Hong Kong’s Yardbird is the complete package. It’s a very social spot, full of very outgoing and fun people. They also have a great menu, offering a variety of yakitori sticks to pair with an abundant spirits and beers. The house cocktail we chose is called the Jolly Rancher, which we paired with chicken and meatball skewers. It’s made with shiso-infused rice shochu and fresh watermelon juice and is very refreshing. It really does taste like a Jolly Rancher candy minus some of the sugar, but it’s still one of the sweetest drinks you can have at Yardbird. The restaurant was recently name-dropped in Bobby Hundred’s book, “This is Not a T-Shirt,” which discusses community, culture, brands, and how they relate to streetwear life. A lot of restaurants neglect their cocktail menu, and a lot of cocktail bars neglect their food menu, but Yardbird hits just the right spot with both.
Ninetys in Hong Kong is the ideal brunch spot. They’ve got an excellent menu offering a wide arrange of dishes, from delicately plated salmon tartare to brimming bowls of siu wan rice. But we came for the coffee and in contrast to their lengthy lunch menu, they’ve got a very streamlined coffee flavor selection—fruity or choco. We picked the latter and had it as a long black.
Roasted and custom blended in Melbourne, Australia (where Ninetys has its roots) the choco blend hits hazelnut, milk chocolate, and caramel notes. They serve it with a small plate of dried blueberries on the side, which we were instructed to eat after every sip. The verdict? It’s rich and bold with a tinge of sweetness, just as chocolate should be. And the mild tartness of the blueberries really does complete the experience.
Whether you’re looking for a place to have a hefty meal with the whole family or just a cup of coffee by yourself, Ninetys checks each box.
The entire concept of Draft Land is totally not what one would expect from a cocktail bar. Instead of a fully stacked liquor shelf, which is the usual backdrop you see at bars, Draft Land has an army of taps standing in a straight row. Above them, very symmetrically installed, are the names of the 24 different cocktails to choose from. So when you order, you simply name the number to the tender on shift and within just 10 seconds, you get your drink. Sounds like a cocktail express, don’t you think?
At first, we really weren’t sure how this set up could possibly give us a memorable bar experience or produce enjoyable drinks. After all, doesn’t part of the charm of cocktails lie in witnessing your drink be put together in a very precise and artful manner right in front of you? But having been there and trying a couple of their concoctions showed us that, yes, cocktails on tap can offer an enjoyable experience. The packed bar spoke for itself and everyone there seemed to be having the time of their lives, drinks being pulled at such a fast pace.
And the cocktails themselves? Surprisingly complex and nuanced! We had their basic gin cocktail called Guk Bou, interestingly flavored with chrysanthemum, pu-erh tea and lime—simple and refreshing to the palate but with a very distinct flowery note that sneaks up on you at the end. Totally unexpected and quite the treat.
So if you happen to be on a night out in Hong Kong, drop by 63 Wyndham Street in Central and experience the speed and precision of Draft Land’s cocktails on tap, fine drinks at the drop of a dime.
Dr. Fern is a speakeasy in Hong Kong hidden inside a passageway directly outside a train station. It sort of looks like a doctor’s office out front, hence the name. For the most part, it’s a gin and tonic bar, although you can find other cocktails like a Negroni. Once you’ve gone inside, however, it’s clear you’re expected to order a gin and tonic. They have an entire menu (called the Doctor’s Order) dedicated to hundreds of gins that you can pair with quite a number of tonics. The combinations are almost endless, which means its a nice place to frequent if you’re a fan of GNTs. It’s a simple premise but because gin can have so many different notes, your experience will always change.
A little known roaster out of Hong Kong, Ideaology makes it a point to ensure that each of their single-origin coffee offerings are unique in flavor notes. You have ones that are high in acidity, others that are very chocolatey, and some that taste funky (in a good way). Located in the fancy Tsim Sha Tsui neighborhood, we’re interested to see how their story develops in the years to come and hope for them to actively join competitions and push their own style of coffee. In a very competitive market like Hong Kong, it’s hard to stand out. But they’ve already managed to cross borders and pop up in different cafes around Asia—like Pregio in Malaysia, home to the Barista Guild Asia, which is where we first discovered them. It’s a taste that travels far.
It’s almost a pilgrimage. How can you do a coffee crawl in Hong Kong and not visit The Cupping Room in Sheung Wan – which is the newest location for their brand serving as their roastery and — of course — a cupping room. That cupping room is behind a glass window that extends behind the entire coffee bar where you can watch coffee being roasted and tested all day long while you’re enjoying your own cup of coffee.
Up front, there’s a heavy emphasis on the brew bar for their single origin coffee. HK Champion, Kapo Chiu is back there working all day as a barista and as a roaster, often serving his own championship coffee. It’s clear how passionate Kapo is about his craft and it’s a good example of an owner being directly involved in the day to day operations of the cafe.
Such a big part of the pedigree of the Cupping Room is their pour over brew bar, which takes front and center in their main roastery cafe. There’s an observation counter right in front of it where you can sit down and watch the baristas making pour overs. This coffee was the Bambito Geisha. Pricey, but well worth the cost – it’s a very sweet and delicate coffee with floral notes and malic acidity.
We really appreciate that the approach to brewing pour overs they have here is so simple. They use a big v-shape cone with a flat bottom and a single hole, we don’t believe it’s from any of the popular brands for making pour overs like the Hario or Kalita, but we think it was elegant nonetheless as it produced great and memorable coffee.
Best in Asia! Congratulations to The Old Man in Hong Kong for topping the charts of Asia’s 50 Best Bars. This award is well deserved. What struck us when we visited this bar is that every cocktail tasted unlike anything we had tasted before. On top of that, another thing we thought set them apart is their incredible single bartender system where the bartender basically stands in a spotlight at the end of the room and makes every single drink for the night — all while engaging with and entertaining guests. They have managed to create an experience that is both classically inspired and on the cutting edge of creativity. Can’t wait to share with you more about the drinks we had here. Bravo.
It tastes like a fresh oyster. When the staff of The Old Man insisted that we try A Movable Feast # 1964, little did we know that we were about to partake of what is perhaps the best drink we’ve had all year. The garnish is the aptly named oyster plant leaf infused in cheese wax. As you sip the cocktail, bite the leaf to complete the experience. Spiced tomato, coconut, some seeds, and a house developed concoction called “rotovap sea” round out this trip to the Atlantic Oceanside. That last ingredient is built using blended fresh seafood that is extracted in the rotary evaporator — an apparatus mostly seen in scientific laboratories — until you have a distillate that is essentially the ocean’s flavor in a single droplet. Clear and sophisticated, A Movable Feast is a testament to the new standard of excellence being pushed by The Old Man.
A beer themed cocktail to represent the state of alcohol during the 1500’s to 1600’s as a gift from the creator. Deep and sweet, “Prescription From Heaven,” has a smooth mouthfeel and definitely gives the sensation of what one might think a stout beer concentrate would taste like. This makes sense, since the cocktail features — among other ingredients — a Guinness syrup, toasted dark malt, and brown butter rum. Storytelling at Stockton is totally on point. Each beverage is a new page in their menu, which is essentially a tour through the bar’s Darwinian philosophy and understanding of alcohol, fully illuminated and illustrated.
This is blood. A tribute to the ancient mesoamerican god, Quetzalcoatl, who planted the first agave plant. Agave, when distilled, gives us tequilla, mezcal, and for the Aztecs, a ritual drink called Pulque. Of course it’s not really blood — this drink, named “The Lost City” in Stockton gets its red color from a beetroot shrub that they make in-house, paired with orange sherbet, kaffir lime, and a unique jalapeño blanco tequilla.
This drink is designed to symbolize a sacrificial offering to the ancient god. A cube of ice in the middle is covered with coco butter and edible rocks which represents the ancient pyramids that served as an altar of human sacrifice for the Aztecs, the beetroot shrub and tequilla is poured over the top to simulate blood flowing down the steps for when the men were killed as the offering. Its a little bit grotesque but it falls right in line with Stockton’s fascination with religion and the balance of god, man, and alcohol.
Right on top of Sheung Wan station you’ll find Amber Coffee Brewery. So it’s an easy cafe to just drop into and check out! When we were visiting them, they happened to be serving the coffee that had won the World Barista Championship. It was our first time to taste their coffee and it was nice to try something that was unique, though it was on a special menu – not their standard one. As a bonus, we were able to taste it in his cafe prepared using the same machine setup that was used as the standard at the world championship; a Victoria Arduino Black Eagle espresso machine and a special edition EK 43 grinder. It’s a tiny cafe but there is attention to detail when it comes to flavor and even service-ware.
The aesthetic of Ometesando Koffee is locked in with precise lines and sqaures, giving the coffee shop an organized and calculated vibe. You feel that the baristas are real technicians because every recipe is dialed in with basic questions about your desired sweetness and milk quality. Finally, their design aesthetic is also evident in their selection of equipment, such as this Kalita Wave in copper. Omotesando is clearly an espresso bar but their consideration for the quality of their pourover equipment also stands out. The best thing about Ometesando is that their branding matches the coffee, when you taste it you feel the excellence in preparation and the precision in brewing. It’s a holistic approach to both style and taste in all sense of the word.
