Formerly known as the “dark side”, where many Hong Kongers would not dare to dine, Tsim Sha Tsui is quickly becoming the next-best area for good food and drink
Rubin Verebes is the managing editor of Foodie and is very opinionated. Transforming his hobby of eating and drinking into a career, he shares his account of Hong Kong’s F&B scene and the worldwide state of dining in Rubin’s Take, a monthly opinion column.
Childhood trips to Kowloon were often associated with emotions of distress levelled at my innocent mother. My heart would quiver every time we would venture to the cacophonous, industrious, and energetic areas of Jordan, Mong Kok, or Tsim Sha Tsui.
I have now grown up and won’t throw a fit when crossing Victoria Harbour. Measuring half the height I rank now, restaurant and shopping trips to Tsim Sha Tsui back then made me anxious from the sights and sounds and crowds. The “dark side”, as lazy Hong Kong Islanders have coined it, was made out to be the scary underbelly of the city, a destination to avoid at all costs.
The “dark side” represented a fear for countless fretful Hong Kongers in managing the rush of the Tsim Sha Tsui neighbourhood and northern Kowloon areas. The region found its name from Kowloon’s notable lack of natural light at street level, packed densely with low-rise, chunky industrial and residential buildings.
The moniker has shunned a litany of hopeful diners away from Tsim Sha Tsui. Thankfully, the trend has steadily changed over the late 2010s, with the opening of the eponymous DarkSide bar at Rosewood Hong Kong marking the fall of the “dark side” and the rise of Tsim Sha Tsui as the city’s next-best food neighbourhood.
DarkSide opened in March 2019 within the monolithic Rosewood hotel, a cocktail bar that marries live jazz, rare aged spirits, cigars, and a cocktail list paying homage to a former, darker Kowloon.
Where Central, Wan Chai, and Soho’s dining scenes were propelled into success in the mid-2010s with the growth of restaurant groups like Black Sheep Restaurants, Pirata Group, Epicurean Group, and Maximal Concepts, Tsim Sha Tsui has long relied on the power of hotels to fix diners with great restaurant and bar concepts.
DarkSide became a cult destination to visit during the pandemic years and a reason for many weary Hong Kongers to break their ”dark side” distress. It topped the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list at number 9 in 2023.
“Rosewood hotel has introduced a very dynamic and vast F&B offering [in Tsim Sha Tsui], from the elegant DarkSide bar with a contemporary New York-London feel to the revolutionary idea to introduce an Indian restaurant, CHAAT, in a hotel,” says Simone Rossi, Director of Bars at the hotel and head bartender at DarkSide.
Heading the drinks direction at the world’s second-best hotel, Simone finds that Rosewood “gave a bit of a shake[-up] to the hotel industry in modernising our restaurants and bars with its freestanding approach in five-star luxury style”.
The food and drink scene has long stood strong in Central, but a great marketing push is being made to attract eyes and mouths to Tsim Sha Tsui.
“When you’re barhopping in Kowloon, you stop in Jordan at Terrible Baby, then go to TST. At Rosewood, we have the DarkSide and XX bar, Qura at the Regent Hong Kong, Avoca at the Mondrian, and Felix at The Peninsula. There’s a lot of bar movements going on in TST.”
“Central is still a pioneer in the drinks scene, but if you come here, you’re able to spend a couple of days dining and drinking, all in TST. You don’t even need to go to Central!”
Simone points out that Tsim Sha Tsui is now home to a stretch of world-leading five-star hotels and legacy residences, complementing a guest’s stay in Hong Kong with top bites and sips. The recent success of Tsim Sha Tsui as a food neighbourhood is intertwined with the ascent of hotel dining.
Reborn in early 2023 after a renovation and brand change during the pandemic, Regent Hong Kong led a rebirth in Tsim Sha Tsui as the city’s “Dining Destination”. Trademark non-existing, their branding has been admirable in rivalling any hotel chain on Hong Kong Island.
Operating two-Michelin-starred Lai Ching Heen, Asia’s first Nobu restaurant, Hong Kong’s classic The Steak House, and new Qura Bar, Regent Hong Kong is a strong purveyor of good taste in Tsim Sha Tsui, and it shows.
What he calls a “huge responsibility” to bring the Regent back to Hong Kong, transforming the hotel scene in the area, the hotel’s commercial director Jan Michael Pleta wants their top-class venues to “reinvent, innovate, and immerse” in Tsim Sha Tsui.
“The surrounding hotels, as well as restaurants, are massively growing in the TST area. There’s quite a varied amount of offerings now that you can’t find in Hong Kong Island; we’re no longer a uniform experience here.”
“If someone would like to go and have a five-star luxury meal, they come to Tsim Sha Tsui. At the same time, going into the other end of the scale, if you want an authentically local experience, you’re only a few blocks or stations away from the core neighbourhood.”
Tsim Sha Tsui has long been synonymous with its comparative affordability and exploration of diverse cuisines, be that Indian, Pakistani, hotpot, Taiwanese, dai pai dong, Korean, steak, or American.
However, new restaurant and bar concepts will usually find themselves in Central, Soho, or Wan Chai, with the former two boasting 52 Michelin stars to Tsim Sha Tsui’s 19.
Beyond the slow death that Hong Kong’s fine-dining scene is experiencing, with waning appeal for lengthy and pricey meals, new movements at Tsim Sha Tsui’s classy restaurants show an appetite to spend big (and more) in the area.
Chef William Lau of WHISK, The Mira’s French-Japanese restaurant, agrees with the sentiment that Hong Kongers can be remiss in exploring restaurants beyond their usual haunts, but the trend is changing, notably at his restaurant.
“Within two years working at WHISK, we have hosted a number of events, pop-ups, and four-hands dinners to attract Hong Kong Island diners. They think the menu is unique, the taste is good, and they want to come back for more, specifically to have our food.”
“We are blessed by the view of Victoria Harbour,” William adds, speaking from inside the Regent, which also boasts a glorious panoramic view not accessible from Hong Kong Island side. Jan Michael agrees that the Regent’s view of the city centre, accessible from every restaurant, bar, and lounge at the hotel, sets them apart from any other hotel in Hong Kong.
Tsim Sha Tsui is coming up, and I am here for it. The “dark side” be damned!
The views expressed on this column are those of the author’s and do not represent or reflect the views of Foodie.
