One of my favorite neighborhoods in Hong Kong, Tai Po has the “small town/relaxing/vacation” vibe that makes it such a nice area for a break from the hustle and bustle of city-life. We started out this particular day with a lovely hike at Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve, an amazing lunch at Billow Seafood Bar & Bistro, and capped the day with a lovely walk around Tai Po Town Center and tried a few of the famous local shops, including Grandma’s Tofu Pudding （亚婆豆腐花）.

Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve Hike

Getting there

Getting to the trail itself is a bit of a trek if you live on the island side of Hong Kong so plan out your day well and head out early!

By public transportation – total travel time ~1.5 hours

Take Island Line to Admiralty and transfer to Tsuen Wan line
Take Tsuen Wan line to Yau Ma Tei and transfer to Kwun Tong line
Take Kwun Tong line to Kowloon Tong and transfer to Easter Rail Line
Take Eastern Rail Line to Fo Tan Station
Transfer at Fo Tan Station to Bus 28K towards Shatin Town Hall and get off at Chung Tsai Yuen

Go up the hill and shortly after you will spot a security booth and a guarded car entrance. That’s the entrance to the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve. Continue walking uphill and you can either follow the paved car path and continue the hike upwards from there or take the left and go into the Tai Po Kau Nature Trail, which is unpaved.

~*WARNING*~

Beware of wild monkeys who are hanging out around this area and above trees. We were almost attacked by a large monkey after he heard us unzipping our backpacks!

Depending on the duration and level of difficulty for the hike you can pick 4 various options. We picked the Blue Walk which was about 4 km round trip and 40% uphill and gave views to beautiful scenery and a few small waterfalls and streams.

Here are all the options for the Tai Po Kau Forest Walks. There are signs throughout the trails and walks for you to follow, although most of them only have the signage and direction label, no distance estimation.

Red Walk – 3km
Blue Walk – 4km
Brown Walk – 7km
Yellow Walk – 10km

Lunch at Billow Seafood Bar & Bistro

Grounds of Billow Seafood Bar & Restaurant

To reward ourselves in completion of the hike, we decided to check out this beautiful restaurant nestled in the residential neighborhood about 2km from the Tai Po Kau Nature Reserve. A grand white structure that reminds me of colonial British India, the restaurant is next to a small manmade lake and has a large seating area both indoors and outdoors next to the veranda.

The views and ambiance of this restaurant is absolutely amazing and totally worth checking out just on its own. And I couldn’t help but take a few photos with the gorgeous backdrop! Although, probably would’ve been much better with a summer dress on instead of a workout outfit…haha ~

Now – the food! We had the lunch set menu: grilled fish with veggies on the side and a latte that was wonderfully delicious and pleasing on the eye.

Exploring Tai Po Town Center

After lunch at Billow, we took the bus back to Tai Po Town Center and explored more of what this lovely local neighborhood had to offer! Made a pit stop at Grandma’s Tofu Pudding ( 亚婆豆腐花）, which according to Timeout, has been around for more than 20 years!

A Bowl of Grandma’s Tofu Pudding （亚婆豆腐花）

A traditional Chinese snack that is also sometimes eaten as breakfast in many southern areas of Greater China, you can get a bowl of these silky smooth tofu for ~$9 HKD ($1.5 USD). They come already sweetened, but you can dash a sprinkle of extra sugar on top. Absolutely a must check-out if you are in the neighborhood!

The Town Center has so many other local restaurants and shops to try so I will have to do a bit more exploring and report back next time!

wanderingsnow

Guide to a Day in Taipo HONG KONG