As you head a bit north from Tsim Sha Tsui in the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong, you enter the Jordan area. Located north of the central Tsim Sha Tsui area, Jordan is home to Kowloon Park.
I spent a leisurely morning exploring Kowloon Park in Hong Kong. Soon, lunchtime arrived. There was a well-known restaurant nearby called “Mak Man Kee Noodle,” which I had pre-searched for. I headed there for a meal.
“Originally, I intended to dine at the Michelin Guide-listed restaurant Mak Man Kee Noodle, but…”
Originally, I planned to have a meal at Mak Man Kee Noodle, a restaurant listed in the Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand section. However, upon arriving at the restaurant, I noticed that the restaurant next to it had more people gathered than the Michelin-listed one.
While there were not many people at Mak Man Kee Noodle, the restaurant next door named “Australia Dairy Company” had a line of people waiting.
“Hong Kong Jordan, Australia Dairy Company”
After some consideration about where to have a meal, I searched online and found that many Koreans had visited a restaurant called Australia Dairy Company. So, despite initially planning to visit Mak Man Kee Noodle, I ended up deciding to have a meal at Australia Dairy Company.
The main menu item at Australia Dairy Company is milk pudding. However, at the time of my visit, I didn’t have that information, so I ordered the set menu that was listed at the front of the English menu provided by the staff.
The restaurant offered breakfast, lunch, and tea menus. Since I visited during the morning, I had the opportunity to order breakfast and ended up having breakfast twice.
“Macaroni & Ham Chicken Soup”
The menu I had here was the most unique dish I had ever tasted. The menu provided for breakfast was “Macaroni & Ham Chicken Soup” along with toast. Seeing macaroni in soup for breakfast was something I had never encountered before.
The combination of macaroni and soup seemed quite unusual and even peculiar, but after trying it, I found the taste to be quite good.
After finishing the macaroni soup and toast, you can choose your preferred beverage, either coffee or milk tea, for dessert.
“Sharing the same table with the strangers in Hong Kong”
Restaurants in Hong Kong, unlike in Korea, often have strangers sharing the same table for a meal. This is true for any restaurant you visit. For solo travelers like myself, this can be particularly convenient. You don’t have to worry about taking up a large space alone and don’t need to be conscious of the restaurant owner’s gaze.
That day, I ended up sharing a table with strangers for the meal. Thankfully, the lady who shared the table with me spoke English quite well and seemed interested in having a conversation. Thanks to this, we had various conversations before and after the meal. When I mentioned that my daughter works in Korea and that I came from Korea, she warmly welcomed me.
Moreover, through this lady, I heard a very important saying, which remains memorable to this day.
“In Hong Kong, eat the food, not the service.”
This was conveyed in English as “Eat the Food, Not the Service.” It was an important phrase that became a significant pillar for enjoying meals during my trip in Hong Kong.
Honestly, before this, there were times when I felt that even though I was paying for a meal at a restaurant, the staff were often quite unfriendly, and the food was sometimes delivered with indifference or even spilled. At those times, I even wondered if I was being discriminated against because I’m Asian.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, and I could hear that it’s just the typical service style in Hong Kong.
Although I had originally planned to go to the restaurant next door and changed my mind at the last minute, it turned out to be a memorable place that provided me with the opportunity to try a unique dish only found in Hong Kong and engage in good conversations through a local Hong Kong lady.
Since milk pudding is also known to be famous, I think it would be nice to visit again later and order the milk pudding.
“Hong Kong, Jordan, Australia Dairy Company”
- Address: 47號 Parkes St, Jordan, Hong Kong
- Phone: +852 2730 1356
- Operating Hours: 7:30 AM – 11:00 PM (Closed on Thursdays)