop is a bit deceiving, as they not only serve drinks but a wide variety of meals as well. It was my first time visiting this busy little restaurant for dinner. The whole restaurant was full of diners, but we were lucky enough to get a table. We were given a piece of paper (the menu) and a pen. You order by placing a tick or number next to the item you want on the piece of paper with the menu on it, then once you are ready, take it to the counter and pay. The waitress will then give you a number sign to take back to the table.
The drinks menu was huge, with many different types of tea (both hot and cold), bubble/milk tea, coffee and frappes. It was a cold night, so I wanted to drink hot tea. I ordered a flower tea and my two friends ordered a genmaicha (Japanese roasted rice green tea) and a drink with ice cream (don't remember the exact name of it). You can ask the waitress to re-fill hot water to your tea so you can get a few more extra cups out of it.
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| Flower Tea |
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| Japanese Roasted Rice Green Tea |
The food menu was quite extensive too. There was a variety of mini hot pots, set meals like teriyaki chicken and grilled fish served with rice/salad/soup, pastas and deep fried items. Actually, a lot of the options were deep fried I think.
Being a cold night, I decided to have the mini hot pot. The soup base for my hot pot was lavender milk (I thought this was quite interesting, so wanted to try). My hot pot was served with pork, seafood, tofu and veggies. It also came with a bowl of rice, salad and some dipping sauce. The soup was creamy with a lavender fragrant. I thought it was very nice! Something different!
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| Lavender Milk Pork & Seafood Mini Hot Pot |
The others ordered a Miso hot pot with beef and a chicken & avocado spaghetti. The spaghetti was al dente and flavours were very nice! I didn't try the beef hot pot, but it looked nice, with a lot of ingredients inside.
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| Chicken & Avocado Spaghetti |
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| Miso Beef Mini Hot Pot |
The service was friendly and we had to wait a while for the food to arrive because there were so many people. 7-8 is a good place for gathering with friends as you can get your own set meal, the ordering system is easy and it's easy to split the bill (since you order and pay at the same time).
I think the only thing about 7-8 that I didn't like is that it's quite crowded inside, with the tables being quite close together.
After witnessing how busy 7-8 Coffee Shop was, at a few dinner time when we went past, my partner and myself decided to give it a try this evening.
ReplyDeleteWe ordered a "seafood kim chi hot pot" and a "seafood hot plate". They both were served with steamed rice and a small side salad. The rice was nearly as cold as room temperature, and the hot pot wasn't really "HOT", I guess the meal was placed into the metal pot after being cooked, and it got cooled down by the metal pot. There were a few little pieces of different seafood in the meal, not like the "SEAFOOD" in the seafood hot plate was only a few pieces of FISH!! with a few pieces of meat, an fried egg, and the rest was "ONION"........too bad if you're allergic to onion or do not like onion!!!!
Service was nice and friendly but yes, it's very crowded with tables very close to each other!
A different experience but I don't think I'll be in a hurry to dine there again!
You should write your views in a review on Urbanspoon to warn other diners of your concerns! Fortunately for me, my rice wasn't cold and the hot pot was quite 'hot' for me..... as for the amount of seafood in the meal.... I guess you can't expect too much if you're only paying $10-$12 for it. Maybe they should have better descriptions on the menu of the ingredients.
DeleteWow didn't expect such a quick response! Thank you noMnoMnoM :) You're sort of a night owl are you? :p Still up at 23:03! Hehe......
ReplyDeleteI do understand I can't expect much for $12, but a bit misled by the "seafood" description ;)
You must know Brissy pretty well to have gone to dine at 7-8, being from the Gold Coast, as it's tucked away in that little shopping centre. (maybe you used to live in Brissy)
Not sure if you've tried "Sun Sun Delicious" next door to 7-8 (as Sun Sun was not in 1 of your 8 comments). Sun Sun does not have the best presentation as a Chinese restaurant, but just a plain eating place. It has always been very popular and busy until 7-8 opened, I guess Sun Sun suffers a bit. I went to Sun Sun on Father's Day and they were packed with quite a few people waiting on tables and takeaways. 7-8 was packed too!!
I found good value for money at Sun Sun, no misleading description either! Haha :D My favourite is Pork Ribs in Peking sauce, $8.90, a fair size serving that I would expect to pay at least $12/$13 elsewhere. $6.80 for a big bowl of Beef Brisket Noodle, very tasty too. (it would cost $10+ at any eatery at Market Square for the same thing!) If I could upload photos here I would show you photos of these dishes! Complimentary "hot" Chinese tea made and served in a teapot to your table on request, not the kind of self served tea that we get from an Esky which is usually just lukewarm!
Thank you for your time noMnoMnoM, happy eating :))
Actually, my cousin showed me 7-8! We were going to eat at Sun Sun Delicious that night, but it was full, so went to 7-8 next door instead. I will definitely try Sun Sun Delicious in the future if I'm up in Sunnybank next!
Deletehaha yes, although I live on the Gold Coast, I go to Sunnybank/Brisbane a lot for eating.