A QUIET CUL-DE-SAC has become home to a small crowd of restaurants serving both simple fare and more exotic cuisine. And the eateries of Ashley Road in Tsim Sha Tsui are luring plenty of diners across the harbour.
The street has a long association with food. Jimmy's Kitchen has been in its current location in the Kowloon Centre for almost 25 years (although it opened in the late 1960s). Maitre d' Ricky Wong Keung has been serving guests for 14 years. 'I had to ask people where Ashley Road was,' says Wong, recalling the day of his job interview. 'It was a nearly empty alley.' The only other food and beverage outlets on the street back then were La Taverna, Gaylord Indian Restaurant, Ned Kelly's Last Stand, Osaka, Kyo-Zasa and the Singapore Restaurant - all of which are still there today.
Jimmy's Kitchen opened on August 22, 1969, on Hankow Road. When the lease expired in 1982, the Landau family moved to the present location, buying the property from the Harilela family. In 2002, the Landaus sold the site, and now lease it.
The restaurant has always been popular with affluent diners, who seem to like the convenient yet discreet location. Over the years, Wong has seen the clientele change from British businessmen to nouveau rich Taiwanese and mainlanders. 'I have to speak Mandarin now to some of our guests,' he says. 'They tell me they heard about our cuisine and wanted to enjoy a proper British meal.'
Jimmy's classics include oysters Kilpatrick, Waldorf salad, wiener schnitzel, chateaubriand and baked Alaska. 'We have faithful patrons bringing their children to sample time-honoured, British fine-dining and learn etiquette,' Wong says. 'I have regulars of two and three generations.'
About six years ago, Fat Angelo's moved in. Since then, a number of other franchises and smaller cafes have appeared. In December, PizzaExpress opened downstairs from Jimmy's - its fourth branch in Hong Kong, but the first in Kowloon. 'We chose Ashley Road because this is a very cosmopolitan area of Kowloon,' says general manager Adrien Ellul. 'There are lots of tourists that know PizzaExpress and many are incredibly loyal. We had our eyes on this site for a while, but were worried about the [large] size. Fortunately, the new landlord decided to break it up to increase the yield and we managed to get the space we were looking for.'
The new 2,000sqft restaurant features an open kitchen so patrons can watch the pizza-makers in action.