Off the eaten track
Kimberley Street is often overlooked by diners. The small street is parallel to the longer, better-known Kimberley Road and Granville Road, and cut off at each end by Observatory and Carnarvon roads.
Many of the shop signs along the street are in Korean. Kimberley Street is only about 400 metres long, but it has four Korean restaurants and four Korean grocery stores.
Mart New World Trading Company, which opened more than 10 years ago, was the first Korean food shop on the street. It has since expanded to three adjacent stores. The original space is now a supermarket packed with imported Korean food, including a range of kimchee, 28 types of instant noodles and ginseng with honey snacks. The second outlet
is a wholesale store and the third space offers more than 20 varieties of kimchee.
Bowls of kimchee are lined up behind glass - not just the familiar cabbage variety but also spicy dishes of raw octopus, cucumber and turnip.
There are also new creations made of basil, fish roe and wild fungus. Some types are spicy and pungent with chillis and fermented bean curd paste; others are milder and considered good for the digestive system. Specialities include salted clam meat (which goes well with congee), a seasonal supply of raw crab kimchee and Korean kimbap, which is similar to Japanese sushi rolls but without the raw fish.
Mart supervisor Park Hyun-suk says the first Korean business on the street was Changwon, and the Mart opened soon after.
'I came to eat at Changwon when I first came to Hong Kong. [Back then] Kimberley Street was wet, dark and quiet and no one knew about it,' he says. 'More Korean restaurants started to open and now Hong Kong people know this street as Koreatown. I think Koreans open restaurants here because it's well known to locals and tourists. It's also convenient and has cheaper rent, but not as cheap as 10 years ago.'
The Mart's clientele are mostly Korean neighbours and locals shopping for kimchee.
Chung Gye Chon Korean Restaurant opened six years ago and was so successful that it opened a second branch last year. The original serves barbecue and Seoul-style food, using less chilli and salt so the freshness of the ingredients can be appreciated. The newer branch has a more casual atmosphere.
'I opened the second store because Koreans like to drink while having dinner,' says the chain's owner, Cho Myong-hwan. 'Chinese like Korean barbecue, but Koreans like to drink more than eat. My second restaurant is smaller and serves cooked food such as soups and rice cakes and it doesn't have any barbecue stoves. Koreans don't like to eat at big, fancy places.'
Cho says she opened her establishments on quiet streets because 'the rent is more affordable. I didn't expect to have many clients at the time because the Korean community is small.'
Hui Kam-cheung is almost a foreigner among all the Korean businesses on Kimberley Street. His shop, Siu Man Yau Store, is filled with products such as Jinhua ham that has been packed in salt for three or more years and shelves of aged Chinese glutinous rice wine - some are 20 years and older. Hard-to-find sweets include walnut pastilles and date and walnut chewy candies.
On Observatory Road is a Shanghainese restaurant and a place specialising in Sichuan cuisine. Wong Oi-fong, the owner of the Shanghai Lao Ching Hing Restaurant, says: 'Our chef has about 30 years of experience in Shanghainese cuisine. We're different from the new restaurants that cook fusion stuff and serve their food in small portions.' The restaurant's signature dishes include steamed pork dumplings and spicy pork with cabbage.
Kam Chuen Lau Sichuan restaurant was originally at Granville Road when it opened in 1972, and moved to its current location 11 years later because of a big rent rise. 'Our clientele are mostly tourists,' says spokesman Pang Wai-yu. 'Few locals come here. Hong Kong people have the wrong idea that Sichuan food must be extremely spicy. Traditional Sichuan food is salty and oily; spice isn't the main flavour.'
There were many restaurants and grocery stores along Granville Road in the 70s and 80s. The two establishments that have survived the rising rents are Indonesia Restaurant and Tai Ping Koon. 'People don't come to Granville Road for food, they come here to shop,' says Cheng Cho-ming, manager of Indonesia Restaurant. 'We rely heavily on our regulars and word of mouth.'
The Indonesian chef's specialities include roasted chicken and spiced beef that's stewed for four hours with 24 types of spices and fresh coconut juice.
Tai Ping Koon started in 1860 in Guangzhou and is still run by the same family. The chain now has four outlets in Hong Kong and is famous for its Swiss sauce chicken wings (the recipe is a family secret), roasted pigeons and dry-fried rice noodles with beef.
Culinary whimsy in Tsimsy
1 Siu Man Yau Store
Shop 1, G/F Everglory Centre, 1B Kimberley Street, tel: 2723 5903
2 Changwon Korean Restaurant
1G Kimberley Street, tel: 2368 4606
3 Chung Gye Chon
Shop A & B, G/F, 1J Kimberley Street, tel: 2367 8895
4 Korean Food
3 Kimberley Street, tel: 2367 5025
5 Mart New World Trading Company
3A, 3D, 5 Kimberley Street, tel: 2724 2414
6 Sue Korean Restaurant
G/F, 7 Kimberley Street, tel: 2311 0133
7 Wing Lee Company
18 Kimberley Street, tel: 2723 5732
8 Jeon Yong Seock
G/F, 8 Observatory Road, tel: 2730 1962
9 Kam Chuen Lau Restaurant
G/F, 4 Observatory Road, tel: 2367 6357
10 Shanghai Lao Ching Hing Restaurant
G/F, 2 Observatory Road, tel: 2368 9930
11 Indonesia Restaurant
66 Granville Road, tel: 2367 3287
12 Special Cafe
2/F House Fortuna, 60 Granville Road, tel: 2367 7227
13 Jiang Ji
50 A Granville Road, tel: 2369 9669
14 Tai Ping Koon Restaurant
40 Granville Road, tel: 2721 3559
15 Man Jiang Hong
27 Granville Road, tel: 2312 0823
16 Top Bar
1/F Southgate Commercial Centre, 29 Granville Road, tel: 2367 8333
17 Good Dog Cafe
2/F, 51 Granville Road, tel: 2739 3626
