Gentrification of Tin Hau

What's interesting about HK's neighborhoods is the variety of architecture that exists in one small area. Like in Tin Hau, there are one-storey shops in the midst of high-rise condominiums. In recent years, Tin Hau area has been transforming from one of the city's older neighbors to an up and coming trend area.

I usually pass by Tin Hau on the way to other areas of Hong Kong Island, so I'm not familiar with the neighborhood and was pleasantly surprised by the variety of cuisines here. Within the couple of blocks around Wun Sha St. and Tai Hang Road are Japanese, Singaporean, Taiwanese, and Chinese restaurants. Walking along the narrow streets I came across ramen shops, dai pai dong, cha chaan tan, and cafes.

Iniitally CharK and I ate lunch at a local ramen shop which operates as a traditional noodle shop. There`s only bar seating and you can watch the ramen chefs make your food in front of your eyes. You can choose between a few bowls of ramen (like Nagoya, Hokkadio,style) or you can make your own--picking the broth and toppings.  I had the pork bone with black truffle broth with toasted garlic. This was one of the most flavorful bowls of ramen I've had in HK. The prices were pretty reasonable too. Ranging from ~90 to 120HKD plus 5-25 HKD for any extra toppings like bbq pork or seaweed. We ordered an extra side of seaweed for the ramen (23HKD), which turned out to be a generous portion--6 pieces of toasted seaweed.

A traditional Japanese ramen shop serving handmade noodles (Photo: CharK)

The atmosphere of the restaurant seemed pretty authentic, with orders called out in Japanese and lots of childhood toys and cartoons used as the restaurant's main decorations.

After lunch CharK and I walked around to explore the neighbor and was surprised to learn that autobody shops/garages are the mostly frequented businesses. There are also a number of cafes and tea shops in the area. We shopped at one called which served a large variety of coffee--from Americanos to mint cucumber lattes.. While we waited for our coffee, a number of cool looking cars drove by with fancy rims and other modified car parts. That was one tricky thing about walking around, constantly watching out for cars in the narrow streets/random sidewalks.

I love this building--rennovated traditional apartment sitting on top of a trendy coffee shop (Photo: CharK)

Of course in Hong Kong, why wouldn't there be a Hello Kitty themed cafe? (Photo: CharK)

It seemed that Tin Hau is an up and coming neighborhood. Lots of older shops have closed down with new, modern-looking ones taking their place. With the cafes and western restaurants opening up, I guess Tin Hau is becoming more like Sheung Wan? Hopefully the prices for the restaurants here don't increase too drastically with these new shops.