In The Hood
Mong Kok

EXPLORE

Somewhere hidden behind all the glamour of pop culture epicenter Mong Kok, urban farming takes flight on one particular rooftop of a ‘tong lau’ (tenement building with walk-up stairs).

This is Very MK, a rooftop farm that spearheads an urban agricultural initiative and runs a gift economy with neighboring independent cafes and urban farmers. Seasonal volunteers manned the farm and you’ll be fascinated by the variety of local crops that could be harvested in this petite piece of unsheltered urban space, one they called “a portal between the heart of the city and farm lands at the periphery.”

Small group guided tours to the farm are conducted irregularly. Our tip: do get your walking shoes or sneakers on the ready if you are to join one; there are 6 flights of stairs to climb up before you reach their farm!

VERY MK FARM
Mong Kok
Hong Kong
www.facebook.com/verymk/

© Photo by Koey Li

SHOP

In between the aquariums at Tung Choi Street (or better known as the Goldfish Street) you’ll find Farm Direct, a neat grocery store selling locally grown and produced hydroponic vegetables supplied by their own farms in the New Territories. While there’s a limited variety of vegetables that could be grown by this method (7 types of lettuce to be exact), fear not, the team at Farm Direct has came up with a host of complementary products such as hand-wrapped lettuce dumplings and veggie ice-cream pops. Drop by for a taste of their natural thirst quenchers: creative ice-cream pops made from hydroponic lettuce and kale (‘green pop’) or beetroot (‘red pop’).

FARM DIRECT
G/F, 148 Tung Choi Street
Mong Kok, Kowloon
Hong Kong
T  /  +852 2431 6266
www.farmdirect.hk

TASTE

You’ve tried the curry fish balls, stinky tofu and the best of street food here in Mong Kok and good news is, you needn’t walk far to cleanse your palate. Go green with this Chinese vegetarian restaurant that serves up a healthy feast and a good cause. Happy Veggies, a non-profit social enterprise, recruits staff from the impaired hearing community while offering diners a remarkable variety of home-cooked style vegetarian dishes. Promoting an environment-friendly food culture, Happy Veggies insist on using less salt, less oil, less sugar, no MSG and no processed food (no ‘fake’ meat!) in their cooking.

If you want a breakaway from the intense street food flavors, Happy Veggies is the place to head to. And you’ll be supporting a noble cause too.

HAPPY VEGGIES
7/F, 726 Nathan Road,
Mong Kok, Kowloon
Hong Kong
(Mong Kok MTR Exit B3)
T  /  +852 2568 8181
www.happyveggies.hk