In Praise of Honolulu

No, not the city Honolulu where I’ve never been. The phenomenon Honolulu!

Nestled between a parking house and some building, probably a hole in the ground pounded by pile drivers by now, lies 33 Stanley street’s Honolulu Coffee and Cake Shop 檀島咖啡餅店 (Tan Dou Ga Feh Beng Dim), one of the few real Hong Kong style cafes (茶餐廳 － cha chan tehng) left in Central.

With her infinitely patient/catatonic waiters, reasonably priced beer ($30 for a large bottle) and coffee ($20 and it’s so strong its effect will last the rest of the week) and soothing, zen-like shiny walls and fluorescent lighting, Honolulu is the ideal place to learn Cantonese.

The first lesson kicks off with you ordering something from one of the waiters, for example 亞輝 (Ah-Fai) (above) or the fun and wisecracking 金頭 (Gam Tau – Gold Head), and then we kind of gallop off from there. Practical exercises are the order of the day, but we sometimes do relax with some find-the-right-word theoretical tests. There’s something for everybody in Honolulu! Oh, and we have our own corner, with a comfortable (ish) sofa!

Here are two of my long-time students with beautiful and stylish (but heavy) phone covers I bought for them in Shenzhen. Ah, Shenzhen! That’s another good place to learn Cantonese with me. But more about that later.

Do yourself a favour and start learning Cantonese this year. You’ll thank me for it later! And if you’re already taking lessons, perhaps you could introduce the course to a friend? Everyone deserves a bit of Honolulu in their lives.

學生 (Hok saang – student)
介紹 (Gai siu – introduce)
伙計 (Foh gei – waiter)