Here are some of my favourites from my last trip to Hong Kong.
EATING OUT:
For fresh, creative Vietnamese cuisine, check out Nha Trang on Wellington Street. It's a great lunch place, always full, but worth queuing for a table.
Nha Trang Vietnamese Cuisine: 88-90 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong, Tel: +852 2581 9992.
Enoteca and its sister restaurant Bacar have a great menu of experimental Western dishes and oriental foods, they come in perfect-for-sharing portions. Try the risotto balls and rosemary wedge potatoes, as well as the chicken peri-peri. Great service too.
Enoteca, G/F, 47 Elgin Street, SoHo, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2525 9944.
DRINKING:
Feather Boa Stepping into this bar is like time-travelling to 19th century Paris. It's small and exquisitely decorated, with beautiful gold fabric on the ceiling - great lychee daiquiris too.
Feather Boa, 38 Staunton Street, SoHo, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2857 2586
China Club For fans of David Tang's interior designs and eclectic contemporary Chinese art collection, the China Club will not disappoint. It was here I discovered the Gunner cocktail: angostura bitters, ginger ale and ginger beer. Very refreshing on a hot evening. There's also a terrace at the China Club where you can watch the famous Hong Kong light show at 8pm - when skyscrapers flash their neon lights around the harbour. It’s actually a private members' club, but concierges at some of the more upmarket hotels can secure you a table here.
China Club, 13/F, The Old Bank of China Building, Bank Street, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2521 8888
Aqua group have two bars worth visiting:
1) Aqua Spirit, a chi chi penthouse watering hole at One Peking Road, Kowloon. It's a bar and restaurant for Hong Kong’s well-heeled crowd. There's minimum charge of HK$150 (€12.50) per person, but worth it for the view and the cocktails. Dress up.
2) Aqua Luna, this is the coolest way to see Hong Kong: on board a traditional Chinese junk. Junks are getting rarer in Victoria Harbour these days, but this one is beautifully restored with huge red sails. The Aqua Luna sets sail from Tsim Sha Tsui or Pier No 9 Central for 45 minute cruises throughout the day. Lying back on plush cushions, glass of wine in hand, there is no better way to see the Hong Kong skyline by night. One drink is included in the ticket price.
Check here for sailing times and information on both Aqua Spirit and Aqua Luna.
CLUBS:
M1NT M1NT is a trendy private members' club, owned by 250 shareholders, and like the original club in London, it's a place to be seen.
The best and worst thing about it was the huge fish tanks filled with black-tipped reef sharks. If you're there at around 7pm or 4am, you might get to watch the sharks being fed. Sleek and scary-looking, they give the place a real edge. But I spent quite a lot of time watching the sharks swim in circles around their bare fish tank. With the loud music and confined space to writhe in, I felt rather sorry for them; living in a fish tank in a club can't be much fun compared with swimming around in the big blue sea. I tried to explain my shark issues to one of the bartenders but he thought I was trying to order shots! So if you feel strongly about seeing big fish in captivity, don't go to M1NT. Otherwise, it's a very cool club.
M1NT Hong Kong, 108 Hollywood Road, Tel: +852 2168 0604
SHOPPING:
Shopping is one of Hong Kong's premiere attractions. With very low rates of tax (including VAT sales tax), many of the brands you find here are much cheaper than at home.
Hong Kong is a great place for tailored suits. I can highly recommend Sam's Tailor, where I picked up a jacket and skirt in merino wool for about a quarter of the price I would have paid in London (or Berlin). I also got to sketch out my own design.
Sam's Tailor: Burlington Arcade 'K', 92-94 Nathan Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2367 9423 or 0363.
Herin Ching's designs at Fang Fong stand out from many of the boutiques in Soho. Very original and stylish dresses and accessories. It's pretty pricey, but the perfect place to pick up something special.
fang fong, 67a Peel Street, Central, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 3105 5557
MASSAGE:
There are places to get a massage on practically every street corner. Healthy Foot just off Lang Kwai Fong does a great foot massage. Or, for a treat, head to the Landmark Mandarin Oriental in The Landmark building on Queen's Street Central. HK$450 (€37) will buy an amazing 30 minute back and shoulder massage, and you can also spend time relaxing in the sauna, steam room, jacuzzi and relaxation room. This spa introduced me to water flavoured with slices of orange - it tastes great!
Landmark Mandarin Oriental, 15 Queen's Road Central, The Landmark, Central, Hong Kong +852 2132 0011
Healthy Foot: Flat/RM 1001 Lan Kwai Fong, Tak Woo House, 1-3 Wo On Lane, Central Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2537 3098.
WALKING:
For such a big city, it's unbelievably easy and quick to escape from Hong Kong to the countryside. I did one day-hike on Lantau Island with a company called Walk Hong Kong. It started at the Big Budda, went through beautiful woods, hills and peaks, and finished at Tai-O fishing village. It was a pretty demanding walk (there are easier ones to choose from), and very hot on the day I went, but well worth it, and the guide was great. The price of the trip included lunch and transport costs, but it didn’t come cheap at HK$750.00 (€50).
The Dragon’s Back is a fun, unstrenuous walk that's easy to reach by bus or taxi from Central. It's so called because it consists of two hills, shaped like a dragon’s back. The walk is in Shek O national park, and the trail is well-marked. Shek O beach is also a great place to chill out and have lunch. You can stop off at Stanley Market on the way home and go shopping. Perfect.
A Culinary Tour of Bangkok
Posted by Emma on February 14, 2008 at 05:59 PM
There's plenty of chow in the Big Mango and it's cheap, delicious and super fresh. Here's a handful of recently discovered gems.
DECK BY THE RIVER, ARUN RESIDENCE
What? Great food on a luscious wooden deck above the Choapraya River. Deck by the River overlooks the mighty Wat Arun so you can soak up some culture whilst you wolf down your lunch. What could be better? Choose from a Thai or a Western menu. Delicious spring rolls, tom kha gai and salads. 1000 baht ($30) for lunch for two.
Where? 36-38 Soi Pratoo Nok Yoong, Maharat Road; +66 2221 9158.
LE LYS
What? Simple, filling, good Thai food washed down with cold Singha beer (no wines available). Sit on tables around a grassy courtyard amidst posters of the 2007 French rugby team and St. Tropez. One guidebook says it feels more like a dinner party here than a restaurant, and it's easy to see why, Ly Lys is a very laidback, friendly place.
We gorged on spicy carrot salad, aubergine and shrimp salad, green curry and red curry, plus plenty of Singha for 845 baht ($26).
Where? 104 Soi 7, Th Narathiwat Ratchanakharin; +66 2287 1898.
EAT ME
What? Slick and sexy, this "art restaurant" is both hip and delicious. Enjoy great Australian / Pacific Rim food on an outdoor terrace cooled by overhead fans, or sit inside underneath work by Bangkok artists.
Wet your whistle with a cocktail then dive straight into the starters; we chose mountain bread nachos with salsa and lentil and sesame soup. No rest for the wicked, next up was a feta, lentil, green been, tomato and paprika salad and salmon steak with capers, broad beans and lemon zest pulp.
All this and a good wine list. 2,700 baht ($83) for two people, two courses, plus wine.
Where? 1/6 Soi Pipat 2, a small street off of Convent Rd. just south of Silom Rd; +66 2238 0931.
What? Super stylish space-esq party pod. A favourite amongst well-healed expats with surprisingly good food. 1,750 baht ($54) buys you a three course set menu and entertainment galore.
Tomato and coriander soup was chased in by a waitress dressed as a rat (it being Chinese New Year). Then came a duck salad accompanied my Monsieur and Madame Massage who, for 200 baht, pummel your pressure points and ease away your aches. A quick rubdown was followed by sirloin steak then a mango, ginger and pomegranate sorbet. One treasure hunt later and in came a chocolate brownie with ice-cream and raspberries. The meal was rounded off by dragon dancers and acrobats performing vertigo-inducing feats to celebrate the year of the rat.
Non-stop entertainment plus supine supping and, if you’re feeling really energetic, an adjoining club pumping out house music.
Where? 26 Soi 11, Th Sukhuvmit
THE BLUE ELEPHANT COOKING SCHOOL
What? Where better to master the art of Thai cuisine than in the country’s crazy capital? ½ day or whole day courses with menus that change daily. Visit a market, watch fish have their heads ripped off and meet water beetles that smell of mangoes, go back to the school and get stuck in. Four courses, four classes, four chances to cook it yourself. When it’s all over you go downstairs and feast on the fruits of your labour.
Where? 233 Th Sathon Tai; +66 2673 9353; ½ day classes cost 3,250 baht.
