An influx of restaurants has turned Star Street into Wan Chai’s new food street, writes Angie Wong

At the southern end of Wan Chai is a cluster of little streets with cute names leading up the hills – Sun, Moon and Star. The streets were a quiet residential district for most of their lives. That is, until property giant Swire built Three Pacific Place there and pretty much turned the place into an eastern extension to Central. The area is now the breeding ground for concept eateries, hybrid cafes and an impressively large concentration of vintage wine shops in a small five-block radius. It’s become a bit of a laboratory for young entrepreneurs to test the threshold for weird and wonderful new concepts.

Take, for example, Epöch Coffee Bar & Desserterie (12-14 Wing Fung St., 3525-1570) on Wing Fung Street. Part café, part record shop, the place draws in a lazy Sunday newspaper-reading, latte-sipping crowd who like to test drive albums before buying them.

Down the hill on Queen’s Road, Caffe Habitu (8 Queen’s Rd. East, 2527-8999) attracts much of the same crowd, but offers stone oven pizzas and other Italian specialities. It is a scaled down version of their other dress-to-impress outlets in Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui. Magazines scatter the tables and a help-yourself coffee station is set up here. This pretty much sums up the vibe of Star Street - a chilled hideout for the newly minted class who has enough airline mileage to orbit the earth but choose to stay local and play humble.

But when they want to entertain locally they go to the new star of Star Street. Ingredients (23 Wing Fung St., 2544-5133) was the small "private kitchen that could" when it first started in Central. Now, it is one of the few standalone restaurants to house four floors of dining, drinking and live entertainment, in that order.

Speaking of private kitchens, Le Fete (1/F, Tower 3, Hoover Towers, 15 St Francis St., 2893-5891) is a cute French private dining club located near St. Francis Street, and serves up a great French fare for $320 per person.

But it is Shake em’ Buns (2D Star St., 2866-2060) that takes the prize for innovating the burger/hot dog market. Its menu is a list of naughty titles such as “Doggie Style,” “Fire Weiner” and “Hot Chick.” They also make a mean burger.

Slim’s (1 Wing Fung St., 2528-1661), as its name suggests, is slender. It’s a great place (but a tight squeeze) to have an afterwork bash and practice catching peanuts with your mouth. Their small kitchen produces good bar snacks – don’t miss out on the excellent Belgian-style frites.

Pantry (31 Wing Fung St., 2180-0770) is a great spot for a quiet counter-side breakfast and grab-and-go lunches. The simple, made-by-mom menu is prepared daily by their friendly cook. And if you dine in, your meal comes with a note straight from the bible. Creepy, but OK.
 
The Chocolux Café (Shop 3, B3, Three Pacific Place, 2918-9892) is the place for chocolate addicts with a menu heavy on chocolate crepes, chocolate truffles, macaroons and chocolate fondues.

In the basement of Three Pacific Place lies Kosmo Café (Shop 1 & 2, B3, Three Pacific Place, 3555-4001) with its Ikea decor and super healthy box lunches for those watching their waistlines.

If you are more of a home entertainer, there are numerous fine wine shops such as Exit Wines and Cigars and Fine Wines Plus. There are also some notable gourmet food shops such as il Bel Paese (G/F, 25 Queen's Rd. East, 2804-2992), specializing in Italian products, and CASTELLO del VINO (G/F, 12 Anton St., 2866-0587).

Bistro Oh la la has been one of the pioneers of Star Street before the big restaurant boom. Now they are back with their third instalment, Oh la la Charcuterie (2 Star St., 2294-0450). At first glance it looks like a winery and delicatessen, but there are a few tables and benches set up inside where you can have a light meal of salami platters, pates with crusty country bread, and steak frites. And they have a great house Bordeaux by the glass, a bargain at $60.

The tea proprietor Ming Cha (7 Star St., 2520-2116, www.mingcha.com.hk) has opened a try-and-buy shop. But beware - they are rarely open. They seem to keep office hours instead of retail hours. So call ahead. When they are there, you can sit at their tea counter and sample any tea from their vast collection. A wonderful way to experience an assortment of flavors.