Restaurants don't need to wow customer with fancy furnishings or to attract them with flashing lights. Good food and reasonable prices are enough to lure, and the newly opened Hong Kong Cafe is a fine example.

This little Chinese eatery quietly opened at the corner of Mills and Regent streets, formerly the site of the House of Lu. The restaurant's interior is simple, with posters of Hong Kong on the walls and lamps hanging over the tables. Terry Leung, who opened the restaurant Aug. 1, says he is trying to bring "Hong Kong style food to Madison. "Leung's restaurant has drawn many Asian students, yet he wants to "let American people try something new," Leung said. So the Hong Kong Cafe is serving dim sum on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dim sum is a wide range of appetizers. The Hong Kong Cafe is serving 30 different appetizers, says Leung, a native of Hong Kong.

The restaurant was packed on a recent weeknight when I strolled in with my dining companion. We were seated in the last remaining open booth. The restaurant has big windows overlooking the intersection. It's plain, yet bright and pleasant. The menu is extensive - typical of Chinese restaurants - and runs the gamut from Moo Goo Gai Pan ($6.25) to Hong Kong duck ($10.95) to Moo Shu pork ($5.95). The cafe also offers family dinners, starting at a meal for two ($16.95) that includes egg rolls, chicken sizzling rice soup, fragrant beef and cashew chicken. It tops off at a meal for six with six different entrees ($49.95). When dining at a new Chinese restaurant, I like to try the egg rolls - not that egg rolls are any gauge of the kitchen's quality. It's just that I love egg rolls. And the Hong Kong Cafe makes a good egg roll ($1), deep fried until crispy and filled with cabbage and egg in the middle. We also had the calamari tempura ($3.50) for an appetizer. Most of the calamari were tender - for calamari. But some were quite tough. The batter was light and good.

The entrees were difficult to choose because the menu is big. But we finally settled on emperor's beef ($7.25) and double color shrimp ($7.25). The double color shrimp was a combination dinner with cashew shrimp on one side of the platter and fragrant shrimp on the other. It was artistically separated by a fan of fresh orange slices, which also lent a subtle flavor to the dishes. The fragrant shrimp was hot as the menu indicated. It was spiced hot enough for a burn, but didn't overwhelm the flavor of the food. The shrimp was flavorful and firm, along with the vegetables - including carrots, green pepper and water chestnuts. Leung said the kitchen staff will spice an entree even hotter upon request. The other half of the dish - cashew shrimp - was excellent, with a subtle sauce enveloping the shrimp, cashews, pea pods and carrots. The emperor's beef had thin, tender pieces of beef and imitation crabmeat, along with mushrooms, pea pods and carrots in a delectable brown sauce. The portions were big, as were the servings of rice. Our waitress was amiable and served food promptly.  And the host even checked with us to see if the air conditioning was set at a comfortable level. Our meal, including three glasses of wine, totaled $26.40.

Leung said the cafe also offers free delivery nightly from 5 until closing in a limited area. Plus a lunch menu is offered, in addition to the full menu, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. I'm sure the Hong Kong Cafe will continue to draw in a lot of business. Leung said he already has regulars. While no reservations are taken at lunch, Leung does take dinner reservations. And that may be worth keeping in mind if you decide to try out the Hong Kong Cafe.

Margaret Collins as appeared in The Capitol Times

*Items and prices may have changed since the printing of this article.