5 best dive bars in Hong Kong
Dive bars in Hong Kong: everyone loves a good one, even if they pretend otherwise. Some dive bars even attain legendary status in Hong Kong, like Club 71.
Here are our picks of Hong Kong's best:
Aqua Bar, Mongkok
The scene: It doesn't get much weirder than this. First, to reach the bar, you've got to make your way through a maze of shops in a decrepit mall, find the lift and take it to the third floor. Or you can take the escalator up to the first floor, walk past a bunch of porn stalls, and stumble up a dingy stairwell. Either way, you'll eventually emerge into a blue-tinged, ocean-themed space with lots of fish tanks and walls meant to look like coral.
Forget sitting inside, though -- the real reason you're here is for the big, candlelit outdoor terrace. Sit under the Mongkok stars and sip one of the bizarrely-named cocktails, like Nothing (vodka and melon) or Motherfu**er (crème de cassis and pineapple juice), both $42.
The crowd: Completely random. MK girls, hipsters, groups of middle-aged people ... just what you'd expect from such an odd place.
The soundtrack: Quiet Cantopop.
3/F, Ho King Shopping Centre, 2-16 Fa Yuen Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, tel +852 3693 4818
After 5 Sports Bar, Tai Po
The scene: Located down a back alley from Tai Po's main drag, After 5 feels more like a sedate English pub than a sports bar. The long, polished wood bar is a thing of beauty, and you have a choice of sitting outdoors or in one of the comfortable booths at the back of the bar. Guinness, Stella, Hoegaarden and Boddington are available on tap for $38 until 9pm, or $55 thereafter. There's lots of cocktails on the menu, including some extravagant concoctions like Star Wars, a mix of vodka, gin, rum, tequila, triple sec, sambuca and white wine that is probably potent enough to send anyone into space.
The crowd: "See that guy sitting at the bar? He works for the SCMP. Once he came into the office so drunk they had to carry him out and tell him not to come back, or he'll get sacked."
The soundtrack: R&B, Britpop and singer-songwriter.
Shop C, 6 Kwong Fuk Road, Tai Po, New Territories, tel +852 2663 3550Oasis, Prince Edward
The scene: Compared to most of the lookalike karaoke-and-cheap-beer places on the Tung Choi Street bar strip, this really is an oasis, with refreshingly eccentric decor and a surprisingly solid list of beers. There's some good witbiers and hefeweizens here, from the ubiquitous Hoegaarden to German imports like Erdinger and the top-notch Maisel's Weisse, which are served in half-litre bottles for $50, or two-for-one from 6pm to 8pm. Pass your time playing dice, darts or just staring at the fake palm tree draped in Christmas lights.
The crowd: Boisterous men playing dice and drinking Blue Girl by the bucket and more discerning people sipping some fine, fine ale.
The soundtrack: Loud Cantopop.
229A Tung Choi Street, Prince Edward, Kowloon, tel +852 2395 2118
V King Lounge, Hung Hom
The scene: This unassuming place tucked into the Hung Hong ferry pier offers one of the best deals in town for a beer and a harborview. With happy hour prices until 9pm (Stella Artois, Becks, San Miguel and Hoegaarden on tap for $40 or $45), it's a nice bet for an after-work drink. That's especially true during the cool months, when the windows are thrown wide open and the sound of lapping waves lull you into a happy state.
The crowd: Loners at the bar, twenty-something groups of friends and people stopping off for a drink while walking their dogs along the waterfront.
The soundtrack: Radiohead and jazzy hip hop.
G/F, Hung Hom Ferry Pier, Hung Hom, Kowloon, tel +852 2330 6226The Toilet Bar, Mui Wo
The scene: Some years ago, Granny Mak decided to invite some people over to her house in Wang Tong, a scruffy, likable village in Mui Wo. She put an awning over her front patio, threw together a mismatched assortment of chairs and tables and started selling cold beer and wine. A close-knit group of expats and locals started hanging out, dubbing it the Toilet Bar in honour of the smelly public toilet across the way. Nobody outside of Lantau would have known about it if it weren't for cartoonist Larry Feign, who wrote about it last summer on his excellent new blog. This really is a special place: it's a welcoming, informal spot that probably couldn't exist anywhere else but Wang Tong Village. The toilet has been renovated, by the way, and it no longer smells -- at least, not as much.
The crowd: Village people in shorts and flip-flops, sharing cheap bottles of wine and Tsingtao.
The soundtrack: Nothing but the buzzing of cicadas and the quiet click of passing bicycles.
Wang Tong Village, Mui Wo, Lantau Island, "at the point where Wang Tong Stream makes a sharp left to empty into the bay."
