“You have to go to the Kingfisher,” my grandpa told me before I moved to Hong Kong 20 years ago. “It’s on Carnarvon Road in Kowloon.”
“It’s the best restaurant in Hong Kong,” my grandma added.
So after I settled into my dorm at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, up in the countryside 20 minutes from the China border, I headed by train to Kowloon to find the Kingfisher.
My grandparents had last been in Hong Kong in 1982, and so when I set off on my search in 1990, I knew there was a chance the restaurant wouldn’t be there anymore.
“It’s the best restaurant in Hong Kong,” my grandma’s words echoed in my ears.
Carnarvon Road is shaped like a J, so I started at the bottom of the J and wound my way up and then back down the street, navigating through the thick crowds of Saturday shoppers.
No Kingfisher.
I stopped in a clothing store where I saw some European shoppers. Maybe the proprietor spoke English and could help me out.
“Excuse me,” I asked him. “Is there a restaurant on this street called the Kingfisher?”
He looked toward the ceiling, as if ruminating my question, before shaking his head. “No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. There’s no Kingfisher here.”
“Do you remember if there used to be one?”
“No, there’s no Kingfisher.”
I thanked him and left the store.
Maybe it was hidden by the weekend crowds on my first go around. So the next time I was in the area on a weekday afternoon, I thought I might have better luck.
Again, no Kingfisher.
I consulted guidebooks and tourist brochures, to no avail.
A month later, my grandma sent me a letter. “Did you go to the Kingfisher?” she wrote.
“It’s not there anymore,” I replied in my next letter. “I even asked a store manager, but he didn’t remember it.”
Recently I posted a question on Gwulo.com about my grandparents’ favorite restaurant in Hong Kong. The lovely Vanessa wrote back and included this matchbox cover from the early 1970s. She noted the H.K.B.C.C. on the matchbox spine–Hong Kong British Crown Colony. She also pointed out something else.
The Kingfisher wasn’t on Carnarvon Road.
It was on Humphreys Avenue.
I had lunch there at a big round table with Jim Campanella and some locals and a Dutch gentleman on his way to Australia. If i remember correctly this was in 1969, two guys on R&R, stayed at the ‘Hotel Merlin’ Monty Jones Beaufort SC
See the sharing at Facebook fanpage (https://www.facebook.com/HKhistcult/photos/pcb.1018102011593171/1018101961593176/?type=3&theater)
Thank you so much! This is a treasure!
The Kingfisher was a favourite when I lived in Hong Kong 1968 – 71 Sorry it is not there to visit now
Thank you so much, Sue, for your comment! My grandparents went to the Kingfisher during those years you lived in Hong Kong. What a great experience you must have had. I’m not sure when it closed down, but I recently came across some plastic chopsticks from the Kingfisher at my grandma’s house. They were in a wrapper with the restaurants name and address on them!
I ate at the Kingfisher in 1972 with some fellow Marines out of Viet Nam. A magnificent family restaurant. I still have the plastic souvenir chopsticks I bought at the restaurant. Printed on the sides of the elegant, ivory-looking sticks is “Kingfisher (H.K.) – Talk of the World”.
I recall eating a bowl of mixed meats and almost choking on the octopus tentacle. Not the sort of thing a Midwestern boy is accustomed to eat. The sweet and sour pork was to die for….
Thank you! This is the best news I’ve heard all day! My grandparents raved about the Kingfisher and I’ve found zero info about it on the internet, other than the matchbox cover I posted (thanks to a friend in Portugal). Your description of it sounds divine. It really was the talk of the world! Or at least it was among we in the Midwest (Illinois, to be specific)! Thank you again and thank you for your service!!