Tai On Building

Tai On Building
Tai On Building
	The lobby
General information
Location	57-87 Shau Kei Wan Road, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong Island
Completed	1968;55 years ago
Height	28 floors
Design and construction
Developer	Hongkong Land Holdings Limited
Other information
Facilities	Stores, 1st floor garden, car park, petrol station, numerous eateries like McDonald's, Café de Coral and many more

Last updated December 24, 2023

The Tai On Building is a residential and commercial building in Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong. It was once one of the largest buildings in the district and remains a landmark.^[1] The ground floor arcade is well known for its many snack shops.^[2]

History and background

Tai On Building is located at 57-87 Shau Kei Wan Road on Hong Kong Island, which is next to the Sai Wan Ho MTR station and the tram stop of Tai On Street. It was constructed by Hong Kong Land Buildings Limited in 1968. It was designed as a H-block, which was the common structure of residential properties in the 1960s. It has 28 storeys from the ground floor to the 28th floor, there are 68 flats per floor, a total of 1,884 flats all together, and 16 lifts for the entire building. Before land reclamation in around 1978, it was alongside the coastal area.

In the early 1960s, there were no walled residential buildings in Sai Wan Ho area. Thus, the construction of Tai On Building was a sensation at that time and Hong Kong Land Buildings Limited received more than ten thousand applications.^[3] There are two types of flats (375 square feet and 465 square feet including a common area) in Tai On Building. In the earlier years, the most expensive flat cost only from $17,300-$27,000, and the buyer only needed to pay a 10% initial deposit while the whole installment payment could be paid off in a maximum of 14 years. Thus, the common working class could also afford the payment.

Besides residence, it also consists of a shopping centre, parking lot, petrol station, and an open garden/terrace area on the waterfront side on the first floor. Once upon a time, Tai On Building had its own cinema named Tai On Cinema which was located at the current McDonald's restaurant. The 20,000 square feet shopping center is on the ground floor with around hundred shops, including food stalls, grocery stores, Chinese restaurant, stationery store, laundry shop, hardware store, clinic, bookstore, game center, etc. Due to the variety of shops, many locals in the area besides the building residents often visit Tai On Building for goods and services.

Tai On Building is famous for the food stalls. Visitors can find many local snacks from those shops. Besides, as most of the food stalls open at night, Tai On Building has been nicknamed "the night market of Hong Kong Island". Ten years ago, some of the food stalls did not have the Food Factory License issued by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. However, in recent years, most of the food stalls have been licensed, and therefore the hygiene status has been improved.

Nowadays, many Hong Kong-style snacks are going to disappear as the young generations are not interested in preserving the local refreshments. However, as Tai On Building is providing more and more local cuisines, the popularity of Tai On Building continues to grow. Besides, the most special thing is, currently, not only local citizens but also tourists from all over the world are interested in visiting Tai On Building. As a result, in the future, it may become one of the hottest eating spots in Hong Kong.^[4]

Features

Door-to-door delivery

There are 1,884 flats in the Tai On Building. However, for security reasons, there are no standard mailboxes for flat-owners in the lobby. In the past few years, the Owners’ Association of Tai On Building was designed to construct the letterboxes on every floor. Nonetheless, the construction cost is too expensive that the Owners’ Association gave up the idea. As a result, postal delivery personnel has to walk along the H-block for delivery every time.

No visitor registration

Unlike other typical housing estates, visitors to Tai On Building can go straight up the stairs without any registration. However, there are more than 200 CCTV in different areas, especially at the corners. In addition, there are plainclothes guards working for 24 hours. As a result, crime has been reduced in recent years.^[3]

Obsolete fountain

On the first floor of the Tai On Building, there is a non-functional fountain. In the past, the first-floor terrace had a great broad view of the harbour and because of that reason, it used to be an excellent place for residents and guests to relax and chill out. At one point, the fountain was a place for residence to launch their battery-operated toy vessels/boats in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it drew quite a large crowd. When the building first opened to the public, there was a huge party with local bands and popular singers on top of the fountain one weekend and since then, it has been nicknamed "The most colourful lighting fountain" by the public. The advertising agencies also took it as a selling point for Tai On Building and it has presented the former's glory. However, due to the security reasons, the fountain has been abandoned years ago. Nowadays, people can only see the periphery of the fountain and few chairs on the first-floor garden.

Snacks

Numerous Hong Kong "street snacks" can be found in Tai On Building, for instance, egg waffles, bovine offals, cart noodles, fish balls, torn pancakes, and others. At midnight, you have to wait for a long time to order food as there is a sea of people.^[3]

Egg waffles

Gai daan tsai (egg waffles) is the most famous food in Tai On Building and it costs about $13 Hong Kong dollars. So Sze Wong, a famous food critic, put it, "This egg waffle is wonderful as it is crispy and tender". Besides, the gai daan tsai in Tai On Building has been awarded as "one of the best egg waffles in Hong Kong" by CNN.^[5]

Offal (beef)

Other than egg waffles, bovine offal is also well known in Tai On Building. It is a cheaper "street snack" in Hong Kong which only costs about $20 to $30 Hong Kong dollars depending on the size. It is a must to eat with sweet sauce and mustard.

Cart noodle

The cart noodles store is located near one of the entrances. There are more than 40 toppings for you to choose from, including chicken wing, vegetable, beef brisket, wonton, spring roll, and more. There are also two soup bases, ranging from original to curry. Each bowl of noodles includes three different toppings, and each additional topping costs HK$3.

Torn pancake

A bit different from Taiwan torn pancakes, torn pancakes in Tai On Building have mixed with Hong Kong style. It is located in the middle of the Tai On Building. Over 30 toppings can be chosen like mushrooms, cheese, beef, corn, sausages, and others. People can make their personal torn pancakes by mixturing with various toppings and different sauces. It costs about 20 Hong Kong dollars.

Tong sui (dessert)

In Tai On Building, tong sui must be mentioned as many people are attracted by its reputation. The 80 feet dessert cafe serves numerous traditional tong sui, like red bean paste, green bean paste, dumplings, black sesame soup, walnut soup, and others.

Bubble tea

The oldest known bubble tea consisted of a mixture of hot Taiwanese black tea, small tapioca pearls, condensed milk, and syrup. Nowadays, many variations were created, the most common of which is served cold rather than hot. In Tai On Building, there are five or six shops providing bubble tea and other types of drinks such as foam red tea.

2019 November shooting incident in Sai Wan Ho

During the 2019 Hong Kong Protests there was a shooting incident near Tai On Building in which a 21 year old student was brutally shot by a police officer following a so called "confrontation". Video footage showed the unarmed black-clad man approaching the officer. The police officially stated that the student was trying to snatch the sergeant’s pistol (the video showed otherwise), prompting the brutal shooting. The student made a full recovery.

Related Research Articles

Mong Kok is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok.

Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (石硤尾). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui Po District.

Hong Kong cuisine is mainly influenced by Cantonese cuisine, European cuisines and non-Cantonese Chinese cuisines, as well as Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian cuisines, due to Hong Kong's past as a British colony and a long history of being an international port of commerce. Complex combinations and international gourmet expertise have given Hong Kong the labels of "Gourmet Paradise" and "World's Fair of Food".

Singaporean cuisine is derived from several ethnic groups in Singapore and has developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes in the cosmopolitan city-state.

Dai pai dong is a type of open-air food stall. The term originates from Hong Kong but has been adopted outside Hong Kong as well. The official government name for these establishments is "cooked-food stalls". The more common name, dai pai dong, literally means "big licence stall" in Cantonese, referring to the stalls' license plates, which are larger than those of other licensed street vendors.

Sai Wan Ho (simplified Chinese: 西湾河; traditional Chinese: 西灣河; Jyutping: sai¹ waan¹ Ho⁴) is a primarily residential area on the northeastern shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, between Quarry Bay and Shau Kei Wan. It is part of the Eastern District, and is administered together with surrounding areas under the Eastern District Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Penang cuisine</span> Distinctive cuisine of the Malaysian state of Penang

Penang cuisine is the cuisine of the multicultural society of Penang, Malaysia. Most of these cuisine are sold at road-side stalls, known as "hawker food" and colloquially as "muckan carts". Local Penangites typically find these hawker fares cheaper and easier to eat out at due to the ubiquitousness of the hawker stalls and that they are open for much of the day and night. Penang island. On February 22, 2013, Penang was ranked by CNN Travel as one of the top ten street food cities in Asia. Penang has also been voted by Lonely Planet as the top culinary destination in 2014.

Articles related to Hong Kong include:

The Grand Promenade is a high-rise residential development located at 38 Tai Hong Street, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It is developed by Henderson Land Development and its subsidiary, The Hongkong and Yaumati Ferry Co Ltd. in 2005.

An egg waffle is a spherical egg-based waffle popular in Hong Kong and Macau, consisting of an eggy leavened batter cooked between two plates of semi-spherical cells. They are usually served hot, and often eaten plain, although they may be served with fruit and flavors such as strawberry, coconut or chocolate. It is referred to by its original Cantonese name, gai daan jai (雞蛋仔), and in English, an egg puff, bubble waffle, eggette, pancake balls, pancake waffle, egglet, and puffle. They are sometimes referred to as Hong Kong cakes in Chinatowns across America, especially in New York. One piece of egg waffle can have around 20 to 35 small round 'balls'.

Nam Shan Estate is a public housing estate in Shek Kip Mei, Hong Kong, located near Tai Hang Tung Estate, Tai Hang Sai Estate, Yau Yat Tsuen and City University of Hong Kong. The estate is located at Shek Kip Mei and was formerly called "Kowloon Tsai". It comprises 8 residential blocks built in 1977. The apartments are self-contained units with private kitchen and toilet facilities.

Regional street food is street food that has commonalities within a region or culture.

Bing sutt is a type of traditional cold drinking house started in Guangzhou (Canton) that spread to Hong Kong. These bing sutts arose in the 1950s and 1960s. They are characterized by old furniture and settings such as the small tiled floors, hanging fans, folding chairs and so on. A bing sutt provides light meals and drinks and is neighbourhood-oriented. It is believed to be the predecessor of the cha chaan teng.

Tsing Yi Bamboo Theatre is an annual large-scale traditional Cantonese festival held in Hong Kong with a temporary built theatre which made with bamboos. It is located in Fung Shue Wo Road Football Field, which is next to Municipal Service Building in Tsing Yi, Hong Kong. It is for the celebration of Zhen Jun and Tin Hau.

Hong Kong street food is characterised as the ready-to-eat snacks and drinks sold by hawkers or vendors at food stalls, including egg tarts, fish balls, egg waffles and stinky tofu, according to the definition provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization. They can be found throughout the city, especially in the areas of Mong Kok, Causeway Bay, Yuen Long, Tsuen Wan, and Kwun Tong.

Wonton noodles is a noodle dish of Cantonese origin. Wonton noodles were given their name, húntún, in the Tang Dynasty. The dish is popular in Southern China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The dish usually consists of egg noodles served in a hot broth, garnished with leafy vegetables and wonton dumplings. The types of leafy vegetables used are usually gai-lan, also known as Chinese broccoli or Chinese kale. Another type of dumpling known as shui jiao (水餃) is sometimes served in place of wonton. Shrimp wonton are mostly known as Hong Kong dumplings. The wontons contain prawns, chicken or pork, and spring onions, with some chefs adding mushroom and black fungus. In Indonesia especially in North Sumatra, West Kalimantan and South Sulawesi, wonton noodles are called mie pangsit.

<i>Inspector Gourmet</i> Hong Kong TV series or program

Inspector Gourmet is a 2016 Hong Kong television comedy and fictional detective drama produced by Leung Choi-yuen for TVB, starring Kenneth Ma, Louis Yuen, Priscilla Wong and Eliza Sam as the main cast. It premiered on Hong Kong's TVB Jade and Malaysia's Astro On Demand on August 29, 2016, airing Monday through Sunday during its 9:30-10:30 pm timeslot and concluding September 19, 2016 with a total of 20 episodes.

References

↑ "Sai Wan Ho: Full of eastern promise". South China Morning Post. 7 March 2007. p. 10.
↑ Corpuz, Lou (27 April 2007). "Moving up in the world". South China Morning Post. p. 28.
1 2 3 "太安樓築起情與味". Apple Daily. 15 March 2015.
↑ "家在太安樓". Ming Pao Weekly. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015.
↑ Mok, Charmaine (8 September 2010). "Gai daan tsai challenge: The quest for Hong Kong's best egg waffle". CNN.

22°16′58″N114°13′19″E / 22.282842°N 114.221983°E / 22.282842; 114.221983

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Sai Wan Ho: Full of eastern promise". South China Morning Post. 7 March 2007. p. 10.

[2] Corpuz, Lou (27 April 2007). "Moving up in the world". South China Morning Post. p. 28.

[apple-3] 1 2 3 "太安樓築起情與味". Apple Daily. 15 March 2015.

[4] "家在太安樓". Ming Pao Weekly. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015.

[5] Mok, Charmaine (8 September 2010). "Gai daan tsai challenge: The quest for Hong Kong's best egg waffle". CNN.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]