East meets West: At home and afar in Hong Kong
I didn’t really know much about Hong Kong before our trip and, truthfully, perhaps shamefully, I only had an interest in going to Hong Kong after Disney announced major plans for Hong Kong Disneyland that would change that park’s castle. The urgency to see Hong Kong Disneyland before it went under the knife forced us to add it onto the Tokyo trip, forgoing a previously-discussed stopover in Shanghai to see that city and its new Disneyland.
I think Hong Kong ended up being the right choice for us to start the trip. Hong Kong is an incredibly easy city to get around for westerners, far more than I could have ever expected. I’m terrible with public transportation but by the end of our stint in Hong Kong, I could have easily found my way around the metro system alone, something I can’t say for Tokyo, even after two trips under my belt. Hong Kong was described to me by our friend Jeanine as “training-wheels Asia” and, perhaps for a lack of a better way, it’s accurate.
Hong Kong’s history as a British territory lends itself to being an extremely approachable vacation spot for westerners. The city and its people have not only adopted a lot of western culture but a lot of ex-pats from western and English-speaking countries live there, bringing their own cultures, foods, and traditions with them. On our first night in Hong Kong we wandered around Houston Street, otherwise referred to as Food Street, looking for a place to have dinner. We didn’t realize Houston Street was fairly upscale and none of us were in the mood or dressed well enough for a fancy meal. Somewhat shamefully, we opted for Halloween-themed pizza and cocktails at a surprisingly legit pizza place not far from Houston Street before wandering around the area a bit before we casually made our way across the bay to Tsim Sha Tsui. Our crawl over to TST was to check out a big Octoberfest party atop the swanky Marco Polo Hotel that Chuck had found when we were researching things to do on the trip. If we were surprised at how unexpectedly great the pizza was, then we were downright floored by the Oktoberfest which was far better and more authentic than any German bierfest I’ve been to in Southern California. That point is especially sad considering we all live minutes away from Anaheim, a city founded by German immigrants in the 1850s.
My point with all of this is that the effects of colonialism in Hong Kong are far-reaching and have left a deep, permanent mark on the city, for better or worse. From a traveler’s perspective, it’s easy to argue it’s for the better. Long-term European influence in Hong Kong has made for a dramatically unique and endlessly fascinating clash of cultures; a truly East-meets-West experience. As an American, I often felt comfortably at home in Hong Kong but simultaneously very much out of my element. That’s a really unique experience because travel, especially travel abroad where language is a barrier, usually almost always has felt like a fish-out-of-water experience for me. There’s certainly a special magic to that sort of travel experience where you’re totally out of your comfort zone but I also really appreciated the dynamic of the Hong Kong experience; the friction between the merging of western and eastern cultures is pretty special and the lack of any sort of real language barrier made it extremely approachable.
Western influence in Hong Kong long predates the advent of Starbucks but I think the coffee chain is a good example of this merging of Western and Eastern cultures in Hong Kong. While maybe not as ubiquitous as they are in the States, Starbucks are still pretty common in Hong Kong, so the presence of Starbucks in the city was nothing remarkable in and of itself. But Hong Kong features a couple of themed concept stores, reflecting the unique history of the city. These themed stores are pretty cool to explore, especially since you don’t expect a Starbucks cafe to do much to reflect local culture. I think it’s admirable that an American company like Starbucks took the effort to create a couple stores that dig into the region’s unique culture and celebrate its people. That’s pretty great and I think the themed concept stores that do this also nicely represent America’s role in Hong Kong’s larger East-meets-West society.
Personally, Starbucks is a big touchstone in Nick and my relationship. We didn’t have many options of places to go when we first started dating in central California, so Starbucks was an easy default. Starbucks was open until midnight most nights, which worked better with Nick’s work schedule. We spent a lot of long, hot central valley evenings hanging out at Starbucks drinking iced teas and playing board games. Seattle, Starbucks’ hometown, has also come to play an important role in our relationship. It’s the first place we traveled to together and it’s a place we’ve returned to several times and eventually got engaged in. So, we kind of seek out Starbucks wherever we go and when Nick found the concept stores in Hong Kong, he really wanted to be sure to see them. We dragged Chuck and Sally into two shops in Mongkok when we were exploring the city together. The Sai Yee Street store in Mongkok celebrates Hong Kong’s history as the “Hollywood of the East” and is covered in vintage Hong Kong film posters, has art deco seating areas, as well as a space for film screenings. It’s a fun space but we were in a hurry the night we stopped by and it was insanely crowded so I didn’t get any photos. The other store in Mongkok that we stopped by was the swanky new Starbucks Reserve Bar at Gala Place, which was more along the lines of one of the big, fancy Starbucks Reserve stores you’d see in America but with better food, a large Reserve tasting bar, and a ton of space. If you have the time and need some American chain coffee, both stores are both unique options and worth stopping in while exploring Mongkok.
It was the Duddell Street store in Central Hong Kong that I found to be really special. I woke up way too early on the morning we we were going to Hong Kong Disneyland and couldn’t fall back asleep. I had been stressing over one of our dogs that had managed to get an infection in her paw just before our trip and my parents were having to deal with vet appointments for us while we were away — add in jet lag and, well, I’m surprised I got much sleep at all those first few days in Hong Kong. My tossing and turning that morning woke Nick up and he suggested we go get coffee while Chuck and Sally slept a bit longer. So, we quickly got ready and headed out. Nick told me about the Duddell Street store and we took the opportunity to rush over to Central from our Airbnb in Times Square to see the store. We had about two hours of time to work with and figured we could get there and back to meet up with our travel partners before heading over to Hong Kong Disneyland.
The shop is tucked away on small pedestrian street that dead ends into a flight of stairs, with the Starbucks entrance located mid-way up the stairs. From the entrance, you’d assume it was just a regular Starbucks, in an awkward spot. Even upon entering, the front portion of the lobby doesn’t look much different than many of the chain’s shops until you look more closely and notice historic photos of Duddell Street and its businesses decorate the walls. But it’s just beyond the front lobby and the coffee bar where the store really comes to life.
The historic Duddell Street photos in the front lobby highlight the traditional Hong Kong bing sutt, or neighborhood-focused cafes that were common during the 1950s and 60s. The rest of the store recreates, in faithful detail, a traditional Hong Kong bing sutt, with simple tables and booths, old furniture, lighting fixtures, and tile floors that would have been typical of one of these local cafes. Bing sutts traditionally served cheap westernized menus, yet another example of Hong Kong’s unique east-meets-west culture. The experience is like stepping back in time, something similar to what you might experience at a Disney theme park. The quality of unique theming in this cafe far exceeds the theming Disney has dressed its own in-park Starbucks locations in, which have mostly felt like modern stores lightly dressed in Disney decoration. Here, Starbucks has given Disney a run for its money, making a corporate Starbucks store feel more like something you’d find at Epcot than in the middle of Hong Kong.
Starbucks teamed up with local Hong Kong designers to recreate a bing sutt with faux windows, oversized ads, vintage neon signs, period tile work, and other decoration. It all works pretty effectively to sell the time period and create a seemingly authentic experience.
The shop was really enchanting, a real bit of edutainment in a chain coffee store. I could have spent a lot longer in there, soaking up the details and drinking another latte but of course, we had bigger and better plans for the day. It was time to head back to Times Square to pick up Chuck and Sally and head to Hong Kong Disneyland for our first Disney theme park of the trip. Halfway through the day I really wish I had been able to sleep more but looking back, I’m grateful for jet lag and doggo anxiety waking me up early so Nick and I were able to see this Starbucks store. As we were leaving we noticed a sign saying it would be closing soon for renovations. Maybe it was just closing for some maintenance but we weren’t sure. Hopefully whatever the closure entailed didn’t alter the theming in any negative way. As of now, it’s still listed on Starbucks’ website as a the bing sutt-themed concept store, so let’s hope that’s accurate.
In retrospect, visiting the Duddell Street Starbucks was a really interesting way to start our day at a Disney theme park — experiencing a recreation of traditional Hong Kong, filtered through an American company, before heading to Disneyland where we’d be immersed in unabashed American culture that had been put through a filter for Chinese audiences, all on Halloween — a distinctly western holiday. East meets west, indeed.
