Often confused with Causeway Bay, Quarry Bay is further down the Eastern end of Hong Kong island and a 20-minute train ride to Central. Recently, it’s become a peripheral business district with a number of multinational companies shifting their offices here. A seven-minute walk away is the primarily residential Taikoo, an expat haven of a different variety – the Japanese and Korean kind.
This means the area has a number of good Japanese restaurants to choose from, a couple of Japanese supermarkets so you can get your sushi fix and you end up saying “konichiwa” to people in the elevator. Just kidding about the last one – you rarely say anything to anyone in elevators in Hong Kong, impassivity and mercilessly jabbing the door-close button is de rigeur.
This might not be the best place to live if you’re single and want to trot down to the pub every evening, although with the business district booming, on weekdays the string of pubs in the lane opposite Quarry Bay MTR are both lively and homey and since Swire is the developer of Taikoo Place, there’s the odd jazz or classical music performance on Fridays.
Rather, Taikoo is a good option if you’re young and married or have children, especially because there are a couple of good schools in the vicinity. It’s popular among upwardly mobile locals so you’re around people who can speak English but probably don’t at home.
Housing in the area for most people is synonymous with the two big developments – Taikoo Shing and Kornhill, a series of identical-looking towers which have common recreational facilities like tennis courts and a pool. However, if you nag your broker a little, there are a number of standalone buildings that are cheaper and sometimes nicer.
One of the best things about Taikoo is Mount Parker, which your apartment will overlook if you’re lucky (well, if you’re really lucky your apartment will overlook the sea). Typical for Hong Kong but surprising to newbies anyway, this oasis of green has a number of beautiful scenic trails. If you can last a four-hour walk, you could walk right up to Tai Tam and then take a bus up to Stanley. If not, you can content yourself with marvelling at the number of elderly people striding blithely past you as you huff and puff uphill.
The second best thing about Taikoo is the promenade on the seaface that has a brilliant view. There’s a park along the entire stretch and if you keep walking East, you’ll soon find yourself in Island East, this part of town’s answer of Soho. Somewhere in between is a small museum located aboard the restore fireboat Alexander Grantham.
And finally, like any part of Hong Kong worth its salt, Taikoo has its very own mall, Cityplaza, with a nice selection of shops in the medium to high range, an ice-skating rink (yep, that’s right) and a cinema. What more does a girl need?
Best of all (according to me) MOS Burger, which produce burgers so fine that I feel almost healthy eating them. Almost. But never fear, there’s also a McDonald’s and now KFC round the corner if you want a greasefest.
Recommended for: GingerAzos & GingerTrekkers
Not recommended for: GingerNuts or GingerBeers
Quarry Bay then:
Quarry Bay is so named because – surprise surprise – there was a quarry in the area. The area contained a river that flowed into a bay where quarried rocks from the hillside for construction or building roads were transported by ship.
The eastern part of the Quarry Bay, namely Quarry Point, was largely owned by Swire and thus many places and facilities are named after the company's Chinese name, Taikoo.
Quarry Bay now:
The original bay has disappeared since land reclamation has taken place, and is about 700m from the current coastline.
The river that originally flowed into the bay, was shut off from the sea with the construction of the Tai Koo Reservoir to supply fresh water to the Taikoo Dockyard, the Taikoo Sugar factory at Tong Chong Street (糖廠街), and later the Swire Coca-Cola factory at Greig Road (基利路) and Yau Man Street (佑民街). The upper course of the river was converted into a cement-paved catchwater, and the lower course is the present-day Quarry Bay Street (鰂魚涌街), with the original estuary near the Quarry Bay Street - King's Road junction.
In the mid-1980s, the hillside was converted into Kornhill apartment buildings, the reservoir into Mount Parker Lodge (康景花園) apartment buildings, and the Dockyard into Taikoo Shing. The Coca-cola factory is now apartment Kornville (康蕙花園), and Taikoo Sugar is now the Taikoo Place, a commercial hub.
Little known facts:
- The Chinese name Tsak Yue Chung (鰂魚涌) refers to a stream in the area where carp could be found.
- The Taikoo Shing estate was constructed on the site of Taikoo Dockyard, where some of the biggest ships in the world were constructed in the earlier 90s. The foundation stone of the dockyard is now next to Cityplaza.
- In July 1987 an explosion rocked the City Plaza shopping mall injuring fourteen people, including three children.
Be sure to check back regularly as this section is frequently updated with the latest local information...
(Contributed by Charmaine Carvalho)