Tai On Building

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 Hongkong Land Buildings Limited in 1968. It is designed as a H-block, which was the common structure of residential properties in 1960s. It has 28 floors, there are 68 flats per floor, total of 1,884 flats all together and 16 lifts for the entire building. Before artificial reclamation, it was alongside the coastal area.

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

Besides residence, it also consists of a shopping centre, a parking and an open garden. The 20,000 square feet shopping centre is on the ground floor with around hundred shops, including food stalls, grocery stores, Chinese restaurant, stationery store, laundry-shop, hardware store, clinic, book store, game centre etc. As there are different kind of shops, many people, apart from the residents, 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 do not have the Food Factory License issued by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. However, in recent years, most of the food stalls are licensed and therefore the hygiene status has been improved.

Nowadays, many Hong Kong’s 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 spot in Hong Kong.

Door-to-door delivery

There are 1,884 flats in Tai On Building. However, for security reasons, there is no standard letter boxes for householder in the lobby. In the past few years, the Owners’ Corporation of Tai On Building has designed to construct the letter boxes on every floors. Nonetheless, the construction cost is too expensive that the Owners’ Corporation gave up the idea. As a result, postmen need to walk along the H-block for delivering every time.

No visitor registration

Unlike other typical housing estate, 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.

Low property management fee

Generally speaking, the management fee for private housing is high. However, for Tai On Building, the management fee is under HK$1 per feet. Although the price has been increased in 2014, it is still one of the cheapest in Hong Kong Island.

Obsolete fountain

On the first floor of Tai On Building, there is a non-functional fountain. In the past, the first floor garden had a great wide view of the harbour and because of that reason, it used to be a good place for residents and guests to relax. At one point, the fountain was a place for residence to launch their toy vessels/boats in the 60's and 70's and it drew a large crowd. When the building first opened to the public, there was a huge party with bands and singers on top of the fountain one weekend and since then, it has been nicknamed as “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. In the midnight, you have to wait for a long time to order food as there is sea of people.

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 waffle in Hong Kong” by CNN.

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 noodle includes three different toppings, and each additional topping costs HK$3.

Torn pancake

A bit different from Taiwan torn pancakes, torn pancake in Tai On Building has mixed with Hong Kong style. It is located in the middle of Tai On Building. Over 30 toppings can be chosen like mushrooms, cheese, beef, corns, 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 provide bubble tea and other types of drink such as foam red tea.