An Insider’s Guide to Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a city which puts its heart into everything it does, and the arts is no exception. There is just so much to see and do! The Hong Kong arts scene has grown exponentially over the last few years and, when it comes to museums, the jewel in the crown is M+ in the West Kowloon Cultural District. I love the industrial chic of the Herzog & de Meuron-designed building, the same brains behind that other great waterside contemporary arts hub, the Tate Modern in London. At the heart of the M+ collection are Chinese paintings bought by Uli Sigg, who was Swiss ambassador to Beijing in the 1990s. It’s so energising to see the artistic evolution of the young artists at the time, who experimented with such vigour and presented new ways of thinking. If you’re at the harbour and wondering where M+ is, here’s a tip. If you look towards Kowloon, there’s an enormous screen on top of the museum which you can’t miss. It’s right in front of Hong Kong’s largest skyscraper, the ICC. The screen is currently showing “Night Charades” by Ho Tzu Nyen, a playlist of animated scenes from Hong Kong classic movies and on view until 13 July is “Picasso for Asia—A Conversation”, which places the Spanish master in dialogue with Asian artists.

M+, West Kowloon Cultural District, 38 Museum Drive, Kowloon

The Hong Kong Palace Museum is a short stroll from M+ across the undulating grass. The Hong Kong Palace Museum is a magical treasure trove of paintings, sculptures, ceramics and robes from imperial China. I love to gaze in wonder at the Ming Dynasty ceramics, admiring the delicate fragility and enduring power of these beautifully made links to the past. The museum can be busy, so I recommend buying tickets in advance. In addition to the permanent collection, current special exhibitions include: “A Movable Feast: The Culture of Food and Drink in China” and “The Forbidden City and The Palace of Versailles: China-France Cultural Encounters in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries”.

Hong Kong Palace Museum, West Kowloon Cultural District, 8 Museum Drive, Kowloon

Hong Kong is a city of transformation and adaptation, always regenerating itself. To me, Tai Kwun is a great symbol of that. Tai Kwun was built in the 19th century, and was a former police station and a jail; Chinese poet Dai Wangshu was once imprisoned here. Since 2018, it has been reborn as a lively cultural centre in the heart of Hong Kong’s Central district. Its parade ground is an oasis of peace in the heart of the city, complete with deckchairs for a few quiet moments of repose. There are bars and restaurants scattered around to while away an afternoon with a cold beer or two. I like to explore the shaded terraces of the barracks block, browse the boutique shops and art galleries, and visit the JC Contemporary art museum. The museum has a rotating exhibition programme and is currently showing “Maeve Brennan: Records” and “Alicja Kwade: Pretopia”.

Tai Kwun, 10 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong

One of the thrills of being in Hong Kong is to take the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour. The hum of the engine and rocking of the waves, the sparkle of the sea against the green and white livery of the boat... it’s a timeless experience. So, when I go to the Hong Kong Museum of Art, I like to go to the Central Ferry Piers, take the Star Ferry, and stroll. It’s free to see the permanent collection, and I never fail to be inspired by the paintings, the calligraphy and sculptures that I find there. The whole building was beautifully renovated in 2019 and, going up and down the escalators between its five floors, I can’t help but pause at every floor to look out of the huge glass windows onto Hong Kong Island. If you’ve got an appetite for more art after seeing the permanent collection, there are three special exhibitions on at the moment: “Cézanne and Renoir Looking at the World — Masterpieces from the Musée de l’Orangerie and the Musée d’Orsay”, Xu Bing’s “Eying East, Wondering West — Square Word Calligraphy Classroom”, and “Dreamchasers: Stories of Hong Kong Art”.

Hong Kong Museum Of Art, 10 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

There are a lot of traditional Hong Kong-style restaurants that locals like going to. One of my favourites is Capital Café. It’s important to note that they have multiple branches in Hong Kong, but I have to go to the specific one in Shau Kei Wan, which is also frequented by many famed actors and singers from the local entertainment industry. After a big auction or exhausting travels, this is where you will find me.

The restaurant faces the tram line, so I often enjoy sitting on the tram and slowly making my way to have my ultimate comfort food there – scrambled eggs on toast. A simple dish done Hong Kong-style and served with a twist: a spoonful of truffle. It’s extremely heartwarming; they put a huge mountain of scrambled eggs on top of each slice of nice thick toast. And to go with it, I always order a Hong Kong-style milk tea, served with condensed milk. We affectionately call it silk-stocking milk tea, because the richness that makes Hong Kong-style milk tea taste unlike anything else, comes from the sackcloth used to brew the leaves. You can find all these amazing videos online showing you how it’s made. In fact, did you know it’s listed on UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hong Kong?

Capital Café, G/F, Shun King Building, 185-187 Shau Kei Wan Main Street East

A large mug of black filter coffee is usually how I like to start my day but it’s very expensive to get nice filter coffee anywhere in Hong Kong – in fact filter coffee can be even more expensive than a flat white or a latte. Personally, I’m also very specific about my beans and particularly, how the beans are roasted.

Tucked away in a little corner of Sham Shui Po – a local neighbourhood that is being dubbed Hong Kong’s Brooklyn – Flow is one of the very few places I will visit to have a black filter coffee. The interiors feature a lot of wood and plants, it is both stylish and cosy, with an artistic vibe. You can sit at the bar table and watch the whole brewing process, or you can settle back with a book and wait for your coffee. And if you’re not sure what you want, you can get the whole omakase experience. You could just ask for something chocolate-y or fruity – and they’ll choose the beans for you. Their roll cakes are simply amazing paired with coffee. It’s a wonderful hideout: I’ve spent whole afternoons there, drinking coffee, eating cake, hanging out with friends, taking work calls – they let you sit as long as you like.

Flow, Shop 3, 195 Tai Nan St, Sham Shui Po

I am a self-professed lover of succulents and cacti. In London one of my pastimes was hunting for nurseries and collecting them. When I had to relocate to Hong Kong, I was so worried about my my 30 pots of plants. Each one was in a ceramic pot I had collected from different markets. In the end, I smuggled 29 of them back to Hong Kong, each in bubble wrap – only to discover that in Hong Kong, buying plants is actually super cheap. Especially when it comes to succulents and cacti. For the cost of one plant in London, I could easily get four times as many rarer species in Hong Kong.

The Mong Kok Flower Market in Prince Edward is one of the mainstays of Hong Kong. Occupying several blocks, with a main street named the Flower Market Road, it is just one shop after another of flowers, plants and all things gardening. The flower shops pile all the plants out on the road, so you must swish your way through them. It opens early – even at 5am, you will see people queueing up to get the freshest flowers. There’s an odd bakery shop in between the florists selling local food, like pineapple buns and egg tarts. So, you can grab a snack and continue your shopping. I go once a month to keep a regular supply of flowers and plants in my apartment in Hong Kong. And yes, a lot of those London succulents I brought over are still alive and blooming – they remain my best friends!

Mong Kok Flower Market, Flower Market Road, Prince Edward

Hong Kongers have a culture of drinking herbal teas, owing to its tradition of Chinese medicine which is all about balancing your ying and yang – life force. The tropical weather of Hong Kong, with its brutal year-round humidity, can cause the body to store too much ‘heat’ as we say, throwing this balance off. This manifests in breakouts, mild illnesses, discomforts – your bones can hurt! The remedy is herbal tea.

Local herbal tea shops are typically small and tucked into corners. Brewed with various herbs, the teas are all inky black. I like to go to 草津堂 (literally translates to The Hall of Nourishing Herbs) because it’s right near my home. The shop has a menu with all the benefits and properties of each tea; so you might have something to pamper your liver if you’ve overindulged in alcohol, or another tea might clear your blocked nose if you have flu symptoms, other teas will deal with the heat in your body.

The traditional way of serving these herbal teas is hot, in bowls, which you can drink at the shop. I prefer it that way. It’s a very traditional thing, but it’s one of those experiences if you’ve never tried and you want to feel like a local, you have to try!

草津堂,9 Tin Chong Street, North Point

Not too far from our office is The Old Man, one of the oldest cocktail bars in Hong Kong. One of the things that make it so famous is that they always invite guest mixologists from around the world. Each has their own tricks – some make their drinks look extravagant, some make a performance when they make their cocktails – the experience itself can be like going to a circus.

There is a mixologist at The Old Man, Art Fatkullin, who I have been following across various bars and restaurants since 2017. Awarded Diageo World Class Bartender of the Year 2021, he can create cocktails that are exactly what I want. One of my favourite concoctions from this cocktail bar tastes like oysters. A friend of mine had one inspired by sushi which had a lot of wasabi but no rice, so you can imagine how pungent that was! It’s such a great experience at The Old Man, it’s always packed and never short of fun.

The Old Man, Lower G/F, 37-39 Aberdeen Street, Soho, Central

This bar opened only six months ago proving how bespoke Japanese-style cocktail experiences have become a hot topic. They have an incredible drinks menu (the seasonal fruit menu features fruits delivered from all over Japan!) but often people will ask for a cocktail catering to their personal taste.

The mixologist is Rayven, and he has the most amazing skills with blades. He is like a ninja – or so I imagine. One time I was there with a friend, and we asked Rayven to customise a drink, based on our impressions of each other. So he gave us a blank card and asked us to write our thoughts of each other, and then created a drink from those words. It was simply magical. Rayven decorates his drinks according to the theme, carving out all these beautiful pieces that are like works of art themselves using orange, lemon or apple peels. It’s an experience I highly recommend. With seating for just 20 people, it never gets too crowded. If you want a long, late-night chat and some privacy, this is the spot.

3/F, Cubus, 1 Hoi Ping Rd, Causeway Bay

Hiking is quite a sport for people in Hong Kong and so the usual, nicely-paved hiking routes are very congested. It can be challenging to find a hiking route here that makes you forget you are in a metropolitan city. So, I started to venture out to the less paved ones. One of the amazing things about these hidden hiking routes is that they were originally discovered by very dedicated hikers wandering off to places one might normally avoid. To guide others who find themselves taking the same path, the hikers mark the trails with ribbons tied around trees. This is how hikers, when they want to be a bit adventurous, will rediscover nature in Hong Kong. Luk Chau Stone Forest is one of the lesser-known parks and the largest stone forest in Hong Kong. When you climb up these piles of rocks and stand on one of those ridges, you feel like you are a wanderer in a Caspar David Friedrich painting. But here, you’re not above a sea of clouds, you are above a sea of rocks.

Luk Chau Stone Forest, Ma On Shan Country Park

There are two peculiar things one might be surprised about Hong Kong. One is that, hiding amidst all the concrete skyscrapers is a buzzing street art culture. Second, we oftenfind the best art in gentrified industrial areas (live here long enough and you will master the art of using an industrial elevator). One time I was en route to our warehouse when I found myself stuck in traffic. Looking out, I saw a beautiful female portrait on the façade of The Mills building. The Mills is a former textile factory, rejuvenated into a creative hub. It dawned on me that this is an intervention by the Portuguese street artist Vhils! So now, every time I go to our warehouse, it’s one of the friendly faces that makes me smile in an otherwise dry industrial area.

The Mills, 45 Pak Tin Par Street, Tsuen Wan 

You might think this is an unusual recommendation for street art. Harbour City is a huge shopping complex in Tsim Sha Tsui, right by the Star Ferry Pier. It also happens to be where the French urban artist Invader installed many of his signature ceramic-tiled street art when he ‘invaded Hong Kong’ in 2017. At the Star Ferry Pier there is a dock area with a really nice ‘rooftop’ and you can see the best view of Victoria Harbour. It’s a great place to sit, without being inside the actual restaurant itself. You get a good can of beer and bring it up there to enjoy the fresh air. It’s a good little hideout. And every now and again, you’ll see one of those Invader sculptures. Check out the Invader website and you can see where they are.

Harbour City, 3–27, Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui