Entertainment in Hong Kong
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A
Take Out Comedy Club
Consistent stand-up and improv acts (in Cantonese and English) bring in the punters to this basement venue established by Chinese-American stand-up Jami Gong.
reviewed
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B
Punchline Comedy Club
A veteran on the scene – in fact the only regular comedy venue for many years – the Punchline Comedy Club hosts local and imported acts every third Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9pm to 11pm. Entry costs around $300.
reviewed
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C
Bar 109
Tired of rubbing, er, shoulders with working girls in the Wanch? Well, even if not, the 109 will give you 110 reasons to flock here. It’s a serious chill-out zone cobbled from a 1920s-vintage bakery and divided into three sections, including a bar, a covered ‘outside’ area and a 1st-floor balcony.
reviewed
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D
Club 71
This friendly place occupying a quiet, tucked-away alley north of Hollywood Rd is named after the huge protest march held on 1 July 2003. It’s a quiet spot with a pleasant little terrace, ideal for some low-key beers among its left-field customers. Find it by taking a sharp right down a narrow alley off Hollywood Rd or via a small footpath running west off Peel St.
reviewed
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E
East End Brewery
This place out in Quarry Bay is a beer lover’s must-visit. You can choose from more than 30 beers and lagers from around the world, including a couple of local microbrews. There’s wi-fi access, too. The branch at Causeway Bay (Ground fl, Sunning Plaza, 10 Hysan Ave) serves up much the same beer and fodder if you can’t make it this far out.
reviewed
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F
Neptune Disco II
Neptune II is a fun club with a mostly Filipino crowd and a rockin' covers band. If everything's closing and you can't bear to stop bopping, this is the place to head for. It really rocks at the Sunday afternoon-tea dance starting at 14:00.
reviewed
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Deck ‘N Beer
Offering exactly what it promises on its neon sign, this excellent new bar with no theme or fuss offers a deck, drinks including a good range of bottled beers and not much else – oh, apart from those spectacular waterfront views.
reviewed
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G
New Wally Matt Lounge
The name comes from the old Waltzing Matilda pub, which was one of the daggiest gay watering holes in creation. But New Wally Matt is an upbeat and busy place and actually more a pub than a lounge.
reviewed
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H
Rice Bar
Rice is a popular gay bar in Sheung Wan with a lounge area that sees a bit of dancing as it gets later. It can get very crowded at the weekend.
reviewed
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I
Tastings
One of the most exciting new developments for wine lovers is the arrival of new bars offering tastings of premium wines using new ‘enomatic’ technology that permits them to open a bottle and preserve the contents indefinitely. It means that tasting a seriously rare (and expensive) wine is possible without completely bankrupting yourself. You create a tab by handing over your credit card in exchange for a smart card, which you use to operate the wine dispensing machines, which can deliver a few millilitres for an inexpensive taste or a full glass once you’ve made your choice. Down a narrow side street just off Wellington St, Tastings offers about two dozen wines from its e…
reviewed
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Urbtix
Expect to pay around $70 for a seat up the back for the Hong Kong Philharmonic and from about $500 and up for a performance by big-name international acts or an international musical such as Chicago. Bookings for most cultural events can be made by telephone or the internet with Urbtix. There is an Urbtix window at the Hong Kong City Hall in Central, the Queen Elizabeth Stadium un Wan Chai and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui.
reviewed
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J
Drop
Deluxe lounge action, excellent tunes and potent cocktails keep Drop strong on the scene. It’s like walking into Wallpaper* magazine, but the vibe here is unpretentiously inclusive and the crowd reaches a happy fever pitch on big nights. The members-only policy after 10pm Thursday to Saturday is (flexibly) enforced to keep the dance floor capacity at a manageable ‘packed like sardines’ level. Enter from Cochrane St.
reviewed
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K
Fringe Club, Theatre & Studio
The Fringe, a friendly and eclectic venue on the border of the Lan Kwai Fong quadrant, has original music in its gallery-bar from 10.30pm on Friday and Saturday, with jazz, rock and world music getting the most airplay. There’s a pleasant rooftop bar open in the warmer months. The intimate theatres, each seating up to a hundred, host eclectic local and international performances in English and Cantonese.
reviewed
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L
Joe Bananas
JB’s, in Wan Chai forever it seems, has dropped its long-standing wet T-shirt/boxers aesthetic and gone for more of a bamboo-bar feel. Unaccompanied females should expect a good sampler of bad pick-up lines; go with friends and have some un-PC fun. There are free drinks for women from 6pm to 3am on Wednesday, and ‘Crazy Hour’ (6pm to 8pm daily) is even more generous than happy hour.
reviewed
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M
Executive Bar
You won’t be served if you just turn up at this clubby, masculine bar high above Causeway Bay – it’s by appointment only. Odd perhaps, but worth the trip if you are serious about whisky and bourbon. Several dozen varieties are served here, in large brandy balloons with huge ice ‘cubes’ designed by the Japanese proprietor to maximise the tasting experience.
reviewed
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N
New Makati Pub & Disco
It has to be said: you can’t go lower than this sleazy pick-up joint, named after a Manila neighbourhood. Imagine dimly lit booths, Filipino amahs and middle-aged white male booze-hounds, who all just wanna have fun. In fact it is less wretched than this description might make it sound and it’s a friendly, unpretentious place to dance the morning away.
reviewed
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O
DYMK
An excellent, upmarket gay-friendly newcomer, DYMK (or ‘does your mother know?’) caters to a discerning crowd of professionals who lounge in the dimly but stylishly lit booths. There’s an extensive wine list and cocktails including the Thai Me Up and the Pinch My Peach. Reach it through the basement staircase in Eden, the organic bistro next door.
reviewed
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P
Propaganda
Despite more gay-friendly venues out there today, Propaganda remains Hong Kong’s default gay dance club and meat market. It’s free from Tuesday to Thursday, but cover charges ($120 to $160) apply on Friday and Saturday (which also get you into Works on Friday). Enter from Ezra’s Lane, which runs between Pottinger and Cochrane Sts.
reviewed
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Q
Gecko Lounge
Entered from narrow Ezra’s Lane off Cochrane or Pottinger Sts, Gecko is an intimate lounge and wine bar run by a friendly French sommelier and wine importer with a penchant for absinthe. The well-hidden DJ mixes good sounds with kooky Parisian tunes, and there’s usually live music on Tuesday and Wednesday. Great wine list, obviously.
reviewed
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R
Homebase
A meet ‘n’ greet for the styled and beautiful early on, this place turns into a bump ‘n’ grind after hours (there’s a cover charge of $100). It’s one of the more popular after-hours venues and one of the few places that is still partying well after dawn in a city that does, in fact, sleep. Great house and breakbeat music and a small dance floor.
reviewed
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S
Sunbeam Theatre
Cantonese and other Chinese opera are performed here through the year. Performances generally run for about a week, and are usually held five days a week at 7.30pm, with occasional matinees at 1pm or 1.30pm. The theatre is above the North Point MTR station (exit B1), on the north side of King’s Rd, near the intersection with Shu Kuk St.
reviewed
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T
Wanch
This place, which derives its name from what everyone calls the district, has live music (mostly rock and folk with the occasional solo guitarist thrown in) seven nights a week from 9pm. Jam night is Monday from 8pm. If you’re not here for the music, it can be a dubious scene – the Wanch can be a bit of a pick-up joint.
reviewed
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U
Insomnia
This is the place to come to when you can’t sleep, as it fills up only when other nearby bars are starting to wind down. It’s a people-watching place with a wide, open frontage, and there’s a live Filipino band doing covers out the back. If the munchies strike in the witching hour, you can get food here, too.
reviewed
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V
Delaney’s
At this immensely popular Irish watering hole you can choose between the black-and-white-tiled pub on the ground floor and a sports bar and restaurant on the 1st floor. The food is good and plentiful; the kitchen allegedly goes through 400kg of potatoes a week. There’s also a branch on Peking Rd in Tsim Sha Tsui.
reviewed
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W
1/5
Pronounced ‘one-fifth’, this sophisticated lounge bar and club has a broad bar backed by a two-storey drinks selection from which bar staff concoct some of Hong Kong’s best cocktails. It gets packed on the weekend with a dressy professional crowd, but it’s still a good place to chill.
reviewed
