This is an archive - these pages are no longer updated!
Some information will be out of date.  Some of this writing goes back to 1995.
See Tiki Road Trip (2007 edition) for the most up-to-date information.

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KOWLOON
SAUGUS, MA

I got into this Tiki Stuff about a year ago.  I started collecting a mug here and there, before you know it, It was a full-fetched obsession. It was always difficult, being for one, on the East Coast, and of all places on the east coast, Boston.  It's about as un-tiki as it gets. So what to my surprise as I was driving down Route 1.  It was huge. A huge pagoda with a big pacific entrance guarded by a tiki that (Oh I can't believe my eyes!) must be about 20 feet tall???  I had to go there.  I just had to. Well, I waited patiently for the rest of the week.  Finally, I had rounded up some people to go with me (Sigh, family members, but hey WE GET TO GO TO KOWLOON!), and I walked through the doors under that  giant tiki.  At first, I got a little nervous.  The outside was great, but the inside looked like a typical chinese restaurant.  "Oh dear god" I thought to myself.  Maybe they had renovated it.  Maybe it was never tiki to begin with.  Maybe I had come all this way for nothing! Well, the maitre'd showed us into the main room, and I was NOT  disappointed!  A huge fountain, with a Kahuna statue at the head  holding flowers.  Palm trees lined the boothes, which were built to look like tiki huts.  Every 6-8 feet of so, a tiki mask adorned the bamboo walls.  Off to my left, a room like a ship with a moving volcano on the wall surrounded by very realistic palm trees. My God! The hostess showed us at our table, positioned next to the fountain (See pic for reference) and handed us the menu.  The thing was like the size of a dictionary!  Occupying the first two pages was the tropical drink menu, quite extensive.  Soon a waiter came and the drinking began... I, being a pansy, ordered a strawberry Daquiri, one of my companions ordered a Fog Cutter, and the other ordered the house drink, a Pi Yi. Now, I like to consider myself a serious mug collector, and I was anxious to see what mugs they came in, and Came they did.  The fog cutter came in an Orchids of Hawaii Easter Islander, the Pi Yi in a pineapple cup I had never seen before.  Extensive detailing, the best I've ever seen.  Taking a deep breath we began, and drank a piece of Tiki heaven.  They used Island Oasis brand Daquiri Mix (The best), and I later found out that they use Bacardi in their rum drinks (again, the best!).  God I love this place! Finally it was time to order from the 400 page (It SEEMED that big!) menu.  I ordered Volcano Lychee Duck, "Sweet and Sour roast duck sauteed in fresh lychees."  My partners in crime decided to split a Flaming Ambrosia, fried chicken in a pungent sauce with fruit served in "A flaming shell of fresh pineapple," along with a second round of drinks, this time a Mai Tai and a Zombie. .. The drinks came, the food came, the dessert came, some more drinks came.  It was a a helluva night.  Wanting a souvenier, I asked the waiter how much the mugs were.  First he looked at me like I had three eyes, then said five dollars.  I asked if he could put all three mugs we had amassed at this point (The Moai, the Pineapple, and an OoH Ku R-74 style mug the we had got with a planters' punch), and he said wait one moment.  He walked off, went and talked with some guy in a suit.  The guy in the suit came over to us, and asked us if we hadenjoyed our meal.  Ok... This is getting a little weird.  Anyway, I  struck up a conversation, mentioned my mug collecting, the Tiki Bar Review page, etc.  Finally he says, "Wait one moment." Now personally, I thought he was going to kick us out.  We weren't exactly drunk (Well I wasn't!), and nothing was going on, but... Finally he comes back, and he's loaded with Kowloon Stuff! Apparently, he had roused up some vintage S & P Shakers and mugs, and all sorts of menus, swizzle sticks, postcards. Killer!  Finally he says the mugs I wanted to buy are on the house. Great guy, if you're ever at Kowloon, ask if Bobby is working that night. I give Kowloon (high marks), its not in the big five.  There is not quite enough tiki culture (It is after all a chinese restaurant) to make it the big five, but outside of them, its probably one of the best around, definately the best in Boston.  I look forward to it being my new hangout! Images courtesy of James

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