Went to the Qianmen branch of Element Fresh on a Sunday around 11 AM for brunch. The nicely-designed restaurant was empty except for one man drinking coffee and looking cool updating his Facebook status on his MacBook. Service was speedy, and the wait staff paid good attention to the details. Coffee got refilled promptly when I requested it, and they brought out any condiments I asked for quickly. Our effeminate young waiter was very friendly. Had this been in America, I would have given him an extra tip for his good service.
Looking through the menu for Element Fresh, my instinct tells me that this is a place to visit for breakast or brunch, rather than dinner.
My comments on specific breakfast items:
• pancakes - large, filling, cooked very much like what you'd get at Denny's in the US, though not quite as moist
• western omlet - on the small side, a little runny, but good
• toast - just average Chinese bread put in a toaster, nothing special. They give you imported butter and German jam to go along with it.
• coffee - very pleased with the coffee and free refills
• steak - this came along with the western omlet. I ordered it medium ("5 成熟" in Chinese). 2/3 of the steak was done properly, and was decent after slathering it in A-1 sauce. The remaining 1/3 of the steak was rare, so I brought it home to feed to the stray dogs near my xiaoqu.
For me, Denny's breakfast in the US rates 7 out of 10. I'd rate Element Fresh 5 out of 10 on that same scale. Both places end up about costing the same.
- 546 reads
- 0 comments