Kwun Tong: The Ultimate Guide

Sure, there’s nothing stopping you from simply staying in the air-conditioned confines of the APM mall – but why dine at an uninspired chain restaurant when you can venture out in search of more interesting eateries?

Kwun Tong isn’t exactly a hub for French food in Hong Kong so fine dining Le Monde is a bit of a godsend for the Western-loving crowd here. Find dishes such as French quail legs confit, baked oysters, French onion soup, pan-fried swordfish fillet, and baked cheese lobster spaghetti on their lunch and dinner menus. Factory 99 is a long-standing Western eatery that draws a good lunch crowd with its generous portions. If you want somewhere to chill out for longer than a quickly scoffed down meal, Gavi is a spacious cafe-bistro with a menu of casual Western dishes (more often than not carrying an Asian twist) and a large outdoor terrace that welcomes pet owners who want to bring their pooches. 

The Hunt Coffee & Roastery has a name that indicates a strong focus on, well, coffee, but it’s really their food offerings that take the spotlight – in particular, their bone marrow and duck breast linguine. If you’d like to try elevated plant-based dining, then Sow Vegan is a good bet, presenting modern vegan courses from dedicated plant-based chefs.

Visitors can also sample popular flavours from around the world in Kwun Tong. Lucky Indonesia Restaurant has been around for over 20 years and serves up comforting, traditional Indonesian fare in low-key surroundings. The eatery has also been recognised in Michelin’s Bib Gourmand. Kwun Tong is also home to the izayaka branch of the God of Teppanyaki chain, with a regularly changing omakase menu that adapts to fresh ingredients flown in from Japan, while their teppanyaki sets feature delights such as South African abalone, premium Wagyu beef, lobsters, and more. Scour the Camel Paint buildings to find Japanese-inspired dishes at Home Kitchen, dumplings with Cantonese-inflected Western offerings at Call Me Chef, and fresh oysters from Ireland, Japan, and France at The Fat Oyster. 

If you’re in need of a caffeine pick-me-up, pop by Nutmad for a piccolo latte and perhaps a sandwich made of their homemade brioche, or their famous French toast with caramelised banana ice cream. Meanwhile, Coffee Lover Cafe serves up pleasing latte art, and Coffee Slave is run by a group of young people who are very dedicated to the art of bean roasting and crafting the perfect cuppa.

For sweet treats to go with your takeaway cup of joe, both Call Me Chef and Holam Bakery offer mille crêpe cakes at a fraction of Lady M’s prices and in much more interesting flavours such as Ovaltine, coconut cream, D24 durian, Bailey’s cream, and hojicha. The newly opened Casabake is already selling out its freshly made pistachio mochi crookies (a lovechild of croissant cookies) and Portuguese egg tarts every day, so place your orders online before you turn up. Lastly, Harbour Dessert is an old-school dessert shop that opens from the afternoon until the wee hours of the morning, ladling out traditional Chinese desserts and sweet soups to cure late-night snack cravings.

Kwun Tong isn’t exactly SoHo so it doesn’t really have a booming night scene, but there are still a handful of places where you can get a drink or two. Moonzen Brewery is a big part of Hong Kong’s craft beer revolution, with epic Chinese-inspired names like Jade Emperor IPA and Moon Goddess chocolate stout. The family-run microbrewery in Kwun Tong opens on Friday nights for beer tastings and brewery tours. 

Another option is February, a German-themed restobar that serves a pretty cool flaming German pork knuckle with sauerkraut, and also runs an $88 free-flow offer just for the ladies.

Created to tackle the problem of Hongkongers not having enough places to decompress and shop at after long working hours, APM is Kwun Tong’s main mall whose claim to fame is its late opening hours. With a cinema and a range of eateries, retailers in APM stay open until midnight while some food and entertainment spots don’t close until 2am. 

There is another shopping mall to the north of Kwun Tong MTR station. Yue Man Square used to be Kwun Tong’s town centre back in the 50s and 60s, with restaurants and streets lined with shops. The area was revitalised with the building of YM², a mall that honours the area’s history – Yue Man Lane on the first floor is dedicated to former business owners in Yue Man Square, giving them the opportunity to resume operations. Similarly, the Yue Man Hawker Bazaar provides space for those who used to operate stalls in the Tung Yan Street Interim Hawker Bazaar. Both these specially designated areas are interesting to check out for a glimpse of the history and communities that live in Kwun Tong.

We already mentioned the eccentric multi-block Camel Paint Building complex earlier – apart from small restaurants and eateries, these three blocks also contain niche shops and outlets that have moved into the industrial high-rises for relatively cheaper rents. Camel Paint used to be famous for its outlet shops, particularly for athletic apparel brands, but its Nike and Adidas stores have recently shuttered. So instead, head into the three buildings to see what you can find. Some gems that we know of include a leather goods emporium and a cute stationery store. Pro tip: the lifts in the Camel Paint Buildings take forever, so ride it to the top floor and work your way down via the stairs.

Lastly, don’t leave Kwun Tong without visiting Tai Ma Sauce, which specialises in homemade Chinese condiments such as soy sauce, soybean paste, and fermented bean curd. Locals and famous chefs alike have been patronising this third-generation family business for about 60 years now to get the layered umami and spicy flavours that make Chinese cuisine so palatable.

When it comes to recognisable landmarks in this neighbourhood, it’s got to be the Kwun Tong Promenade. Opened in stages in 2010 and 2015, this urban waterfront park runs alongside the Kwun Tong Bypass and offers views out onto Kowloon Bay, the boats moored in the Kwun Tong Typhoon Shelter, the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, and further across the harbour of Hong Kong Island East. Paying tribute to the site’s history as a cargo handling area, the promenade is decorated with models of mechanical cranes and bundles of waste paper – at night, these light up with sound and mist effects.

A famous photo spot among Hongkongers is the Wai Yip Pedestrian Bridge, located along the northern end of Wai Yip Street towards Ngau Tau Kok. Made famous after being featured in the movie Love in a Puff, it is colloquially called the Jimmy Bridge after the main character Jimmy played by Shawn Yue. The footbridge features a blue, pink, and cream colour palette, with rectangular windows running along its length, and was modelled after MTR train carriages. Its charm lies in the geometric and industrial beauty of its lines, and all the compositions that can be created when photographed.

For the adventurous, check out Fox in a Box, a company that specialises in escape rooms. Experience a bunker, jail, Zodiac killer, or zombie lab theme, and work together with friends to solve immersive puzzles to escape the game before time runs out. If you’re more of a culture vulture, then visit Osage Gallery, Hong Kong’s first gallery to be featured in Art Basel. Focusing on contemporary art, Osage is known for putting on dramatic installations and performance art pieces, often challenging social norms and critical subject matter.

Animal lovers will be glad to know that Camel Paint Building Block 3 houses Meow Plus Space, a co-working space and cat cafe hybrid that allows visitors to lounge and work while free-roaming cats choose to interact. The space is aesthetically pleasing and well-kept, done up in a Japanese tatami room style, and contains approximately 20 feline friends, many of which are ragdolls (to our delight, there were also two Maine Coons). We’re not sure how much work you’d reasonably accomplish in a room full of cuddly creatures, but this would be a cute way to spend a WFH day!

To get a dose of traditional heritage in this old neighbourhood, stroll along Rehab Path and up the hill between Kwun Tong and Lam Tin to find the Sam Shan Kwok Wong Temple (which translates to Temple of the Three Mountain Kings). Initially constructed in 1950 within the nearby shanty area of Sai Tso Wan, the temple was built in its current location in 1983 after the shacks were demolished. Hong Kong has a number of temples dedicated to the eponymous three deities, but only this temple contains religious depictions of all three gods.

Being more of a working neighbourhood than one full of entertainment options, Kwun Tong doesn’t have a huge selection of hotels. However, the Dorsett Kwun Tong, Hong Kong is a 360-key hotel that boasts nicely designed rooms and suites, two restaurants, and an outdoor swimming pool. 

Nina Hotel Kowloon East brands itself as a bit more modern, with 254 rooms, including suites and two duplexes – the latter is a rarity in Hong Kong hotels. They’ve also got a rooftop pool boasting views of Victoria Harbour, but for us, the main draw is that it is connected to Nina Patisserie, a bakery that produces Napoleon cakes and assorted tarts.

Lastly, Hotel COZi Harbour View sits the closest to the harbour and the promenade, and this is reflected in their decoration – their lobby is decked out with an LED wall that displays animated themes of underwater landscapes, energetic waterfalls, and more. The vibes here are more simple but playful compared to the other two hotels.