For decades, 303 Java Road was one of the most secretive addresses in Hong Kong. The ICAC Building in North Point was where corruption investigators did their work behind opaque glass, and the only way most of the public would ever see the inside was on a TVB crime drama. That has changed. Since May 2025 the fully revamped ICAC Exhibition Hall has been open to the public on the ground floor, paired with Cafe 1974, a themed coffee bar that opened in November 2024. Together they form one of the most unexpected free attractions in Hong Kong, and we spent an afternoon walking through it on a recent weekday.
Quick Info
| Location | G/F, ICAC Building, 303 Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong |
| MTR | North Point Station (Island Line / Tseung Kwan O Line), Exit A1 |
| Walk | 5 to 10 minutes east along King’s Road, then left into Java Road |
| Exhibition Hours | Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 18:00 |
| Coffee Bar Hours | Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 17:00 |
| Closed | Sundays and public holidays |
| Admission | Free |
| Booking | Not required; walk in |
| Phone | 2826 3259 |
| exploreICAC@crd.icac.org.hk | |
| Website | icac.org.hk/the1974 |
Getting There
North Point Station is on the Island Line and the Tseung Kwan O Line, so it is easy to reach from either Hong Kong Island or Kowloon. Take Exit A1, turn onto King’s Road and walk east for five to ten minutes. Turn left into Java Road and the ICAC Building is the stepped tower on your left, clearly signed as the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The walk is flat and stroller friendly. If you are coming from Central, allow around 15 minutes in total on the MTR.
As you approach the entrance, the security desk will ask whether you are visiting the exhibition. They hand over a visitor pass on a lanyard and a clear commemorative card. Hold on to both, the pass must be returned on the way out. Staff then point you down a short corridor to the exhibition hall and cafe. No booking, no ticket, no fee.
What’s Inside the Exhibition Hall
The Exhibition Hall reopened on 8 May 2025 after a full rebuild, and it is a genuine technology upgrade rather than a tired display of plaques. Four thematic zones cover law enforcement, corruption prevention, integrity education and international cooperation, linked by a chronological story that starts in the bad old days before 1974.
The centrepiece is the Virtual Time Tunnel, a six-by-three-metre five-sided LED installation that wraps around you with a short 3D film about Hong Kong before the ICAC was established. Stepping into the tunnel with a swirl of archival footage around you is the moment the exhibition stops feeling like a government office and starts feeling like an attraction. Next to it, a large touch-screen lets visitors flip through historical documents from the ICAC’s founding cases. The original ledgers from the 1973 Peter Godber case, the one that triggered the Commission’s creation, are presented as a digital flip book that you can turn page by page.
Further into the hall are real investigation tools, case exhibits and evidence displays from different eras. These rotate, so the line-up on any given visit will be different, but expect covert cameras, evidence bags from historical cases and training materials that ICAC officers actually used. Interactive touch-screens carry case analyses, short clips from anti-corruption TV dramas and educational games. The latest addition is Dr Deep, an AI chatbot powered by DeepSeek that sits in the corner of the main room. Type a question about anti-corruption law and the bot replies in Cantonese, Mandarin or English. It is surprisingly patient with the kind of hypothetical questions a teenager might throw at it.
The Hong Kong movie fans among you will want to look for the mock Video Interview Room and the Identification Parade Suite. These are faithful reconstructions of the actual ICAC investigation spaces you have seen in countless TVB dramas, right down to the triangular interview table, the real-time video recording panel and the one-way glass in the lineup room. Sit in the suspect’s chair, stand in the lineup, take the picture every HK film fan has wanted to take since the first time they watched a crime drama.
Cafe 1974 and the Robotic Coffee Arm
Cafe 1974 shares the ground floor with the exhibition. It is named for the year the ICAC was founded and operated by Po Leung Kuk, a Hong Kong charity, which makes it an unusual collaboration between an anti-graft agency and a century-old welfare institution. The interior is fitted out in nostalgic 1970s Hong Kong style, with red neon signs, retro tiles and ICAC-themed wall graphics that turn every corner into a selfie backdrop.
The signature feature is the robotic coffee arm. A mechanical arm picks up the cup, steams the milk and pulls the shot in full view, then finishes with an ICAC-themed latte art motif. The whole performance takes a couple of minutes and is the single most photographed moment in the venue. There are three specialty coffees on the menu branded around the ICAC’s three-pronged strategy of enforcement, prevention and education. Prices are in line with a standard Hong Kong cafe, supply is limited and the coffee bar closes an hour before the exhibition at 17:00.
If you are not a coffee drinker, the cafe will still hand you an empty branded cup to pose with. Opposite the counter sits a vintage photo booth that prints an ICAC Barista souvenir photograph, and a vending machine on the same floor dispenses branded merchandise. Best sellers include the leather pencil case, notebooks and enamel pins, and the popular designs do sell out by late afternoon.
Going With Kids
The exhibition is genuinely child friendly. The interactive stations do not require reading ability, the Time Tunnel film is visually engaging even for toddlers and the games at the education corner reward participation. Staff at the games area quietly coach young children through the activities so they can win a branded ICAC pencil. We saw two primary-school-age visitors walk out holding pencils and commemorative cards, grinning.
Plan around one hour for a full circuit at a relaxed pace. Families with strollers will find the ground-floor layout flat and accessible. The second-floor outlook, when open, also offers an unexpected sea view toward Victoria Harbour, so take a look out the window on your way through.
When to Go
Saturdays from 10:00 onwards are the busiest slot, drawing local families and tourists alike. If you want photos without crowds, aim for a weekday afternoon around 14:00 to 16:00. We arrived at 16:45 on a weekday and had the Exhibition Hall almost to ourselves, with time to photograph every corner and order coffee before the bar closed at 17:00. Staff were relaxed and walked us through each interactive station even as closing approached.
Remember the hard closure on Sundays and public holidays. The address is a working government building, not a commercial attraction, and there is no weekend exception. If you are planning a wider sightseeing day, combine the ICAC visit with nearby North Point landmarks such as the Chun Yeung Street wet market and tram line, or the Oil Street Art Space. Or head across the harbour to the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts in Central, which is the former Victoria Prison and Central Police Station, for a complementary day of Hong Kong law-enforcement history.
Why It Works
What makes 303 Java Road genuinely interesting, beyond the novelty of walking into an ICAC building, is how seriously the exhibition takes both its history and its design. The Time Tunnel is the kind of installation you would expect at a paid museum. The AI chatbot is a working integration, not a gimmick. The coffee bar is a credible cafe in its own right, not a vending-machine afterthought. And the whole package, admission, exhibition, coffee demonstration and souvenir browse, costs you the price of whatever you choose to buy at the bar. It is a rare Hong Kong attraction that is both free and fully considered.
For HK Expat Club readers looking for a low-key, low-cost afternoon with genuine local character, this is one of the most distinctive stops on the island. Bring a camera, bring kids if you have them, and give yourself permission to be a tourist in your own city for an hour.
