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Follow the Yellow Mud Stream…
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In the 1840s, British soldiers set up a military camp at what was then Wong Nai Chung – Chinese for Yellow Mud Stream. Unbeknownst to them, though, was that the marshes in the area were a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. Over the years, many soldiers fell victim to the fatal disease. As bodies piled up, they were collectively buried in the valley. Thus the euphemism Happy Valley was coined to describe this final resting place. Since then, what was once known as Wong Nai Chung has become the ‘Happy Valley’ we know today.
Nowadays, with Hong Kongers’ love of horse racing, Happy Valley is a busy place. It’s also a middle-to-upper class residential area – the marshes having disappeared under a torrent of concrete. Wong ⌦Nai Chun Road, which circles the race track, is now home to plenty of restaurants, shops, and bars. We stopped by Happy Valley last week to check out some of the restaurants, bars, and to, um, place a few bets of our own… |
Motor Restaurant
19 Wong Nai Chung Road
2574 9537
If you take the tram to the final stop on the Happy Valley line, this is the very first restaurant you will see once you get off. Almost on top of the stop, Motor Restaurant offers a fusion of different Asian foods. There’s a little Vietnamese, a bit of Malaysian, and a lot of Chinese. The chef recommends the king prawn and pigeon set ($88), pig’s knuckle set ($78), Hainan chicken ($45) and the filet steak
set ($88).
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Deli Cafe & Bistro
29 Wong Nai Chung Road
2572 1387
Right at the corner of Wong Nai Chung Road and Sing Woo Road, at first glance, it looks to be just a small shop with a counter selling cakes. But if you follow the not-so-noticeable
sign with an arrow pointed towards an alley, you will be led to the restaurant in the back. There are over 30 different Italian coffee and cheesecake to choose from. “The best selling item is our curry”, says Mr. Lo, the owner. The lesson we learned? When you’re in Happy Valley, don’t be afraid to walk down a small alley, you’ll never know what you run into. |
Moon House Dessert
G/F 3 Wong Nai Chung Road
2891 2591
What separates Moon House from most dessert houses in Hong Kong is that, despite its name, it serves more than just dessert. A good variety is served here, from rice to udon, beef to dried duck. Most popular is baked rice with pork chop in tomato sauce ($36). It’s good value considering the portion is bigger than any other restaurant’s version of the same meal. The baked rice, with crunchy baked pork chop goes perfectly with the fresh tomato sauce. Chicken steak in black pepper sauce with spaghetti in soup ($28) also fills you up without emptying your wallet. For more variety, try dumplings with spicy minced pork ($30), while smoked Chinese sausages with rice ($46) is served in an earthen pot. Then, of course, there are desserts. Seeing all the pictures on the menu will make you wish for a bigger stomach, as surely you will want to try more than one. We tried the assorted flavour mango pancake ($26), which is mango with whipped cream wrapped in three differently flavoured crepes. You can also get traditional Chinese desserts – sago, red-bean soup and black sesame paste, all for $19. |
Oyster Island
G/F 14 Min Fat Street
2572 2028
Located on a side alley, this hidden gem serves fresh crabs, sashimi, clams, and, you guessed it, oysters. Take your pick of snacks from garlic bread ($28), roasted cuttlefish mouth ($58), Mexican-style special chicken roll ($68), or your own mini pizza ($48). Main dishes include pan-fried lamb chop ($168) and the roasted mixed mushroom stuffed chicken breast with rosemary sauce ($138) while seafood recommendations are scallop hoki ($128) or botan ebi jumbo sashimi ($168). But obviously, if you’re going to a place named Oyster Island, you’re probably craving oysters. The selection is huge, the oysters are separated by country. US oysters – Kumamoto, Samish Bay, Bluepoint and Hood Cana, all range from just $21 to $30 each. The Australian oysters include Sydney Rock ($23) and Smokey Bay ($26), or try the one with the same name as a cartoon character – the Tasmania ($26). Just in time for St. Paddy’s Day, there are Irish oysters to choose from as well, from Irish Rock ($29) to Irish Belon ($42). |
Cheung Hing
13-15 A Yik Yam Street
2572 5097
The first thing you notice about this cha chan tan (local HK style café) when you walk in is the old interior, which looks like it hasn’t been remodeled in a decade or two. But the Hong Kong celebrities sure don’t seem to mind, as you’ll see on Cheung Hing’s “wall of fame”, three framed, poster-size paper filled with celebrity autographs. The biggest name in HK showbiz can be found—Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Alan Tam, Eason Chan, and many others. We had the grilled onion w/egg on rice ($30), a very simple Chinese dish, but when it’s done right—and boy, is it done right here—it rivals any of the high class 300-dollars-a-plate meal you get at fancy restaurants. To wash everything down we had the classic Hong Kong style drink, the “yuan yang” (half coffee, half milk tea). By the end of our visit, let’s just say we understood why celebrities, and locals, love the place.
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Benson Cuisine & Wine
12 C Sing Woo Road
2893 6900
This classy looking restaurant with a nicely decorated interior is promoting the Lobster Temptation – a full-course dinner of mesclun salad with lobster, citrus fruit and tomato with lemon garlic olive oil, cream soup with lobster tartar, vanilla soufflé, and either tea or coffee ($520). You can get a whole Boston lobster by itself ($400), or try the pan-fried sea bass fillet with black olives and basil in white wine sauce for $180.
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Bun Hearn Chiu Chow Cuisine
8 Sing Wo Road
2834 3968
Shortly after we walked in, we realized this wasn’t just another chiu chow noodle house. “This restaurant has 60 year’s worth of history, dating back three generations when my grandfather first opened the business.”, says owner Lego Chan. Bun Hearn (pinyu of the Chinese name, as they do not have an official English name) started out in Causeway Bay in the 50s, moved to Wan Chai some years later, and eventually made its way to Happy Valley. The most famous dish—for the past sixty years—is the sliced soyed goose ($80). Other items include clay pot rice, and the cuttle fish & marinated sausage ($48).
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Dai Siu Yeh
12 Yuen Yuen Street
2690 1111
Yet another restaurant without an official English name, but “Dai Siu Yeh”, meaning “Young Tycoon” in Cantonese, is another favourite among Hong Kong celebs. The main decorations of the interior basically consists of film posters, autographed by stars like Nicholas Tse, his wife Cecilia Cheung, and the duo of Gillian Chung/Charlene Choi, aka the Twins. Opened on New Year’s Day 2006, Dai Siu Yeh’s most popular item is the Thai style hai nan chicken, cooked by a chef hailing directly from Thailand. You can get portions of the hai nan chicken with rice ($43), half piece of the chicken for $78, or if you’re hungry, get the entire chicken for $140. For those with a big stomach, you can get the jumbo mixed grill, with steak, pork chop, and chicken, for $68. |
Pepperonis Gourmet Pizza Kitchen
G/F No. 2 Shing Ping Street
2572 7262
Another smaller restaurant on one of the side streets, this pizza kitchen offers great deals on specials, such as the Monday Pizza Madness, which gives you a pizza for $1 if you order any pasta delivery. Another special is the buy-one-get-one-free special on Tuesday. In addition to pizza and pasta, they serve burgers, mixed grills, seafood mornay, nachos, bbq ribs, and perhaps the oddest item on the menu, Peking duck! |
Kings’s Place Congee & Noodle
G/F 19 A Sing Woo Road
Famous for its Hainan chicken, this award-winning congee and noodle house has a full menu of Chinese dishes. Specialties in addition to the chicken are shrimp ball noodle ($43), roast goose with noodles ($42), and the traditional congee. This restaurant also serves freshly steamed big noodles, aka the ‘churn fun’, you can get them with shrimp, beef, or bbq pork.
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Brown Restaurant and Bar
G/F 18 A Sing Woo Road
2891 8556
This place can best be described as ‘mostly European with Asian elements’. The midweek dinner special includes the pasta set: Caesar salad, angel hair pasta, and soup of the day ($158) while the meat-lover set gives you grilled rib eye steak with a lamb chop instead of the angel hair pasta ($228). Other offers includes the set lunch offer: you get a choice of cold fish or spaghetti to go with soup, dessert and coffee/tea for $70. Another hot promotion is the “liquid dinner” promotion—all you can drink wine for $358 per person. For dessert, you can choose from eight flavours of ice cream but the apple crumble is the favourite. You can enjoy the wine while relaxing in the back lounge, decorated to resemble a living room, complete with a literature book shelve on the wall. |
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