The cheapest Michelin starred food in the world at Tim Ho Wan's restaurant in Mongkok, Kowloon may not be a secret - you will be able to identify the small restaurant by the queue outside - but what I did discover this year was that you could get takeaway. The pleasure I took in walking past all the outraged queuing tourists to pick up my freshly baked pork buns was only topped by the pleasure of sitting by the side of the road eating the delicacy.

2-20 Kwong Wa Street, Mong Kok
Flat 8, Ground Floor, Phase 2, Tsui Yuen, Mansion, 2-20 Kwong Wa St
+852 2332 2896
Google map: bit.ly/X010Bv

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I’ve waxed lyrical about the wonders of foot massage in Hong Kong before. If you’re tired, hungover, jetlagged or all three, 50 minutes of foot massage and I guarantee you’ll be back to your former fabulous self.
While I still love my trusty favourite reflexology spot, Gao’s (see my previous tip), I must admit that I’ve been having a hot little reflexology affair on the side. It’s younger, much better looking and there’s frozen yoghurt involved … For a super luxe, top of the range foot massage experience, nowhere beats Ten Feet Tall.
Perched up on the 20th & 21st floor of the sparkly new, L Place building, Ten Feet Tall opened at the start of the year and became an immediate hit. One visit and I guarantee you'll understand why. Zoom up in the lifts to the sleek white reception area on the 21st floor and you're greeted by a very cool neon Ten Feet Tall sign and a desk of friendly, white-uniformed receptionists. Word of this slice of foot massage heaven has got out, so it’s best to call and book in advance, particularly if you want to bag one of the private rooms (which come complete with day beds and 80” projector screens).
Arrived early? Recline in the little waiting area leafing through the selection of big glossy coffee table books or pick some reading material to accompany your reflexology from the magazine racks stocked with all the latest international fashion, lifestyle and business titles. When it’s time for your appointment you’ll be whisked through to the spa, a warren of cosy little rooms ranging from the ultimate private snug for two to communal rooms which are still über luxe with just eight huge white armchairs separated by billowing gauzy curtains.
For pure indulgence, plump for a private room, nestle into the reclining day bed, and pick from a selection of films or TV channels to have burbling away in the background on the big screen as you have your feet rubbed. Alternatively, bring your iPad and take advantage of the free wifi throughout the spa to surf the web – internet shopping while a therapist is kneading your shoulders, does it get any better?
Yes actually! Before your heavenly treatment starts your therapist proffers a menu of delectable treats to feast on while you’re pampered. No measly mug of hot water here, instead you can have a Fuji Fusion smoothie (banana, strawberries, apples and orange), fresh young coconut or even a frozen yoghurt (including a choice of scrummy toppings).
Sumptuous décor, a myriad of magazines, films and frozen yoghurt but what about the foot massages? Is Ten Feet Tall all style and no substance? Not a bit of it. The miracle working therapists deftly deliver 50 blissed-out minutes of pure indulgence. In fact, if you arrive with heavy eyelids you’ll be napping before you can say dozy. And if you find yourself being gently nudged awake at the end of your treatment, the dregs of your frozen yoghurt melting beside you, there’s really nothing for it but to snuggle back down, order a smoothie and ask your therapist for another 50 minutes …

www.tenfeettall.com.hk
20/F & 21/F, L Place, 139 Queen's Road
Central, Hong Kong Island
+852 2971 1010

Monday – Sunday 11:00am – 1:00am
(Last Appointment at 12am)
Google map: bit.ly/QtQuwX

* Natalie is our local for Hong Kong. You can read all about her here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/hong-kong-local-natalie-robinson.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/natalierobinson
She also has her own blog at: www.3badmice.com/

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Victoria Peak is the highest point on Hong Kong Island which means 360 degree views of the island and a breathtaking harbour vista as you look across to Kowloon side. Hong Kong's most popular tourist attraction is a definite must-see, but I have a couple of tips that the guide books don't include.
My first top tip relates to getting up to the Peak. Your guide book will tell you take the Peak Tram, a funicular railway that's been running since 1888 which creaks 396 metres up the side of the hill at a hair-raising gradient. The ride is an experience not to be missed but the queues to catch the tram up the Peak (at the Garden Road Terminus in Central) snake right around the block morning, noon and night. The queues at the top to ride back down again however, are much smaller and anyway, in my opinion, the ride down is even more exciting and roller coaster-esque than the ride up. So, I always save the tram for the way down the hill and just jump in a cab on the way up thereby skipping the maddening queues at the bottom (Hong Kong's cabs are plentiful and cheap - the red and white taxis are for hire when the red circle on the dashboard is lit up and the white taxi sign on the car's roof is alight).

My second tip centres on what to do once you get up there. The majority of visitors flock straight to the Peak Tower, a wok-shaped viewing platform 428 metres above sea level. You undoubtedly get breath-taking views from this lookout point but it sits atop a giant shopping mall packed with tacky souvenir shops and generic chain restaurants. While I see the Peak Tower as a definite must do (it’s a great place to snap a few impressive skyline photos) I’d suggest that you don't confine your Peak experience to this Disneyfied corner but instead combine it with something that not everyone does. Ask your cab driver to drop you off outside the Peak Tower and take a gentle stroll along the Hong Kong Trail, a route which loops for about an hour around the top of the Peak through lush greenery that chirrups with cicadas. Along this trail you'll get beautiful views across the city and wind past some of Hong Kong's most luxurious houses (prices of the real estate up here exceed even those of Monaco's mansions). This is a perfect walk to take during the latter half of the afternoon so that you end up back at the Peak Tower just before sunset. Head to the viewing platform in time to watch the sun sink below the skyscrapers and stay until the city’s kaleidoscopic lights come up. By this point you should have worked up a healthy appetite.

Which brings us to my third tip - where to eat. Scoot straight past the shopping mall chain restaurants and head directly across the road from the Peak Tower to the Peak Lookout, the quaint cottage-like building that twinkles under chains of fairy lights. The restaurant sits on the site of the former resting shelter of the sedan chair carriers whose job it was to ferry the Peak's wealthy residents up and down the hill. Bag a table out on the terrace which overlooks the South side of the island and refuel with jet-fresh seafood, tandoori oven fired meats accompanied by pillows of fluffy naan or a char-grilled steak from the barbeque.

www.thepeak.com.hk/en/1_2_1.asp
128 Peak Road, The Peak, Hong Kong Island.
Google Maps: goo.gl/maps/yziA

The Hong Kong Trail
www.thepeak.com.hk/en/1_3.asp

The Peak Lookout
www.peaklookout.com.hk/
121 Peak Road, The Peak, Hong Kong Island.
(852) 2849 1000
Google Map: goo.gl/maps/TT7Y

* Natalie is our local for Hong Kong. You can read all about her here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/hong-kong-local-natalie-robinson.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/natalierobinson
She also has her own blog at: www.3badmice.com/

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Great little local restaurant in Kennedy Town - an up and coming area in HK, that's 20 mins from Central. Good service and a nice relaxed atmosphere.

Shop 7 Ground Floor, Grand Fortune Mansion, 1 Davis Street, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong.
Google map: bit.ly/zXZysC

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Please get out beyond the shopping malls (which aren't even that cheap these days - HKers all go to Shenzhen!) - the new territories are a superb, rich, diverse habitat full of cultural heritage.

envirohk.wordpress.com/
Google map: tinyurl.com/388d3ud

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