Yuen Long may be notorious for parallel trading but the neighbourhood is slowly transforming into one of the more exciting areas in Hong Kong, packed with fun yet cheap things to do, quirky restaurants and some seriously Instagrammable street food.
While we have to admit that many of the popular outdoor spots in the area, like Hong Kong Wetland Park, Ha Pak Nai and strawberry farms, are pretty far away from the MTR – visit our Yuen Long neighbourhood guide to see the full range of what the area has to offer – you can still enjoy some fun times and great food close to station. Here are five spots not to be missed.
This new giant shopping mall has 200 shops under one roof and is also home to My Cinema, a cinema which features eight screens and a 400-seat iMAX screen, as well special F&B offerings including – wait for it – hash browns. Another noteworthy offering at Yoho Mall is Hong Kong’s first Godiva Café, a must-visit for those with a sweet tooth. Exits F and K – depending on which part of the mall you’re heading to – bring you straight out into the belly of the beast.
Also located inside Yoho Mall is an adorable rubber duck-themed restaurant – yes, you read that right. Based on B Duck, the popular local clothing brand, you can chow down on 3D rubber duck-shaped rice dishes, duck face-shaped cheesecake, and mango pomelo sago served in (you guessed it) rubber duck-shaped jelly in a foamy bowl. Head out of Exit K for a quacking good time.
Tucked away behind Yuen Long Station is a massive open-air barbecue site which provides all the necessary equipment, leaving you to focus on the cooking. This barbecue paradise is just a four-minutes stroll from Exit J and offers a giant list of goodies including garlic chicken wings, sausages, fish balls, peppered beef and more. It’s an easy venue to experience the joys of barbecuing with friends without the hassle of bringing your own food or hiking to a remote camping area. Starts from $130 per person.
Okay, it’s more like seven minutes rather than five minutes from the MTR station’s Exit B, but this ice cream and coffee shop is well worth the extra trek. At Scaredy Cat, they offer a range of delicious and seriously photogenic and pastel-coloured soft serve ice cream, ice cream sandwiches and a wide variety of smoothie and coffee-based drinks. Imported from France, the soft serve is extra rich and creamy. Even better, they’ve recently added edible decorations like Sailor Moon and mermaid tails – perfect for a winning Instagram shot.
A Yuen Long institution, Ho To Tai has been banging out steaming bowls of noodle soup for 70 years. The noodles, soups and wontons are all handmade on the premises and are among the best in the territory. Its low prices and quality cooking have earned Ho To Tai Bib Gourmand status in the Michelin Guide. Especially famous is the wonton soup with fish skin dumplings and the tossed noodles with shrimp roe. You can enjoy all of that by walking nine minutes – yeah we know, we know. Embrace the extra exercise – from Exit B.
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