The Canteen Network of a Red-Brick Campus: A Full Guide to PolyU's Dining System

When Japanese architect Kishida Kazuhiro (木下一) designed PolyU's Hung Hom campus, he reserved the ground level for vehicles and freight, then linked the teaching blocks together with raised podium decks — which is how the red-brick towers and podiums became one of the most instantly recognisable landmarks in Kowloon. This vertical arrangement of "vehicles below, pedestrians above" also shaped what PolyU's canteens look like: rather than being gathered in a single purpose-built canteen block, they are embedded in the ground floors, podium levels and basement mezzanines of over a dozen "Core" buildings, squeezed onto the same circulation routes as classrooms, laboratories and the library. This article maps the network: where to eat, what things are called, who runs them, and how student halls fit into the picture.

# From technical college to red-brick campus: how the canteen network grew

PolyU's roots go back to 1965, when Dr. the Honourable Sir Chung Sze-yuen, then a Legislative Council member, proposed establishing a polytechnic in Hong Kong. An associated committee was formally constituted in 1969 under the chairmanship of Dr. Tang Ping-yuan. After the government accepted the committee's report, the Hong Kong Polytechnic Ordinance came into effect on 24 March 1972; the Polytechnic was formally established on 1 August that year, taking over the premises and staff of the former Hong Kong Technical College. Sir Murray MacLehose, then Governor of Hong Kong, became its first honorary supervisor.

But the expansion that gave the Hung Hom campus its present scale came in the mid-1970s. The Polytechnic's expansion plan was approved by the government in November 1974; the first phase was topped out on 8 April 1976 and completed on 26 October 1976, with MacLehose officiating at the opening. A year later, in 1977, the library building was completed and opened by Princess Alexandra. This spate of 1970s construction is what set the pattern of "Cores linked by podiums" that defines the Hung Hom campus today — and the canteen network grew piecemeal within those new buildings' ground and podium levels. In 1994, the Polytechnic was elevated to full university status and took its present name, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

# One letter's difference: PolyU's alphabetical building naming, and what it means for canteens

Finding a canteen at PolyU means first understanding how the buildings are named. Of the campus's roughly twenty buildings, those not named after donors are designated by the letters A to Z (omitting I, K and O, which are too easily confused with numbers). A few towers have formal Chinese names as well — M Block is the Li Ka Shing Tower, L Block is the Pao Yue-kong Library, P Block is the Chan Lai-ling Building, R Block is the Chan Po-cho Building, S Block is the Communal Building, U Block is the Hui Shu-yuen Building, V Block is the Jockey Club Innovation Tower, VA Block is the Sir Run Run Shaw Building, W Block is the Ho Tung Building (Industrial Centre), and Y Block is the Lee Shau Kee Building. Buildings without their own names are usually referred to by the letters of their two neighbours — HJ Wing, for instance, is the Ho Miu-ling Building between H and J blocks.

This naming scheme shapes the way students identify canteens: "Z Can" is the canteen in Z Block; the "New Can" is strictly speaking the student canteen on the third floor of S Block (the Communal Building); and the "Old Can" is in the basement of VA Block (the Sir Run Run Shaw Building). In other words, every nickname PolyU students use for a canteen maps back to a specific letter of the alphabet — which is the root of this red-brick campus's distinctively location-based, rather than canteen-based, food culture.

# The official list: a dozen-plus outlets scattered across the main campus

According to the latest catering outlets directory^※ published by PolyU's Campus Facilities and Sustainability Office (CFSO), the main campus and student halls together host the following outlets (grouped by type):

Canteens

• VA Staff Canteen - The Forest (basement, Sir Run Run Shaw Building)
• VA Student Canteen - The Forest (basement, Sir Run Run Shaw Building)
• Block Y Outlet - Grove & Tai Tai Foodtopia (Y Block podium)
• U Garden Student Canteen (CD/DE Wing podium)
• Communal Student Canteen (3rd floor, Communal Building)
• Z Canteen (2nd floor, Z Block)
• Hung Hom Hall Canteen - The Forest (1st floor, Hung Hom Student Halls)

Cafés / kiosks

• Z Café - Halal by The Forest (2nd floor, Z Block; halal options)
• LibCafé (podium, Pao Yue-kong Library)
• H Café - American Diner (FGHJ Block courtyard podium)
• Gourmet Shop (podium, Sir Run Run Shaw Building)
• VA Kiosk - Subway (VA Block podium)
• V Café - Chill Cup (podium, Jockey Club Innovation Tower)
• X Café - Pacific Coffee (X Block)
• W Kiosk - PizzaExpress (W Block)
• Homantin Hall Canteen (basement, Homantin Student Halls)
• Star Café - Pacific Coffee (4th floor, Hung Hom Bay Campus)

Restaurants

• Theatre Lounge - Terrace in Seaside (basement, Sir Chung Sze-yuen Building)
• U Garden Staff Restaurant (DE Wing podium)
• Communal Staff Restaurant - Ju Yin House (4th floor, Communal Building)
• Communal Student Restaurant - Ju Yin Court (4th floor, Communal Building)
• Staff Club Restaurant - U. Green (5th floor, Communal Building)

Vending machines

Roughly eight machines, located at VA210, Core R, the Global Student Hub (the Nancy and Charles Wong Global Student Hub, GSH) and elsewhere; one machine at GSH is a Korean-style Tao Bin coffee machine.

CFSO further states that the main campus houses nineteen catering venues^※ with approximately 2,900 seats, while the hall canteens add about 260 more. Cross-referencing the two documents reveals the basic shape of PolyU's food landscape: a dozen-plus outlets on the main campus cover day-to-day meals during teaching hours, while the two hall canteens handle the rhythms of residential life — three meals and late-night snacks.

The same document sets out the booking rules for these venues, which shows that PolyU's canteens and restaurants are not merely "places to eat" but also function as event spaces: bookings must be made at least one week in advance on a first-come, first-served basis, and cancellations must be made at least three working days before the event. Take the Theatre Lounge - Terrace in Seaside as an example: theatre hirers enjoy booking priority and can confirm a venue up to three months ahead, while non-theatre tenants can only book one month out. The venue fee (minimum booking of two hours) is HK$65 per hour for theatre tenants and HK$125 for everyone else, and venue fees are non-refundable. If a No. 8 typhoon signal or above is hoisted, all bookings are cancelled; theatre tenants may request a change of performance date within one week. These rules underline that PolyU manages its dining venues with a dual logic — serving both everyday meals and event hire — rather than as mere "eating spaces."

# From "Communal" to "Z Can": how students actually name these canteens

The official directory uses formal names, but the nicknames circulating among students are shorter and reveal more about where each canteen sits in campus life. According to the student orientation resource site SYA Project's dining guide^※, the "three big canteens" in student parlance are:

• Old Can — basement of the Sir Run Run Shaw Building (VA Block); the VA Student/Staff Canteen in the official directory;
• New Can — 3rd floor of the Communal Building; the Communal Student Canteen;
• Z Can — the Z Canteen on the 2nd floor of Z Block;
• plus U Garden — the canteen on the D/E Wing podium.

The guide's verdict on these canteens is characteristically blunt: they "mainly serve fast food, at prices noticeably cheaper than outside," but "lunchtime (especially at the Old and New Cans) always means queueing, so approach the food quality with equanimity." That sums up the most common PolyU student experience: cheap, filling, but queue-heavy, with opinions on the food divided.

It is worth noting that the Communal Building itself sits at the heart of PolyU's dining landscape: it houses a student canteen, a staff canteen, a staff club restaurant and two restaurants named after the "Ju Yin" (如意) motif (Ju Yin House and Ju Yin Court), making it the single densest concentration of dining facilities on campus.

# Two hall canteens: Hung Hom and Homantin, two rhythms of life

PolyU's student halls are split between Hung Hom and Homantin, and because the two sites relate to the main campus differently, the canteens carry different weight in each.

Hung Hom Student Halls sit close to the main campus, and their Hall Canteen goes by the name "The Forest," listed in the official directory as open 08:00–21:00 (last order 20:30). For residents of the Hung Hom halls, it is the standard destination during late-night study breaks and after-event gatherings.

Homantin Student Halls are set further from both the main campus and the MTR station. The halls are named by colour (Red Hall, Orange Hall, Blue Hall, etc.), and the site also hosts two special programmes, the CURI College and the STARS College. The Homantin Hall Canteen sits in the halls' basement and is the most direct fallback for residents — precisely because it is farther from the main campus, its opening hours and menu changes have a more immediate, daily impact on residents than any main-campus outlet.

The two hall canteens share the "The Forest" brand (Hung Hom's is styled Hung Hom Hall Canteen - The Forest), but are run independently, with menus and operating details adjusted to their local circumstances.

The importance of hall canteens is likely to grow as PolyU expands its residential capacity. According to an HK01 report^※, PolyU plans to build four new student-hall towers on a hillside site at Tat Hong Avenue in Kowloon Tong (adjacent to CityU's student halls, behind Lung Cheung Road). The towers, ranging from 9 to 15 storeys, would provide around 1,680 places and are expected to be completed in 2028. The University hopes this will allow it to deliver "two years of residence in four," meaning every student could live in halls for at least two years of their four-year degree, and to attract more high-calibre non-local students. The report does not say whether the new halls will include their own canteen; publicly available plans only show the basement to 4th floor reserved for pedestrian access, parking and student leisure facilities, the 5th floor as common corridors and shared spaces, and residential floors above. Whether dining facilities will be part of the new halls remains to be confirmed by the University. If the scheme opens on schedule in 2028, PolyU's hall-canteen network will likely expand from two sites (Hung Hom and Homantin) to three or more — a chapter worth writing up at the time.

# Why students call PolyU's dining "fragmented"

Compared with CUHK's college-based canteen system or HKU's hall dining culture, PolyU students rarely use a single shared name for "our canteen." Design students know the V Café around the Innovation Tower better than anyone; engineering students tend to grab lunch at outlets near their labs; residents' mental map centres on the Hung Hom or Homantin Hall Canteens; and non-local and exchange students weigh the on-campus options against eating out in Hung Hom, Whampoa or Tsim Sha Tsui East.

This fragmentation flows directly from the campus's spatial logic: the red-brick campus is highly three-dimensional, with building blocks and podiums interpenetrating, so students choose a canteen based on their timetable, labs, library, hall and MTR route — rather than converging on one emblematic "big canteen" as a shared narrative. Understanding this is the key to seeing why canteen disputes at PolyU so often take the form of outlet-by-outlet verdicts (this kiosk is fine, that canteen is bad) rather than a University-wide "one canteen" story.

# PolyU's "tallest building" is part of the food map too

New students often ask about the relationship between the Communal Building and the campus's other landmark, the Li Ka Shing Tower. According to public information from the Li Ka Shing Foundation^※, in 2001 the Foundation donated HK$100 million to PolyU — at the time the largest personal donation the University had ever received. In recognition, PolyU's Council named its tallest newly completed building the Li Ka Shing Tower. The Tower itself is not a canteen hub, but its basement and podium connect to the area around the Sir Run Run Shaw Building (VA Block) — where the Old Can is. A new student walking from the Li Ka Shing Tower to the Old Can will have traversed roughly the most central stretch of PolyU's dining map.

# Sustainable dining: fewer straws, less food waste — canteens as part of campus environmental governance

PolyU's dining system also has an environmental thread. The campus sustainability newsletter GreenNet records that PolyU once promoted initiatives such as "No Straw Friday," requiring participating outlets to serve straws only on request on designated days. Engineering research materials also indicate that PolyU piloted food-waste collection systems with dewatering functions in campus catering facilities, to reduce the cost and volume of food-waste disposal. Such measures are not directly about food safety, but they show that canteens are folded into the campus's environmental governance — they are not purely commercial concessions severed from the University's reach.

# A simple sum: seats versus student numbers

PolyU has long been one of the UGC-funded universities with the largest enrolled student populations in Hong Kong. Public figures put its registered students at 32,229 in September 2013, with over 3,600 teaching and administrative staff. Set that against the roughly 2,900 seats in main-campus dining venues and the 260 or so in the halls, and the arithmetic is simple: it is easy to see why "queueing" is close to a universal collective memory of PolyU canteens — even assuming students eat in staggered shifts, the ratio of seats to people on campus remains extremely lopsided. This also explains why PolyU's dining network has to spread out rather than concentrate: instead of consolidating limited seating into one or two giant canteens and producing even longer lines, the University scatters nineteen main-campus outlets plus the hall canteens, dispersing queue pressure across different blocks and times of day.

This arithmetic also shows that the most common complaints in PolyU canteen disputes — queueing, seat-grabbing, nowhere to sit at peak lunch hour — are largely a matter of scale, not of any one canteen's "poor service." A university with the largest student population in Hong Kong, but without CUHK's colleges or HKU's halls to naturally redistribute crowds, must rely on the sheer number of outlets to absorb the pressure of foot traffic.

# Dining in a city-centre university: no mall to fall back on, so the canteens grew their own

PolyU sits in Hung Hom, and there is no shortage of restaurants beyond the campus gates — Hung Hom station, Whampoa and Tsim Sha Tsui East are all within walking or short-travel distance. But that only underscores the necessity of the on-campus network: in a dense urban campus with classes packed tightly together, a student with only half an hour to an hour between lectures can hardly leave campus and come back. The nineteen outlets plus two hall canteens therefore turn "eating without leaving campus" into basic infrastructure, not a frill.

The contrast with neighbouring institutions makes the point clearer. CUHK's scattered colleges each run their own canteens, giving rise to names like "Chung Chi canteen" or "New Asia canteen" that carry a college identity. CityU, by contrast, is physically linked to the Festival Walk shopping mall and can rely on its restaurants to supplement on-campus dining. PolyU is neither: it has no college system to confer a natural canteen identity, and its main campus has no large mall seamlessly attached to it the way Festival Walk is to CityU. PolyU's food landscape therefore had to grow its own distributed network — a web spanning teaching blocks, podiums, the library and the halls — compensating with sheer numbers and dispersal for the absence of both a natural central canteen and a shopping-mall hinterland.

# Conclusion: a network, not a single canteen

Put it all together, and PolyU's "canteen" is really a distributed service network: a dozen-plus outlets across teaching blocks, podiums and the library on the main campus; two independently run hall canteens; plus vending machines and cafés scattered throughout. The network's strength is risk dispersal — when one outlet closes for renovation or its service wobbles, students can pivot to another block or a hall canteen. But it also creates a governance problem: student feedback and complaints are inherently fragmented, and hard to gather into a unified demand for accountability. That is the question taken up in 《判头轮替与加价争议：理大饭堂的外判制度》; the cultural lore behind the Old Can, New Can and Z Can nicknames is covered in 《旧Can、新Can与红砖平台》; and the regulatory framework for food safety in PolyU canteens is examined in 《食品安全考》.