Stone Houses, Its Cafe and Historical Remains

April 5, 2023

-Amanda Jane Sturges

Indeed, traveling is my dessert and my way of not just discovering new places, but as well as tasting new culinary flavors. I'm a foodie by nature, and despite my food intolerances, I still love exploring places to find new culinary tastes.

I've been living in this new place for a few weeks now and I find it boring. I know there are interesting places to explore nearby but I'm still yearning for my former place. So last Sunday, I traveled to Kowloon City again as I have some business to do. At the same time, I wanted to explore and visit the places I missed.

It was cold and gloomy so I thought of having a cup of hot coffee or a latte, preferably in a cafe. In all honesty, in my five years of living in Kowloon City, I have never been to any decent cafe in this city, except for Cafe de Coral which I don't consider as one, but rather an ordinary Chinese restaurant. Upon searching online for cafes in Kowloon City, I was overwhelmed by the number of good cafes in the area which I haven't ever visited. I picked a few and visited them. However, since it was Sunday, the cafes were full and I was impatient to wait for customers to vacate their seats so I could dine in.

Then the name of a certain cafe caught my interest and so I opted to look for it as @millycf1976 might like it for the #CinnamonCupOfCoffee community. I wasn't able to make any entries in the previous month so I wanted to make up this month. But I was quite annoyed by Google Maps. In the end, I opted not to follow its arrow and just checked the address instead, then let my feet look for the right way.

Surprisingly, the place I was looking for was actually just near my favorite park, adjacent to a temple. I was looking for the Stone Houses Cafe.

Created in Canva

Stone Houses Cafe is located in Stone Houses Family Garden, Kowloon City. Upon searching more about the place, I found out that these houses were built after WWII. A few pieces of evidence are preserved in the place along with some historical remains from those times.

These two-story Stone Houses are five Chinese-style buildings connected in a row built with granite blocks, stone bricks walls, and clay tiles roofs.

I saw this photo on the 2nd floor of the house which shows the original Stone Houses in 1960-70. Upon translating the written Chinese words in it, it says that this village was the Hauwangmiao New Village in the 1960s and 1970s in front of the Hauwang Ancient Temple. That building in a row is the existing stone houses. This village was demolished along with the Kowloon Walled City, but some historic buildings were preserved, including the temple and these stone houses.

Despite the restoration that happened in the old and early times, its historical features remained. The building's architecture, granite blocks, stone bricks walls, wooden doors, and windows are original. Glass panes are not original though, they were probably damaged over time or during the demolition, but were replaced with glasses with the same patterns as those in the past.

Meanwhile, the wooden board displayed on the first house has the name, Nam Yan Kee. This article says that this was the name of the company that made tombstones in those times. I entered this room and it seems to be the current main office of the Stone Houses Family Garden.

Before I continue showing more of its historical features, let me show you the cafe area, and let's dine in!

The Stone Houses has a spacious garden where an array of tents are settled which serve as the alfresco dining area of the cafe. The garden is surrounded by different plants and trees which gives a tranquil ambiance.

The cozy cafe

Inside the second room is the minimalist coffee counter where orders are placed. I was asked by my table number which I haven't yet by that time. So I went out to look for my seat before ordering my food. The place may be small, but cozy. There is a small table inside for customers who prefer to dine indoors, but more tables and seats are available in the garden.

I wandered my eyes on the displays and it seems like the cafe owner is an animal lover. There are photos of cats and some animal-shaped stickers, magnets, and toys, along with some memorabilia.

This certificate shows the award the cafe acquired in 2019.

The menus are displayed on the wall but those are just for snacks and breakfast so I checked the menu book instead for rice meals. The foods might be pricey for some, but reasonable for me and certainly worth spending money on. The signature breakfast set was enticing and I was tempted to try it.

Breakfast in the afternoon

I thought its breakfast set was for breakfast only. So I asked the staff if they are serving it in the afternoon as well. And yes, they are! I ordered its popular breakfast set along with a medium cup of latte which was supposed to be a green tea latte but what arrived on my table was just an ordinary coffee latte. Nonetheless, I liked the taste.

This healthy-looking breakfast set consists of a croissant (can be replaced by sliced bread), chicken sausage, bacon, egg (cooked according to your choice, sunny-side up or scrambled), beans (can be replaced by corn), a mini salad with smoked ham, and a slice of avocado.

This huge plate cost me HK$78 which can be upgraded to a jumbo size worth HK$128. Together with the latte, I paid a total of HK$95 which surprised me as the medium latte prices range from HK$30 to HK$40. Just refer to the menu photos above. For some reason, there was a discount which I wasn't aware of until I thought about it when I wrote this part.

They are also serving other desserts, snacks, and drinks, as well as some Chinese and Western pasta, noodles, and rice meals. I would probably try them the next time I visit this cafe.

The Stone House's spacious garden is open not just for customers who want to dine in, but also for visitors who want to wander around the place and the historical building. It's spacious and kids can even play. I was watching this little girl while I was eating as I found her so cute. When I checked this photo, she was actually looking in my direction when I captured her cute pose hugging the post.

There is an old rickshaw cart on the other side of the garden and benches for resting. According to this article, the Stone House organized Poon Choi banquets (treasures in a tub) in the past for the elderly. This cart was the only remaining one preserved from the past.

Let's continue our historical tour at this historic Stone Houses Family Garden.

Curious I was of other rooms, I entered the fourth room and saw this wall which I didn't understand, and a huge canvas of an old stationary shop in the past.

As I entered the connecting room, I saw these original items preserved on site.

These displays are original stone stoves, a water dispenser, chimneys, clay pots, woks, and other kitchen items used back in the time. This room shows how people cooked with firewood in the old days, as well as the process of preserving food using the air drying method where foods were hung in the air. You can see those hung dried food in the photo.

The stairwell is from the original design of the stone house. Its second floor consists of more original historical remains.

An antique landline telephone, a white mailbox, and a sewing machine.

There is an interactive room for visitors to learn more about its historical events since 1950, especially about Kowloon Walled City's demolitions, restorations, and other events.

You can read my separate blog about Kowloon Walled City here to know more about its history and how it is now after the demolition.

The connecting room (second floor of the third room) shows a small living space in those times and some antique items such as wooden cabinets, a jewelry box, a bed with metal bars, and others used by people in stone houses.

A door on the side is leading to the cafe's open space with some benches for visitors to rest. There is a stairway facing the highway leading up to this place but was closed for some reason. This probably was the original entranceway to the Stone House's rooms with historical features.

You can check the short reel I created on FB about this Stone Houses Garden here

My journey at this Stone Houses ended here. It was truly a great experience tasting its delicious coffee and food while knowing its interesting history. The temple that was mentioned above was just located across the street, so that was the next place I visited.

I never thought these historical places existed way back when I was still living in Kowloon City. Or I probably just didn't explore the whole city well. There are a lot of interesting cafes actually in this place. Maybe I'll visit them next time.

And since it's Wednesday, I would like to submit this as my entry for this week's #WednesdayWalk. Happy humpday @tattoodjay and to its community members.

It's Chingming Festival here today and it's also my holiday. I'll gonna stop this here and I'll see you in my next travel blog.

Thanks for stopping by.

(All photos are mine)

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