Anytime Cafe Introduces New and Improved Menu

Patrons of Anytime Cafe may notice a few changes this week at the popular Market City Shopping Center eatery. For starters, there is a brand-new menu to peruse, complete with photos of every dish that is listed in its glossy pages.

“Our new menu is done and on its way here from Hong Kong. We can’t wait to see it!” says Cindy Wong, who runs the year-old restaurant with her husband, Ken.

Another happy addition is the inclusion of more dinner offerings like the Bone-In Pork Chop ($14.95), which previously had been available as a limited-time special.

“Before, we never had a set dinner,” says Wong. “This dish is very popular, which is why we wanted to put it on the new menu.”

The dinner’s popularity comes as no surprise. To begin with, the 10- to 12-ounce pork chops are special ordered from a local meat company, ensuring that the meat is fresh and of the best quality.

“Since the Bone-In Pork Chop is so fresh, we don’t need to use any special seasoning. We just use a little salt and pepper,” Wong notes.

The pan-fried pork chops are served with a mushroom cream sauce over a bed of pasta with vegetables and choice of soup or salad on the side.

“It’s really good, very tender, and with the sauce, it is really good,” Wong adds.

Turn the dinner into a full-fledge meal with an order of Thai-Style Pork Cheeks ($6.95), an appetizer of marinated pork cheeks served with a spicy dipping sauce.

And for dessert, Wong suggests indulging in a heaping bowl of Honeydew Snow Ice ($6.50).

“The snow ice is similar to local shave ice, but shave ice is just plain ice, where our snow ice already has the flavor in the ice block,” she explains of the creamy, ice cream-like concoction from Thailand that comes in five additional flavors that include strawberry, green tea, taro, milk and mango.

“Even though one order is very big, when you eat it you don’t feel full,” says Wong, adding, “We also put toppings on it,” like fruit jellies and popping boba that come in strawberry, mango and yogurt.

“When you eat (the popping bobas), they pop in your mouth and it’s very juicy,” Wong says. “It’s a fun treat for the customer.”

On the Side

When Cindy and Ken Wong opened Anytime Cafe in February 2010, the couple wanted to create a place where people could come any time of day to satisfy whatever craving they may be having.

The end result is a menu filled with comfort foods from all corners of the globe. For example, Baked Meat Sauce Spaghettini ($10.95) can be found on the same page as Baked Unagi with Fried Rice ($12.95), Oxtail Soup ($11.95) and a very tasty Loco Moco ($10.95). Another page is strictly mouthwatering burgers and sandwiches – the kind you’d expect to find in a classic 1950s diner – while following pages are dedicated to classic Italian favorites like Mushroom Risotto ($10.50), Chicken Parmesan ($10.50), Seafood Alfredo ($9.95) and Baked Vegetable Canaloni ($10.50). There is even a page stocked with Asian delicacies like shrimp dumplings, beef brisket and tendon, fish balls and pigs feet, all swimming in a homemade soup base and wonton noodles specially ordered from Canada, of all places.

“We wanted to have a casual place where everyone can find something they want to eat,” says the cheery and vibrant Cindy Wong, adding that her personal experience with a picky eater inspired the varied menu.

“My son is only 10 years old, and when we go out to eat, he always wants pizza, pasta. Me and my husband, we like other food like Chinese and Japanese,” she says.

“This way, if you come to this cafe,” she continues, “you can order anything you want. My son can eat what he wants, I can eat what I want, and my husband can have what he wants. Everybody can come here and find something they like to eat.”

Anytime Cafe

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