If you have never eaten a slice of French toast as thick as your fist, you have never been to Cheong Kee (昌記). Tucked inside the Cooked Food Centre on the second floor of the Wong Nai Chung Municipal Services Building in Happy Valley, this old-school breakfast stall has been serving what might be Hong Kong’s thickest French toast for decades. Each piece measures roughly four centimetres tall, and the result is something that looks more like a golden brick than a breakfast item. With 210 reviews and over 7,000 bookmarks on OpenRice, the queue speaks for itself.
The Toast That Made Cheong Kee Famous
The menu at Cheong Kee is short: toast, sandwiches, noodles, and drinks. But the reason people take the tram to Happy Valley for breakfast is the ultra-thick French toast (厚多士). The traditional order is butter and sugar (油砂厚多士), the classic Hong Kong combination that has been the best seller here for as long as anyone can remember.
The bread is cut to an extraordinary thickness, dipped in egg batter, and fried until the outside is deeply golden and crispy. Inside, the texture is the opposite: airy, soft, and almost cloud-like. It is unlike any French toast you will find at a regular cha chaan teng, where the bread is typically thin and dense. Cheong Kee’s version has an airiness that makes the whole thing feel lighter than it looks, which is saying something given its size.
Other topping options include condensed milk, peanut butter, and jam. But the butter and sugar version is the one that built the reputation, and we recommend starting there. The sugar melts into the hot butter on contact, creating a sweet glaze that soaks into the top layer of bread. If you are sharing with someone, one piece is enough for two people alongside a drink.
The Fish Fillet Egg Sandwich
The fish fillet egg sandwich (魚片蛋治) is the second most popular order at Cheong Kee and deserves more attention than it usually gets. The fish fillet is lightly battered and fried, then layered with a fried egg between slices of toasted white bread. It is a simple combination, but the execution matters: the fish stays moist inside, the egg adds richness, and the toast provides crunch. At under HK$30, it is one of the better breakfast sandwiches in the district.
We also tried the preserved vegetable noodles (雪菜麵), which the stall’s own OpenRice introduction highlights alongside the toast. The preserved mustard greens are fresh and lightly salted, adding a tangy crunch to a bowl of thin egg noodles in a clean broth. It is a good palate cleanser if you have just worked through the richness of the French toast.
The Milk Tea
Cheong Kee’s Hong Kong-style milk tea (奶茶) is brewed in the traditional stocking-filter method, which produces a smooth, silky texture with a strong tea base. It is the kind of milk tea that tastes like it was made by someone who has been doing this for thirty years, because it probably was. The hot version is the one to get, even in summer. It pairs naturally with the French toast: the bitterness of the tea cuts through the sweetness of the butter and sugar, and together they make the definitive Hong Kong breakfast combination.
The Cooked Food Centre Experience
The Wong Nai Chung Cooked Food Centre itself is worth exploring beyond Cheong Kee. The second floor houses several stalls serving congee, seafood, and Cantonese noodles, and the wet market below is one of the more atmospheric in Hong Kong. The building is a Municipal Services Building, which means it also houses a library and sports facilities, giving it the feel of a proper neighbourhood hub rather than a standalone food hall.
The atmosphere inside is classic cooked food centre: fluorescent lighting, communal tables, steam rising from woks, and the clatter of plates being cleared. It is the kind of place where you sit elbow to elbow with regulars who have been coming here for years, and that is exactly the appeal. If you are exploring Happy Valley’s food scene, the nearby dai pai dong culture offers a similar window into old Hong Kong eating habits.
Getting There
The easiest way to reach Cheong Kee is by tram. Take the Happy Valley line and get off near the Wong Nai Chung Market stop. The cooked food centre is on the second floor of the building at 2 Yuk Sau Street. Buses 1, 8, and 19 all stop nearby as well. There is no MTR station in Happy Valley, so the tram or bus is your best bet from other parts of the city.
Cheong Kee opens at 7 am and closes at 4 pm, Monday to Saturday. It is closed on Sundays and public holidays, though it occasionally opens on one Sunday per month. Arrive before the mid-morning rush, ideally by 8:30 am, for the shortest wait and the freshest toast. Cash only, no exceptions.
Quick Info
| Chinese Name | 昌記 |
| Address | Shop 1 & 5, Cooked Food Centre, 2/F, Wong Nai Chung Municipal Services Building, 2 Yuk Sau Street, Happy Valley 跑馬地毓秀街2號黃泥涌市政大廈2樓熟食中心1及5號舖 Google Maps |
| Nearest Transport | Happy Valley tram stop, or Bus 1 / 8 / 19 |
| Hours | Mon to Sat: 7:00 am to 4:00 pm Sun and Public Holidays: Closed |
| Phone | 2573 5910 |
| Price | Below HK$50 per person |
| Must-Order | 油砂厚多士 (Butter Sugar Thick Toast), 魚片蛋治 (Fish Fillet Egg Sandwich), 奶茶 (Milk Tea) |
| Payment | Cash only |
