With all due respect to Kowloon, it’s on Hong Kong Island that you’ll find the city’s most exciting and dynamic milieu. Read on to discover our picks of the best new restaurants, shops, and watering holes that the south side of Victoria Harbour has to offer, one ever-changing neighborhood at a time.
By Nicholas Walton
Photographs by Galilea Nin
Similar to the scenes in London, Tokyo, and New York, finding Hong Kong’s latest fusion eatery, martini joint, eclectic boutique, or must-try café is all part of the adventure. The island’s high rents and tiny spaces are working to its advantage, ensuring a kaleidoscopic dining scene, a bevy of new, hidden speakeasies, and more than its share of chic shops catering to the city’s well-shod, if not intrepid, shopper. In a city that constantly jostles for elbow room and competes with gravity, the best finds are far from the high price tags of the harborfront; Hong Kong’s most happening scenes are now found among the innocuous towers of Causeway Bay, tucked into the backstreets of Central, and hidden away in the eclectic neighborhood of Sheung Wan. “The offerings on the island are better than they’ve ever been in my time in Hong Kong,” confirms Henning Voss, a six-year island resident and cofounder of NecesCity.com, a modish men’s guide to the city’s top venues for dining, drinking, and entertainment. So, what are you waiting for?