I know Festival Walk got a bit of a bad rep after that 'torrential rain broke the glass roof' debacle, but it's got to be one the best malls for shopping in Hong Kong, for me. For one, it's so easy to navigate around and is virtually impossible to get lost meeting someone with all the good rendezvous spaces - The Glacier ice rink, the Food Court, AMC cinema, Taste, MTR exit/KCR exit, are just some examples. It may take a while to get your head around the escalators, but it's not as huge or as confuddling as Elements so I always feel like I know where my feet are when I'm here.
Second, there's an ice rink. Many a time in my childhood was spent clumsily cruising by on my rented-out ice skates, or on the sidelines watching the old man who would skate there almost every single day. He even had a Facebook group, he was so popular. I'm not sure what's become of the old man, but I know that this corner of Festival Walk is still good fun, and a great child-friendly activity.
The AMC cinema is also one of the better cinemas in Hong Kong, maybe not for anything movie-related like the soundsystem or seating (which is standard), but: that you can have nachos and siu mai along with your salted or caramel popcorn. Yum. The lovely range of cinema foods available might be because there's nothing outstanding with the restaurants here. Instead of something like The Menu at Sha Tin New Town Plaza (only two stops away, by the way), Festival Walk has a food court and a handful of good restaurants like Greyhound, Dan Ryan's, Rice Paper (Vietnamese), and School Food as of recently. If I'm looking to eat, I would head to Sha Tin instead.
Shopping is mostly high-end fashion, but there is an H&M, MANGO, fcuk, and other stores of similar price range. I recently went to Oyosho here, which I think has just opened since I had never heard of them before. Oyosho offers some very affordable lingerie and cotton basics for bedtime. Definitely check this place out if you're like me and looking to update some faded Cartoon-covered pajamas... read more