Hong Kong 2025 Day 5: Tsim Sha Shui & Avenue of Stars (香港.尖沙咀+星光大道)

Day 4: Hike to Victoria Peak (香港.太平山顶)

9th August 2025, Saturday | ☀️

It had been tiring hiking up to Victoria Peak the day before and we woke up pretty late again, but, there were no activities that needed us to have an early start — or so I thought.

We left The Cityview at 9:20am and took the MTR train from Yau Ma Tei (油麻地) to Shum Shui Po (深水埗), exited from Exit C2 and walked to Hop Yik Tai (合益泰小食), a Michelin-recommended place that served cheung fun (肠粉). But, for some reasons, it was closed on this day. There were no shortage of other well-known eateries to try in Sham Shui Po, but we decided to go back to Kung Wo Beancurd Factory (公和豆品厂) to try more of their beancurd dishes — we had visited it on Day 1. 

At 9:55am, the newer outlet of the 2-unit Kung Wo Beancurd Factory was not crowded with just 3 tables taken. We were seated to a table in one corner and placed our orders for Mix Deep Fried (三拼, HK$18 for 6 pieces), Steamed Rice Roll Soya (香滑肠粉, HK$12 for 4 rolls), Soya Sauce Fried Noodle (豉油王炒面, HK$16) and 2 large glasses of hot Soya Bean Milk without sugar (热豆浆, HK$10 each).

After our orders came, in less than 3 minutes, the eatery was almost near full capacity. Was it because we were always lucky to get a table before they ran out or 10am was a magical time for eateries in Hong Kong to start getting crowded? But, it was a Saturday, and we had expected it to be crowded than usual.

The Mix Deep Fried comprised of 2 deep-fried tofu (煎酿豆腐), 2 deep-fried tofu puffs (煎酿豆卜) and 2 Golden Fish & Soya Cake (黄金鱼腐). The Fish & Soya Cake was similar to fishcake but tofu was used in place of flour to mix with fish meat. The items were nicely fried, non-oily, not salty and with distinct soya flavours. The Soya Sauce Fried Noodle, lightly stir-fried with soya sauce, beansprouts and spring onions, was a light-tasting and non-oily dish to pair with the deep-fried items. The Steamed Rice Rolls had firmer texture than stuffed cheung fun and accompanied by sesame sauce, sweet soya sauce and white sesame seeds for flavours.

After breakfast, we went to the Sham Shui Po Toys Street (深水埗玩具街) along Fuk Wing Street (福荣街) again as my sister wanted to get couple more toys and stationery for her little boy. I observed a couple of Caucasians going into different shops and walked out with 6 or 7 carriers of various toys. Toys Street was really a great spot to get cheap toys, action figures, books & stationeries (especially for kids), etc.

11:30am, we left Shum Shui Po. My sister went to collect her concert ticket in Kai Tak (凯德) while I decided to visit the waterfront of Tsim Sha Shui (尖沙咀), which had several places of interest next to Victoria Harbour and also a convenient spot to rendezvous with my sister for lunch later. I took the MTR to Tsim Sha Shui Station, exited from Exit E and walked under the hot sun to Hong Kong Cultural Centre — not knowing there was an underground passageway that led to Exit L6 and closer to the cultural centre.

Situated beside Hong Kong Cultural Centre (香港文化中心) were Hong Kong Museum of Art (香港艺术馆) and Hong Kong Space Museum (香港太空馆). I took some photos of the structures and proceeded to the Avenue of Stars (星光大道). However, there were crowd controls in place — too many visitors on weekends? All visitors to the Avenue of Stars were asked to follow Salisbury Road (梳士巴利道) to the other end and start the walk near Bruce Lee Statue (李小龙铜像).

It took me about 10 minutes to get to the other end and began walking down the Avenue of Stars at 12:25pm — why did I choose the hottest time to be walking under the hot sun? And I was not alone, there were many visitors and most of them holding umbrellas. During summer, the best time to visit the Avenue of Stars should be early in the morning before it turned hot and crowded, and after sundown — yes, twice. A free, 10-minute "A Symphony of Lights" light and sound show would be held at 8pm over Victoria Harbour.

The Avenue of Stars was a public promenade, modelled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, that honours the Hong Kong film industry with statues, handprints, and plaques of its biggest stars. The three prominent statues here were of Bruce Lee (李小龙), Anita Mui (梅艳芳) and also a representation of Hong Kong Film Awards (香港电影金像奖) — there was a statue of McDull (Hong Kong's beloved cartoon pig) too but I could not take a photo of it due to other visitors posing for photos with it. The promenade also offered panoramic views of Victoria Harbour and skyline of the city on Hong Kong Island.

The handprints of celebrities — used to be mould in concrete and laid on the walkway and stepped on by visitors — were remould and mounted on the handrails during a renovation that took 3 years and reopened in January 2019. For deceased stars, such as Bruce Lee, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung (张国荣), etc, plagues with digital portraits were used in place of handprints — but not sure why Chow Yun Fat (周润发), Gong Li (巩俐) and some others did not have handprints too.

Among the 100+ handprints / plagues of stars that lined the handrails, there were two queues, with belt stanchions, for taking photos of Jacky Chan's (成龙) and Andy Lau's (刘德华) handprints. Fortunately, the queues were not very long under the hot sun.

There were standalone stalls selling souvenirs, snacks and cold drinks along the promenade and one of them was familiar to me. Kwan Kee Store (坤记糕品), well-known for its Hong Kong-style traditional snacks and included in Hong Kong Michelin Guide 2016~2021, had debuted in Kuala Lumpur in late 2023 and had since opened up a number of stores in West Malaysia, including Johor Bahru.

In Hong Kong, the only known location of Kwan Kee Store was at stall HS11 along the Avenue of Stars — the original store in Sham Shui Po had closed after its owner retired in 2022 and the brand was carried on by his disciple of 30 years.

There were much fewer selections of snacks at the stall as compared to the stores in Johor Bahru but picking two was already more than enough for consuming on the spot. I had a Steamed Red Bean Cake and Steamed Pandan Cake. Both had the same flavours and low sweetness levels as those that I had tried in Johor Bahru. The chilled snacks were also welcoming under the hot sun.

I had barely completed the walk down the Avenue of Stars when my sister texted me that she was done and would be joining me after her coffee. Instead of going through all the remaining handprints slowly, I sought out all Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王) — Andy Lau (刘德华), Jacky Cheung (张学友), Aaron Kwok (郭富城) and Leon Lai (黎明) — and walked hurriedly to Tsim Sha Shui Station, via Exit L3, more to get out of the sun fast. I was thinking to return after sundown to check out the night scenes here.

I met up with my sister in Tsim Sha Shui MTR Station, sheltered from the sun, and made used of the underground passageways to get as close as possible to our lunch destination. We exited from Exit B2 and walked about 100 metres to Master Congee (大师傅粥品) along Cameron Road (金马伦道). The time was 1:30pm — only 2 hours had passed since we left Sham Shui Po, yet I was already toasted.

Master Congee, a restaurant chain, was well-known for its varieties of congee at reasonable prices and they served a series of cheung fun too. We had to share table as all tables were for 4 persons. I had Sampan Porridge (艇仔粥, HK$31), a Cantonese dish that originated from Guangzhou, and my sister had Preserved Egg Lean Meat Porridge (皮蛋廋肉粥, HK$31). We also ordered a dish of Chinese fried dough (油条, HK$12) to share.

The Sampan Porridge had shredded cuttlefish, lean pork and sliced lettuce as toppings — extra toppings could be added-on as desired. The Preserved Egg Lean Meat Porridge was topped with lean meat and century egg — fixed ingredients, thus, add-ons not applicable. The fried dough was probably the fattest that I had tried before and well-fried with crispiness and not hard. The porridges were nicely flavoured and always enjoyable with the fried dough.

There was a reason why we had porridges for lunch, we intended to have "part two". We took a short detour to check out other shops in the vicinity and shopped in Lung Fung (龙丰), a pharmaceutical store that sold more than just medicinal items and cosmetics, as we strolled to our next destination on the other side of Nathan Road.

We came to Cheung Hing Kee Shanghai Pan-Fried Bun (香港祥兴记上海生煎包), along Lock Road (乐路). The shop was also in the Michelin Guide and recommended for their Shanghai pan-fried buns and noodle dishes — all items were for takeaway only. There were five flavours of pan-fried buns: classic (招牌), shrimp (鲜虾), mala (麻辣), black truffle (黑松露) and crab roe (黄金蟹粉). We opted for 2 classic pan-fried buns and 2 mala buns.

The signature classic buns were topped with black and white sesame seeds and the mala ones were easily identified with chilli toppings. The buns were filled with tasty broth, which gushed out on biting if a hole was not made on the skin prior to eating. And, it was hot! The classic buns were tasty and delicious and the mala buns had additional spicy-numbing flavours. Yummy!

After finishing the buns, we went back to the hotel via Exit A1 of Tsim Sha Shui Station. The weather was far too hot to be wandering around crowded streets and my sister needed to get ready for Andy Lau’s "Proud of You" Concert in the evening.

5pm, my sister went to watch the concert in Kai Tak Sports Park (启德体育园) and I took a short nap, feeling exhausted after long exposure to intense sun heat. My arms had turned reddish from sunburnt — I should have don on my long-sleeve shirt for outdoor activities. 

I went out for dinner at around 7pm. I had only one objective in mind and that was snake meat soup (蛇羹), another Hong Kong specialty. My sister would not eat it so this was my only chance to go at it. I had tried snake meat soup at Snake King Sin (蛇王善) — permanently closed — once before in 2008 and would like to have it again.

I walked to Snake King San (蛇王新) along Temple Street, the nearest to The Cityview, but it was closed with a notice saying it was under renovation and would reopen in September. My heart sank. A quick search on Google Maps showed that there was another snake soup shop along Shanghai Street (上海街) in Jordan, just 5 minutes’ walk away.

Snake King Dee (蛇王弟) served more than just snake soup, there were many more other dishes, such as steamed fishes, curry beef tongue, pork chop rice, steamed chicken rice, etc. Without being dissuaded by other dishes, I ordered a small set of Snake Soup with Meat + Sausage Sticky Rice (蛇羹+糯米饭, HK$75). The dishes came with a bowl of soup.

Snake meat had similar texture as chicken — perhaps slightly chewier — and did not carry any characteristic smell nor taste. The primary difference in appearance was the different colours of the shredded meat from different snakes — typically from 5 types of snake, such as Chinese cobras, banded kraits, and various rat snakes (info. from Google). The snake meat was cooked in starchy broth with black fungus, mushrooms, etc. It was nice without any strong taste. The sticky rice was cooked with small cuts of Chinese sausage, giving the oil-smoothened glutinous rice a mellow-sweet aroma and flavour. Topped with whole crunchy peanuts and coriander, the sticky rice was delicious and definitely a must to go with snake soup or other dishes.

Seated at two tables to the left and right of me were two elderly men, eating a steamed fish each with plain rice. I glanced at the steamed fish menu again and registered that each steamed fish cost around HK$58~68 — not big fishes but still so much cheaper than in Singapore. I also noticed that few locals were eating snake soup in summer, which was believed to be a warming food during winter — similar to mutton or ginger duck stew (姜母鸭). For me, it was more of the thrill to try the exotic dish.

While studying the numerous printouts of food item pasted on the walls, one printout caught my attention. It seemed that IShowSpeed, an American YouTuber, had patronised Snake King Dee to try its snake soup — with excited expressions.

Temple Street (庙街) was a rather long street that stretched across Yau Ma Tei and Jordan (which was actually the name of a MTR station in Yau Ma Tei). Temple Street Night Market (庙街夜市) was located between the intersections with Pak Hoi Street (北海街) and Jordan Road (佐敦道). There was a newly-build Cooked Food Hawker Bazaar, right beside Temple Street's archway. I strolled along the market for about two blocks, not interested in bargaining, and U-turned to head back to Yau Ma Tei.

Strolling along Nathan Road (弥敦道), I bought some food items from a couple of mini-marts and located the bus-stop near our hotel for Cityflyer A21 to the airport — preparing for last day of the trip. And continued strolling to Mong Kok (旺角).

Near Sum Hung Cuisine (深鸿私房菜), where we had roasted goose and roasted pigeon the night before, was Block 18 Doggie's Noodle (十八座狗仔粉), a branch outlet of another Michelin-recommended eatery. I would want to try it the following day. Beside the restaurant was a relatively-new branch outlet of Kai Kai Dessert (佳佳甜品). The main outlets of both eateries were actually in Jordan, very near one another too.

Mong Kok was too crowded on the Saturday night and I did not wander around for long. I retreated to the hotel by 9:30pm — I had forgotten about revisiting the Avenue of Stars after sundown.

Day 6: Writing...