Covid-19 Cases Soaring to New Heights in HK

Long lines to get tested for Covid-19 and labs are overwhelmed

Another day, another record number of Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong, today 2,071, and there are already 4,500 preliminary positive cases.

Health authorities reiterated again how the city's hospitals were at 90 percent, and they wanted to keep the remainder to disinfect for the next patients, and for non-Covid-19 patients in serious condition.

2,071 cases today, possibly 4,500 tomorrow

Testing capacity is completely overwhelmed, though a large-scale temporary laboratory set up in the Ma On Shan sports centre run by Chinese-owned Sunrise Diagnostics will start helping out from tomorrow so that the city can conduct up to 300,000 tests per day.

There were more outbreaks in care homes for the elderly and disabled in Sham Shui Po, Tuen Mun, Prince Edward, Tokwawan, and Sha Tin.

Two more elderly people died from the virus.

And yet another 40 medical staff have contracted Covid-19, making it a total so far of 280 doctors, nurses, patient care assistants and administrative workers.

So where does this leave us?

Many infections found in elderly care homes

Students will not be going back to the classroom until at least March 6, while children as young as three are highly suggested to get vaccinated -- with Sinovac.

The Hospital Authority is finally -- finally! setting up a hotline for people who have tested positive for the virus who are still waiting to be admitted to healthcare facilities, and that designated clinics would be setup for them. This is apparently supposed to happen very soon...

There are estimates of some 10,000 people waiting to go into hospital, while 3,600 are currently in hospitals. And then there are over 4,700 who are close contacts who are in quarantine. 

We are currently in a big mess, and yet there is no definitive plan or strategy to get Hong Kong out of it.

We wait word from Lam tomorrow on the crisis

Or maybe we're supposed to wait until tomorrow for the weekly media briefing by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet Ngor? Time is of the essence, but maybe she'd rather make us wait.

More Hongkongers Opt for Taiwan, and Ineffective Covid Lockdowns

In 2020 almost double the number of HKers emigrated to Taiwan

 

The number of Hongkongers who have emigrated to Taiwan has hit a three-decade high following the implementation of the national security law in late June.

Last year there were 10,813 Hongkongers who obtained resident permits in Taiwan, almost double the 5,858 in 2019, Bloomberg news reported, citing figures from Taiwan's Immigration Agency.

Some 10,000 are applying for Taiwan visas

The figure for 2020 was the highest since 1991, when Taiwan started compiling the data, the report said.

It is also more than the 7,506 people from Hong Kong and Macau who obtained Taiwan resident permits in 2014, during the Occupy Central protests.

From 2016 to 2018, about 4,000 Hongkongers acquired Taiwan resident permits every year.

Jason Yu, an immigration consultant, reports receiving 30 online enquiries per day, and more than 10,000 Hongkongers apply for dependent visas to live in Taiwan.

It's not a trickle, is a very steady stream that's increasing. And that's just Taiwan.

Meanwhile Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is flexing her muscles in a bid to get Hong Kong down to zero cases through aggressive lockdowns.

There are three happening tonight in Chai Wan, Tuen Mun and Tokwawan. 

Aggressive lockdowns have yielded no cases

These strict exercises lockdown an area, test everyone in the affected buildings and keep them overnight until their results are completed, but so far hardly any cases have been detected.

While the lockdowns to test everyone are well meaning, they are not rooting out the supposed asymptomatic cases that are supposedly spreading the virus. The government is even looking into breaking down the doors to flats of those who refuse to get tested.

In the meantime it was announced that some outdoor sports venues will reopen from Thursday, including running tracks, tennis courts, cycling parks and outdoor table tennis and badminton facilities.

Schools are also talking about testing teachers every two weeks and having students come in for half days.

So while the government is being militaristic in fighting the virus, its residents are somewhat compliant, but aren't that impressed. 

One man in a salon had to get tested for Covid-19

The restaurant and bar industry are pushing to loosen restrictions in time for Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day, but will the government listen to them? Many restaurants and bars are saying they can barely stay alive now, but is now the time to lift restrictions just because of some significant cultural dates?

It's a tough call, but everyone is eager for some kind of normalcy, but again that can't happen if not everyone is on board with getting a vaccine...

Stormy Days Ahead in Third Coronavirus Wave

The gloomy weather on Sunday reflected people's mood

Today Hong Kong reported another 80 coronavirus cases for a total of 3,669,  though the death toll went up by four to 42.

The focus is now on two wet markets, Hung Hom and Tokwawan where there were two more infections at the former, one at the latter. Both markets were closed earlier to have a thorough disinfection.

Social-distancing measures are set to continue for at least another week, with the dining-in ban from 6pm to 5am. Numerous restaurants in Hong Kong may not survive after this third wave, as it is difficult for them to pivot to doing more takeaway, which does not earn them as much as patrons dining in.

Yuen Kwok-yung inspects Hung Hom wet market

If more of them close, then more people are going to be out of work. I bumped into a young Singaporean chef on Sunday while walking along the waterfront. Since the new dining-in restrictions have been in place, business has dropped significantly at the food court in Central where he serves Singaporean dishes like laksa and nasi lemak.

The food court, which opened two months ago, mostly services office workers in the building upstairs, but most of them are now working from home. Also that food court has no agreement with any delivery services, which means he's had to set up an alternate location for food delivery pick-up.

This is his first business venture and while it's temporary, it's still not a good sign when you've been doing everything you can to keep the business afloat, but there are so many factors beyond your control. He knows cutting staff would help financially, but he feels this would be awful to do to people and is trying to figure out other ways to keep everyone employed.

Another young businessman runs a space for guest chef pop-ups, but that's been obliterated since the pandemic in late January. He quickly pivoted to doing special dinners cooked by local chefs, offering cooking classes and bake sales, and for two months managed to pay the rent this way.

Been supportive buying these desserts!

But now with no dinner service, he can only depend on doing home catering for clients, and while it's decent money, it's a lot of physical labour, carrying all the ingredients, plates and pots, pans, and cutlery to the customer's home.

This was probably not what the father of a young child had in mind when he started this business over five years ago, but now he is hustling any way he can to keep going. He's had to dig into his savings to pay this past month's rent.

It's difficult to watch these guys work so hard and yet they can't seem to get a break...

Students Keep Protest Momentum Going

Even Mickey Mouse with an eye patch was out protesting this morning

Early this morning before class, thousands of students from at least 100 schools joined hands in front of their institutions and chanted slogans in a bid to get attention from Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

Much like the human chain that spread across Hong Kong on August 23, the students joined hands -- or if they were too shy to hold hands, they held a pen or poster between them and shouted, "All five demands, not one less!" that is one of many slogans in the anti-government protests.

Students hold hands outside St Paul's Co-education College

The students were from such schools as St Paul's Co-educational College, St Stephens College, Pui Ching Middle School, Wa Ying College, King's College, True Light Girls' College, Heep Yunn School, Wah Yan College and Diocesan Girls' School.

The largest student chain was made up of students from 18 schools in Yau Ma Tei, Homantin, and Tokwawan, while others were from Wong Tai Sin to Tsz Wan Shan, from Yau Ma Tei to Prince Edward, and in Central and Western District.

A student surnamed Li said: "We must protect our home despite our limited strength. Therefore we launched an action called 'The Road to Freedom' connecting a 5km chain through Tokwawan, Homantin and Yau Ma Tei. When injust is a fact, revolution becomes a right. We must stand with Hong Kong pople and never stand down until the five demands are achieved.

Students in Wan Chai formed a human chain

It wasn't just students taking part, but also parents and alumnae of the various schools.

Parent Sammy Lee said he had to support his son, as it was his first time taking part in a social movement. "I think in the future, as a Hong Kong resident, he will understand there are various ways to pursue justice. Don't look down at the subtle power of students. They can also express their demands intelligently."

One male student who wore a tear gas mask, goggles and helmet wasn't optimistic that Lam would give into the other four demands, but felt protesters should continue to do whatever they can for now.

But even younger kids have taken part too. This was from the rain-soaked August 18 march when 1.7 million people took part. Love this kid.

AUG 18/A child standing in a foot bridge leads the protesters to chant slogan:”Hongkongers, keep going”.1.7 million take part in the demonstration in downtown Hong Kong Sunday to press their demands over the No China Extradition bill. (EYEPRESS TV) pic.twitter.com/QovyBIBQWG

— EYEPRESS NEWS (@eyepressnews) August 18, 2019

The Protest Spirit Marches On

Some 22,000 people stand in solidarity with teachers at Chater Garden

Finally 10 weeks into the protests the rest of the world is waking up the reality that Hongkongers are fighting to defend their city.

Today things were relatively tame. The weather wasn't cooperative this morning and there was a march organized by the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union with the theme, "Safeguard the next generation, let our conscience speak".

The union says some 22,000 people showed up at Chater Garden in the pouring rain. That's a lot considering there are just under 30,000 teachers in the city.

Then they marched up to Government House, where Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor lives. Or symbolically lives.

Today's slogan was "Safeguard the next generation"

Later in the afternoon the march in Hung Hom from Hoi Sham Park to Whampoa MTR station goes smoothly and peacefully and officially ends at 5.30pm. Some of the protesters splinter off to Tokwawan, others to Mongkok, throwing eggs at pro-Beijing lawmakers' offices, or leaving graffiti.

They dared to deface the office of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Unions, spray painting graffiti, throwing engine oil, eggs and leaving pineapples, that symbolize hand grenades.

Meanwhile at 6pm I try to get on the 101 bus to get to my relatives' place in Tokwawan for dinner, and the bus driver says he is only going as far as Hung Hom cross harbour tunnel. Strange since the situation in Tokwawan is relatively calm and the crowds are dispersing.

So I take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui, walk to Chatham Road to catch either the number 5 or 28 bus. When I get on the no. 5 bus, the driver says he is not passing through Tokwawan, but will take us to Choi Hung. How bizarre.

Gorgeous sunset view of Lion Rock in Choi Hung

But perhaps even more interesting is that no one is fazed -- no one complains about the protesters disrupting the roads.

The bus goes on the high way and this is a route I'm completely unfamiliar with -- consider it kind of city sightseeing. We end up at a bus stop near a bus terminus and I can see Plaza Hollywood, a shopping mall that includes Diamond Hill MTR station.

I walk towards it but not without snapping this picture of Lion Rock in the pink sunset. At least one good thing came out of this roundabout drive.

Thank goodness there's a massive taxi line and within 15 minutes I arrive at my destination.

Other than a tense standoff on Nathan Road near Tsim Sha Tsui, with police trying to chase down protesters, but they are weighed down by their heavy gear. Amazingly no tear gas was fired today. Perhaps, as some people joked, it was raining, which wasn't good conditions to use it.

A laser light show in front of Mongkok police station

Protesters called it a day around 8.30pm, saving their energy for tomorrow's big rally in Victoria Park.

It's expected to be the biggest rally yet, with organizers explaining in an ad hoc press conference that they hope people will stream into the park and then have to "walk" back out towards Central. Through this constant stream they hope to have a lot of people participating.

There are a lot of calls on social media and many seem to be heeding it. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Joyride Courtesy of Protesters

Unprecedented occupation of the Cross Harbour Tunnel roads in Hung Hom

Almost every Saturday I visit my relatives in Tokwawan in Kowloon for dinner and usually take the 101 bus to get there.

Usually it takes 45 minutes. Today... we came out of the Cross Harbour Tunnel at 6.35pm and traffic stopped. Then I checked Twitter and found out protesters had just blocked the road on the other side of the toll booth!

The view from my bus was a parking lot in Hung Hom

The bus driver let some people off and I thought we would wait a bit longer. But already tunnel officials were allowing cars to make U-turns back through the other side of the tunnel and our bus did the same! We were not allowed to get off.

At that moment my relative texted me to ask where I was at and I told her what had happened. She was watching it all unfold live on TV.

So my bus went back through the Cross Harbour Tunnel again but this time went eastwards along the highway (that was now moving slowly) towards the Eastern Tunnel towards the bus terminus in Kwun Tong.

I tweeted what was happening and a colleague asked me where I was. I told her the story and she said I would be passing by her place after crossing the Eastern Tunnel so i jokingly said I would wave to her when I got there.

Eventually we made it to the tunnel, but again traffic was slow. By this time protesters had already left Hunghom and gone back to Tsim Sha Tsui...

Tear gas unleashed again in Tsim Sha Tsui tonight

My fellow bus passenger remarked how we got to ride through two tunnels for the price of one. What a deal.

I made it to Kwun Tong at 7.35, and then took a taxi to my relatives' place as to not waste anymore time; they were waiting for me to eat dinner.

I told the taxi driver what had happened and he warned me not to go to Mongkok tonight. "Best to just go home early and not go near there," he said.

And he was right. After dinner there were skirmishes on Nathan and Argyle roads, with a fire set in front of the Mongkok police station. Riot police came out -- it looked like over 100 of them with riot shields and moved in to clear the area. Oh yes and the obligatory tear gas was fired again and again and again.

Arrests were made while others left the area. As of 11.15pm some protesters have occupied the Cross Harbour Tunnel again.

Riot police trying to reclaim Mongkok this evening

Was I annoyed that the tunnel was blocked earlier? Not really, and people on the bus didn't seem to make much of a fuss either.

What will really be interesting will be to see exactly how many people actually strike on Monday.

My relative suggested that the culture of striking is new in Hong Kong as there are no unions here. But it's gotten to the point (entering the ninth week) of the government doing nothing and is actually in hiding and the people are tired of this inaction and may come out to strike.

We Hongkongers deserve better leadership. The place is on the brink of falling apart and our Chief Executive has done nothing productive in the past two months.

So Monday the people will have a chance to express how they really feel about this city and about how Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has dragged us down this ridiculous path. Something needs to be done, and the ball is in her court.

ARE YOU THERE CARRIE?

From Bad to Worse

Construction at the convention centre was halted due to subsidence

The Sha Tin-Central rail link debacle just got even worse -- construction around the Hong Kong Convention Centre in Wan Chai, one of the five stops along the line -- has halted because areas around the construction site are sinking beyond acceptable levels.

On Friday the government ordered the MTR to stop construction because several points in the site have been sinking too much.

"To east public concerns and under the principle of safety first, we think it is more appropriate to suspend all excavation work at the station," MTR Corporation managing director Jacob Kam Chak-pui said.

Tokwawan has incidences of poorly constructed platforms

According to media reports, internal documents from the company suggested unacceptable levels of subsidence have been reported in more than 14 areas in the construction site.

He also insisted this did not mean there was any danger, but rather it was to ease the public's concerns, as well as giving the railway company to review and verify all the relevant data, and make nearby facilities safe, he said.

Kam would not say when the excavation work would start up again, or if the suspension would delay the opening of the HK$97.1 billion (US$12.3 billion) project. So far the Tai Wai to Hung Hom section of the new line is scheduled to be completed in mid-2019, and the cross-harbour part connecting to Admiralty is expected to be ready the following year.

The public doesn't care anymore -- they want nothing to do with this line once it's completed because the line may not be safe, with metal rods not being installed properly to ensure the platform's ability to hold so much passenger weight, and now several cases of subsidence have showed up, not only in Tai Wai but also Tokwawan.

MTR CEO Lincoln Leung will be retiring early

However, the company insisted the situation in Tokwawan were not a public safety concern.

The entire project is so badly constructed that no one is interested on riding this crucial rail link because of the many flaws in it, and yet so much money has been sunk into it and they can't even build it properly and safely.

A few days ago four senior managers left the company with immediate effect, while the CEO Lincoln Leung will take early retirement. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor says these executives won't get golden handshakes, but they have still lined their pockets with years of generous salaries.

How is the MTR going to win back the public's trust when the company's tagline claims it is "Caring for life's journeys"?

Picture of the Day: Rain

The view of Victoria Harbour for most of the day -- rain!

Today was particularly wet for most of the day -- the remnants of Typhoon Maria (that already landed in Fujian province in southeast China) are affecting us in Hong Kong.

Many people on social media took pictures of themselves, remorseful they forgot to bring an umbrella with them. Throughout the day it was torrential rains for several minutes and then it would stop for a while, then the heavy rains were back at it again.

I ventured out in the morning and just when I made it to the wet market, there was a downpour and it dried up by the time I got home.

Again in the early evening I caught a bus from Central to have dinner with my relatives in Kowloon. When the bus got to Wan Chai, there was heavy rain again and luckily I had an umbrella with me.

But this time the rain would not stop when I arrived at my stop in Tokwawan. To pass the time I popped into a grocery store to pick up a few things and when it wasn't so heavy, I made it to my relatives' home not too soaked.

The rains remind me of Singapore where it will pour for five to 10 minutes and then stop and even the sun makes an appearance.

Does this mean Hong Kong's weather is turning into something similar to the Lion City's?

It's definitely affected by global warming. I don't remember the weather being as crazy as this...

MTR Cutting Corners, Losing Credibility

Construction at one of the stations along the Central-Sha Tin link

An ambitious transportation project for the MTR is the Sha Tin to Central link. It promised to get commuters between the two destinations within 30 minutes. When the project was announced, housing prices in Sha Tin immediately went up.

However, it has now been revealed the MTR hasn't been watching its contractor, Leighton Contractors (Asia) carefully because the builder hasn't been following the plans property and then shoddily fixing them, making everyone wary of even wanting to use this transport link when it's finished.

Who will trust the safety of this line?

It's not a cheap infrastructure project at HK$97 billion, and yet it seems like corners were cut. Leaked photographs showed workers cutting steel bars so that it looked like they were screwed correctly into platform couplers.

It was reported last month there were five instances between August and December 2015 where more than 25 steel bars were cut short. They were unable to screw them in properly because of shoddy construction work and also some areas were filled with concrete making it impossible to screw in the steel bars properly.

A sub-contractor, Fang Sheung refused to cut the steel bars so Leighton apparently hired workers to do this job.

Lawmaker and rail expert Michael Tien Puk-sun called on the government to dismantle the five concrete panels on the platform and check the steel bars, even though the MTR claimed the problem had already been fixed.

"I suspect the platform is still riddled with faulty steel bars. The best way is to remove a portion of the concrete at the platform for sample inspection. If some steel bars are still found to be faulty, I demand the government remove the remaining 27 panels and conduct checks on the remaining steel bars," he said.

He added that under law the MTR must conduct checks on 20 percent of the couplers, or 5,200 in this project.

"If the MTR really did inspect all 5,200 couplers, its staff needed to sign papers to certify it. It needs to deliver proof that it fulfilled its job in its report," he said.

To Kwa Wan station seems to be unsafe with its wall

The report was not handed in on time last Friday and instead this past Tuesday, and the government even defended the MTR, saying it was because Monday was a public holiday.

Excuse me? This is the lamest excuse on something so serious that it affects millions of passengers' safety everyday. Surely one would want to make sure there was nothing wrong with the steel bars.

And then it was found there was a problem with a wall at the To Kwa Wan station. A wall on the platform station was found to have its reinforcement bars removed and "shaved thin". Apparently this was done because when it was being constructed, workers deviated from the original design.

While the MTR admitted the wall had deviated from the design, the company claimed there were no "safety risks".

For now construction has stopped at the convention centre station in Wan Chai which is being excavated. Tien believes there was more shoddy work there, which is why work has been suspended.

It's shocking that the MTR is not closely watching its contractor doing work -- it's just like any renovation job -- you need to monitor workers carefully to see if they're doing the job to your specifications.

In this case the contractors are not, and they even tried to cover it up. This is not a door that was installed the wrong way or the wrong paint was used on the walls. This is about serious errors that could affect the safety of millions of passengers everyday.

Surely that's enough to warrant stopping the project and seeing what's going on?

But also the MTR is not looking out for our best interests -- the MTR is government owned so we taxpayers have a stake -- and instead it doesn't seem to care about safety at all.

We understand the desire to rush the project along, but this is about safety.

Now no one wants to take this train at all. They have lost faith in the project and the MTR. However we don't have any other viable means of transport to compete with the MTR so we're stuck with it, but that doesn't give it an excuse to have contractors that are doing shoddy work.

The pride of Hong Kong is fast becoming the shame of the city. No one is doing any reputation management of the MTR, or if they are, they are doing a crap job at it. It makes you wonder if the other MTR lines are safe...

Two Years On from Occupy

A large yellow reminder of two years ago for the fight for universal suffrage

Today marks the second anniversary of the Occupy protests that spontaneously broke out at Admiralty, when people were trying to get the activists released who were surrounded by police in Civic Square.

The milestone was marked by a six-metre long yellow banner "I want true universal suffrage" placed on Devil's Peak in Lei Yue Mun by the League of Social Democrats, that was taken down about 90 minutes later.

People gathered at Admiralty tonight to mark the anniversary

And then in the evening at 5.58pm people gathered at Tim Mei Avenue in Admiralty and observed three minutes of silence, the time when the police began spraying tear gas into the crowd.

I was there that afternoon, and told YTSL to come with me. She had just gotten off the plane from Japan and didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

But after we got a snack and I checked my Twitter feed to find out tear gas had been unleashed and we rushed back to see what was going on. We saw a surreal sight of people occupying the Connaught Road overpass and Queensway and refusing to leave. And there were people getting giant barrels of water ready in case the police would fire more tear gas.

We knew the roads would be blocked for a while at least and I remember getting to my great aunt's place in Tokwawan via the Star Ferry and then a bus.

Two years ago this was the initial surreal scene in Admiralty

On the news later that night we saw that Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay had also been occupied. It was simultaneously shocking and thrilling to hear that ordinary people had taken control of the area -- when was the last time something like this had happened?

They were brave but also determined to stand their ground which made me so proud of them. They were tired of being pushed around by Beijing and the Hong Kong government wasn't representing their interests.

The last straw was the white paper released in August that reiterated there would be no direct elections of the chief executive in 2017. So when would we ever get universal suffrage that was promised to us? They had to stand up for themselves and they did -- for 79 days.

I miss being able to walk along Connaught Road Central and there was such a community spirit there, people were very friendly and eco-conscious, everyone had the same mindset. It was a calm, but also passionate place, especially when there were gatherings to hear speeches.

Eventually evenings would look like this, crowded but friendly

The sad thing is that Occupy will probably never happen again.

But it has spawned a new generation of politically active kids, a few of them even elected into the Legislative Council! Who would have thought that would be possible! Pretty amazing.

So there is hope, but how do we proceed from here? What is the legacy of Occupy and what does it mean to us?

Thanks for the memories that are still vivid two years later. We will never forget that day.

Rocky Cross-Border Marriages

In cross-border marriages, the reality soon sets in, and arguments flare up

In the past week Hong Kong has seen two cases of domestic disputes involving a Hong Kong husband and mainland wife, both ending in death.

A 60 year-old man was suspected of strangling his wife, 41, after an argument they had as they were in the midst of divorce proceedings.

Their 18-year-old daughter found her mother alone and unconscious in the Tokwawan flat and called police, but the woman was declared dead in the hospital.

He meanwhile jumped into Victoria Harbour and was picked up by police, with minor injuries.

This incident follows another last Saturday when a 52-year-old woman attacked her 87-year-old husband with a knife, and then jumped from the window of the Tsuen Wan flat to her death.

It is believed they were having marital problems after the mainland wife moved to Hong Kong a few years ago. They were separated but still living together in the flat.

Hong Kong has seen many older men marrying younger mainland women, hoping she will look after him in old age, while she looks to him as a way to get residency in the city.

Perhaps when reality sets in, it's not what both parties had expected and the quarrels begin...

This is only the basic storyline... it's probably even more complicated with money (or the lack thereof) that makes it even more stressful. And Hong Kong is left dealing with the mess afterwards.

When the disputes involve children, particularly young ones, it's even more complicated, especially when the mother takes the children back to the mainland and are near impossible to find again.

It's a sad state of affairs, and social workers here have a hard time trying to build relationships with the mainland authorities in the hopes of tracking down disgruntled spouses and children who miss their other parent.

Perhaps the good thing is that the marriages between locals and mainlanders has dropped in recent years. It peaked in 2006 at 28,145 and was 16,154 last year. The last thing we need is more conflict in the city that leads to heartache and in extreme cases, death.

Warehouse Dining

The interior of Factory 99 Grill filled with customers on a Friday evening

My relatives who live in Tokwawan had told me about a restaurant in Kwun Tong that's located in a warehouse. They showed me pictures of a massive hamburger that two grown men had to share.

And so they decided to take me there last Friday evening so I could check it out.

The barbecue back ribs

It's near APM Mall and we walked along a few side streets before we arrived at Factory 99 Grill and walked up two flights of stairs to get there.

Inside it was a cavernous place -- probably a former factory space -- and it was filled with diners and the semi open kitchen at the back. There isn't much ambience as the floors are concrete and quite noisy. Even though we made a reservation we still had to wait about 15 minutes and so we perused the menu.

It's all western food here and very reasonably priced. We decided to take advantage of the set menu meals, all of which ranged from HK$169-HK$229 each and included mushroom toast, cream of mushroom soup, mains and a dessert.

We sat right by the kitchen so we could see the staff heating up mini loaves of rosemary bread, ladling out the soup (which the serving staff then dumped dried chopped parsley on top), and scooping mushrooms onto the small pieces of toast.

New Zealand lamb chops pan-fried medium rare

We preferred the mushrooms over the toast, while the soup was too creamy for me, but most locals would think this one was good, not too rich.

One of the mains was US barbecue back ribs and it was very tender, probably because they boiled the meat first before baking it with the sauce. Needless to say it was very meaty and we cleaned off the bones.

The pan-fried New Zealand lamb chops were cooked medium rare as requested and were quite large portions -- lamb chops on steroids?! It came with delicious fries, carrots and peas.

Meanwhile the squid ink spaghetti was a very black dish, completely infusing the pasta with the black ink flavour. It came with several scallops that were slightly overcooked.

I thought dessert was Movenpick ice cream but instead turned out to be ramekins of creme brulee that didn't quite have enough of an egg custard flavour, but sufficiently passed because of the price.

Very dark-looking squid ink spaghetti

We won't be rushing back here again, but it is value for money. Many families came here as well as young people on dates or get-togethers with friends. What's also interesting is that the place is open on Saturday for lunch but not for dinner, as it caters to the working hours of the people in the area who are mostly in factories and warehouses.

Factory 99 Grill

Flat A, 1/F, How Ming Factory

99 How Ming Street
Kwun Tong
2345 8333