The best of Hong Kong’s coffee shops
Opera Coffee House - holds a special memory as we popped in on Christmas morning to a fantastic welcome. As it was still morning, I had a fantastic cappuccino in this tiny place, set up mainly for take outs.
The cafe at the Island Workbench store is definitely worth the boat trip to wonderful Chueng Chau - which is adventure in itself. They gave us fantastic service with wonderful breakfast options which we vowed to try next time. The latte along with the waffles were plenty delicious this time around.
Coffee Academics is the wonderful local chain (11 locations) and we were fortunate to visit two of their friendly outposts, the one nearer our hotel served a fantastic 2 course lunch with a coffee.
We stopped by for a post dinner nightcap at Winstons on our way back from Kennedy Town where it was warm enough to sit outside on the bar stools nursing a spicy chai.
It took several attempts to find 18 Grammes as it turned out it was inside a supermarket inside a shopping centre. (Citysuper supermarket, inside Shatin New Town Plaza).
Fuel Espresso is another one in a shopping centre. Pricey but lovely.
Hazel & Hershey - more than just a coffee shop, this place supplies the trade and keeps their own coffee menu simple. A warm welcome awaits the steep climb. Watch out for the gaggle of phone cameras at the Hello Kitty tourist attraction on the corner.
Why 50? - squeezed in before our second afternoon tea of this trip, I selected the lavender latte as an aperitif to the main event of the day.
Kubrick - in a highly residential area, this looks like a community centre as it’s part book shop/part cafe. On the evening we popped in it was packed and we squeezed in amongst the piles of books on a couple of stools at the bar. It’s close to where we stayed last time on Nathan Road and would have made a fantastic night cap spot.
Reaction Coffee Roasters - our little trip into Happy Valley produced this gem. Mid-morning, it was full of new mums with strollers, despite there being several other coffee shops in this affluent neighbourhood.
On our last day, we travelled out to get to the already busy Knockbox a few minutes walk from the bustling, energetic Mong Kok shopping neighbourhood.
We just about managed a return trip to Brew Note even though it’s a little out of the way. There were no seats when we arrived in the afternoon so they asked us to wait. We nearly gave up and then the staff asked a 3 people to scrunch up so we can take a couple of stools at their table. I’ve still got the empty coffee beans bag from the time we visited in 2016.
The local chain Pacific Coffee served us well every time we needed a rest and couldn’t get to an indie place. Every coffee we had - I mean every coffee during the hold trip - hit the jackpot. However, the latte - something I rarely have at home - I had in the Citigates location after the disappointing journey to visit the Big Buddha (hour-long wait, standing up) was the best I ever tasted. We even managed a drink in Britain’s very own Pret chain which seems to have made an impact in Hong Kong.
December 2018
