A Beginners Guide for Hong Kong

Updated: 9-14-2013

We all know how it typically takes a while to uncover the best shopping and dining options when moving to a new city.  But thankfully, you can always count on the local Target to restore all order on the home front.  However, this is not the case when moving abroad.  Target, The Container Store, Home Depot (or anything like) do not exist here.  Not working with any foreigners to ask for guidance, finding it hard to make friends with the whole "work longer hours, not smarter hours" local mentality and not hitting the streets as often as I should have, I'm sure all contributed to my bumpy transition.

Last night I met a couple that recently moved here from the states.  After the normal introduction of meeting a newbie, (... How long have you been here? Where do you live?  How long do you plan to stay?  How are you handling this heat and being wet all the time?... ) I learned they just arrived last May.  That's when it started... all the locals at the table started sharing our helpful hints for living in Hong Kong.  Since successfully setting up "life" in this city can be a little overwhelming, I thought I would highlight some of my favorite HK discoverers.  

Hong Kong doesn't exactly support the home enthusiasts, but if the rumours are correct that will change when Crate and Barrel lands in Hong Kong (along with CB2), as they did in Singapore recently.  But for now, here are my discoverers.  I don't typically suggest going to Causeway Bay (most densely polluted neighborhood on Hong Kong Island), but it's probably your best bet for home items.  All within a few blocks of each other you'll find IKEA, Francfranc, MUJI and SOGO.  

ZARA Home
3/F, Harbour City Mall (in the Gateway Arcade Tower), 25 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
The only next best thing to CB, CB2, Resto, PB or West Elm is this Spanish based home retailer.  Finally in Hong Kong (!!!!) ZARA Home offers current (yay!) trend home decor and essentials for every room of your home.  This store is just downstairs from my office, and every time I take a look inside the displays tables and beds have all been changed.  Yes, you heard me, they have bedding!!  With floor sets changing monthly, it's a must stop shop throughout the year.  [side note: I NEVER thought I would EVER get this excited over a Zara Home, but anything new here is soooo freaking refreshing!]

MUJI
Flagship Store: 4/F, Harbor City Mall, 17 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Island Location: 4/F, World Trade Centre, 280 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
This Japanese home retailers offers simply designed private branded products at reasonable prices.  When I first moved to HK I didn't think I would ever find a toilet brush that wasn't bright pink or royal blue, but then I discovered MUJI.  Everything is all natural or in shades of white... my favorite colors!   Along with a good selection of home goods (kitchen, bath, storage, living, office) they also offer casual apparel for men, women and children.  

Francfranc
Flagship Store: G/F, 8 Kingston Street, Causeway Bay
Another Japanese home retailer, Francfranc offers low price items for your complete home.  If IKEA offered a designer section it would probably look like Francfranc, and being located across the street from IKEA in CWB, definitely helps with managing your day.  

SOGO
555 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay
For the time being, SOGO (another Japanese concept) is the largest department store in Hong Kong.  It's similar to a Sears or JCPenny back home.  The only place worse than the overcrowded sidewalks in Causeway Bay are the escalators in SOGO!  However, you will find home essentials at SOGO no other retailer offers in the city.

G.O.D. (Goods of Desire)
G-1/F, 48 Hollywood Road, Soho
Finally... something not from Japan!  ha!  G.O.D. is Hong Kong's version of Pier 1 Imports, but less decor and more home essentials.   The ground floor at their Soho location is focused on touristy items (HK themed T-shirts, travel books, posters)  but upstairs you'll find their home section (kitchen, bath, storage, entertaining, office).  A good mix of private and international brands.  

Wing On 
B/L 211 Des Voeux Road, Sheung Wan
The first locally owned department store to open in Hong Kong, Wing On is the place to go for those hard to find Target items like picture hangers, trash bins, plastic storage containers, ironing boards, flash lights, gardening items, step stools, vacuum cleaners, mops/brooms...  Wing On (dare I say...) is your one stop shop!

Also, don't be intimidated by those little cheap (what looks like nothing but junk) shops, which are located everywhere!  Along with brushing up on your charade game skills, you'll be pleasantly surprised with what you'll find at these little...   shops. 

Junk Shops (Is this caption even needed??)

Now let's talk about food!

I promise, there is food on the island... you just have to know where to look.

For me, this was the real challenge!  Every time I tried making one of my favorite dishes, I ended up having to go to 3-5 grocery stores and still not always finding what I needed.  After almost two years, I'm still surprised at what will prove to become the new hard to find ingredient for a recipe.  Just  a few weeks ago I couldn't find tomato soup.  I found tomato bisque, cream of tomato, tomato with basil, but no plain old tomato soup!  Crazy indeed.   

Gateway
188 Des Voeux Road, Sheung Wan
Daily Hours: 10:00am - 7:00pm
Free on Island delivery for purchases over HK$850

Gateway is kind of like a teeny tiny Costco.  Down a narrow staircase to yet another HK basement, beyond a strange smell and annoying humming sound coming from the fluorescent lighting, you will find GRAPE JELLY!!!!!  After a few minutes of running amok with complete excitement and disbelief, don't be surprised or embarrassed if you notice a little pee stain on your pants.  It is a normal reaction.

Found it at Gateway:
Tide detergent
Paper Towels
Pine Sol cleaner
Welch's grape jelly (big score!)
Corn Bread mixes
Reynolds aluminum foil
Jiffy creamy peanut butter (life has been restored!)
Uncle Ben's cream of wheat
Canned black beans
Frito-Lay products (manufactured in America, not Vietnam)
Nabisco Wheat Thins
A&W root beer
Glad kitchen sized trash bags
Deodorant

A&M
209 Stanley Plaza, Stanley
Daily Hours: 9:30am - 7:30pm
Free on Island delivery for purchases over HK$800

I discovered A&M long before Gateway, in fact I witnessed their grand opening!  Like Gateway, they only have non-refrigerated products.  And like Gateway, every visit you will find something new.  A&M and Gateway offer similar items, but both also offer items the other doesn't have.  A&M has your cereal addiction covered with a huge assortment along with a good selection of American spices, marinades and condiments.  A&M also carries boxed Rice-A-Roni mixes, Velveeta Mac and Cheese and all those other unhealthy, highly beloved American staples!  

Found it at A&M:
Rotel (!!!!!!!!!)
Hershey's products (manufactured in America, not China)
Oven Cleaner

They also have your baking needs covered...
C&H Sugar (big score!)
Powdered Sugar
Brown Sugar
Spray Pam

Oliver's
2/F, Prince's Building, 33 Queens Road, Central
Daily Hours: 8:30am - 8:00pm
Free on Island Delivery for purchases over HK$500

Oliver's is just like any basic grocery store in the states, but it's considered high-end shopping for Hong Kong.  Most of the time, I find more items on my list at Oliver's than any other grocery store in Hong Kong.  They also have the best rotisserie chicken in HK and at the lowest price in town.  Honestly, it's the best roasted chicken I've ever had anywhere!  

Found it at Oliver's:
Ready made pie crust and canned pie filling (don't judge!)
Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls and biscuits (Admit it...  you've been looking for these!)
Dean and Deluca coffee beans
Starbucks coffee beans
Imported meats and poultry (unlike Wellcome or Park-N-Shop, this meat and poultry will never be found left in the heat on the sidewalk growing salmonella, while the stock boy disappears for hours.)
White corn tortillas


Well, there you have it ...  my favorite hard to find grocery stores for those hard to find items.  As for the easy to find stores... Wellcome and Park-N-Shop are also good options, but only for packaged foods.  I don't find their produce very tasty and their meat and poultry scares me.   I have also noticed Wellcome and Park-N-Shop offer a much broader assortment online than in-store, so definitely check out their online home delivery services.  Great in the basement of Pacific Place Mall is another great option for hard to find items, but hauling groceries through a mall and having to stand in a very long taxi queue isn't exactly fun.  City Super is okay, but it's not very Western infused.  And for whatever the reason, the IFC City Super location is always full of tourist and shopping is much like walking the sidewalks in Causeway Bay... packed with people that have absolutely nothing better to do than to slightly move.  

Welcome to Hong Kong. 

P.S.
I am still looking for Thai peanut sauce.  If anyone knows where this may be found, please let me know!  In the states I bought Bangkok's Thai Peanut Sauce.  After a very misunderstood and embarrassing "lost in translation" moment at a Bangkok grocery store, I am still looking!

Hong Kong's Old Central Police Station Compound

Everyday I walk by the city's very first police station, prison and courthouse, dating back to the late 1800's.  Each of these structures are within a walled compound which has secured some of the last remaining British colonial buildings in Hong Kong.  Empty, boarded up and slowly deteriorating, I have often envisioned how the village like compound could easily be transformed into a lifestyle center filled with museums, restaurants, local shops and outdoor courtyards, perfect for enjoying a coffee from a local sidewalk cafe.  But with shortage of land in Hong Kong I knew the site was simply to valuable to be redeveloped as-is.  But earlier this summer this happened... 

Scaffolding covering Central Police Station, Hollywood Road

I did some investigating and guess what?  It's happening!  No, not demolition BUT A FULL RESTORATION!

A partnership between Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, aims to transform one of the largest remaining clusters of historically significant buildings into a center for heritage, contemporary art and leisure with access for the city's residents to enjoy.  The project includes the conservation of 16 buildings of historical and architectural significance and several open spaces on the approximately 3 and half acre site.  

Among the buildings in the walled compound is the site's earliest datable remaining building, D Hall, which was a prison erected in 1858.  Also, the Central Magistracy which was constructed between 1912 and 1914 and opened for its judicial sessions in 1915 as the city's first symbol of the power of the court.  The Police Headquarters Block was completed in 1919 and widely recognized as the public facade of the Central Police Station on Hollywood Rd.  To support the activities on the revitalized site, two new buildings will be built to provide additional floor space for contemporary art and exhibition areas.  The two new structures will help reduce major alterations to the historic quality of the existing buildings.  Both old and new structures will provide 300,000 square feet of interior space and the old Prison Yard and Parade Ground will provide over 40,000 square feet of outdoor pedestrian space.  After completion, by the end of 2015, the site will provide a new venue for restaurants, cafes and shops, heritage museums, art galleries, theaters along with outdoor leisure spaces.  Along with Soho, Noho, LKF, Sheung Wan, the city will soon have a whole new neighborhood... before you know it "CPS" will be rolling of our tongues!  

I will post updates throughout the progress of this huge undertaking.   But for now, here are images of the site.

Central Police Station, 1919

Central Magistracy Courthouse, 1915

Prison, 1858

D Hall

Hong Kong Living vs. USA

I thought I'd post a comparison between Hong Kong and US real estate.  I knew the results would be crazy, but I wanted to see what $1,000,000 US dollars would get in Hong Kong, New York City and Dallas.  

Check this out...

Mid-Levels, Hong Kong
Asking Price US $1,000,000.00
353 Square Feet

Chelsea, New York City, New York, USA
Asking Price US $1,000,000.00
1,463 Square Feet

Lakewood, Dallas, Texas, USA
Asking Price US $1,000,000.00
3,500 Square Feet

CRAZY, right???  I don't know about you, but I would take NYC in a... New York minute!  

Asia 101

Singapore... according to Ken

After 144 years of British ruling, Singapore merged with Malaysia in 1963.  The relations between the State of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia quickly became unstable as the conflicts over how these two separate governments should unite as one nation.  After many failed attempts with trying to work together, in August of 1965, the Prime Minister of Malaysia felt there was no other option than to expel Singapore from Malaysia.  By December of 1965, Singapore became the only country in the history of the modern world to gain independence against it's own will.  I can't fathom the fear and uncertainty Singaporeans must have felt during the mid to late 1960's as Britain walked away after 144 years, followed by Malaysia running away after only two years.  However, after having spent a few days with them, I can tell you they are proud people, as they should be.  Singapore is an amazing country and an amazing city.  

Having booked my flight out of Hong Kong at the butt crack of dawn last Thursday, (without any Starbucks due to ridiculous HK store hours... !) felt like a huge mistake on my part.  However, shortly after landing (in a first class seat, thanks to a free upgrade!!), I knew squeezing every minute possible out of Singapore was the right decision.  Despite many negative reviews from my friends,  I have to say... I LOVE SINGAPORE!  For a city filled with conservative laws and more regulations than anyone could ever remember, I found the city to be relaxed while still maintaining a tasteful sense of flamboyancy. 

I often forgot I was in Asia.  Everything is in English!  Love it!  I didn't see chinese characters on anything, not even traffic signs.  One day at a little neighborhood cafe, I soon realized I had been listening to an actual radio station with English speaking DJ's and America's Top 20!  As I enjoyed my coffee, I also overheard English conversations.  While on the MRT... more English.  I even had a conversation with taxi driver!  One evening while ordering a drink, I heard the bartender speak in English to one of his coworkers!  They even had American glazed cake donuts at Starbucks people!!!  (which BTW many locations were open 24 hours a day... just saying... ).  I was waited on by western people, which you would never see in Hong Kong.  It was refreshing to see and experience cultural diversity at every moment, everywhere.  All of these little moments caught me off guard, which is exactly why weekend get-a-ways are so crucial.  I felt at home in Singapore.  Even though I hadn't visited before, it felt familiar and... easy to be with.  Being only 3.5 hours away from Hong Kong, I will definitely return!

Singapore embraces the world with it's diversified ethnicity, food, culture, architecture, music... all while representing a strong pride toward their own country's history.  Even though I visited Singapore one month before their national birthday of 48 years, I still got to experience a full blown rehearsal of the event complete with fireworks, marching bands and an air show! 

Imagine lounging by the pool listening to Emeli Sande and all of a sudden THIS passes by followed by several fighter planes zipping between the high-rise buildings.  I couldn't help but think... Are we at war??  Are the boarders closed and I'm going to have to extend my stay??  "Excuse me... can I have another Singapore Sling?" 

Welcome to Singapore!

Originally the General Post Office of Singapore, is now The Fullerton Hotel

The changing of the guards at the official residence of the President of Singapore
(which BTW has not been the actual "official" home since 1959.  I think a name change is in order)

Little India

My dream home someday!

Taking it easy one afternoon at the pool at Park Royal Hotel

Another reason to love Singapore... 24 hour Wendy's!

And another........ (I had Country Fried Chicken four times in 5 days ... !)

Al fresco dinner at Over Easy on the Bay

ORCHARD ROAD

Orchard Road (similar to Michigan Avenue in Chicago)

On the streets of Singapore you can have a REAL ice cream sandwich!
(BTW- those are not my hands or my dirty fingernail)

One day while going down an escalator I noticed these black on white letters
 out of the corner of my eye...  

My heart started racing as I rushed down and back up again...

Turning the corner...

And seeing...

CRATE & BARREL!!!!!!

The city is so green!

BOTANICAL GARDENS

Botanical Gardens, dating back to the 1830's

Dinner in this little house in the middle of the Botanical Gardens at
 Au Jardin by the Les Amis group, was truly a treat.

Having drinks in the parlor at Au Jardin before dinner

DUXTON HILL

Duxton Hill is probably my favorite area of the city.  Not only is it the hot spot for fine food served casually, it's also simply a beautiful place to spend an evening out.  I will say, if you're into bars and a crazy nightlife, Singapore isn't your town.  But if you're into outdoor living, beaches, parks, great food, taking quiet walks along beautifully tree lined streets with amazing architecture, then you will love Singapore... as I do.

I couldn't have painted this street better myself... everything was Gray, Black and White!  

Eating al fresco at Latteria on Duxton Hill.

Tantrics

RAFFLES HOTEL

The Raffles Hotel... I was loving the ALL White!

Absolute perfection!

SENTOSA 

Tanjong Beach Club in Sentosa

Sentosa Yacht Club

And just when I thought it couldn't get any better...  TEXAS Chicken Y'all!