36 Hours in Hong Kong

36 Hours in Hong Kong By JUSTIN BERGMAN UPDATED July 19, 2016 A booming art scene and exciting culinary endeavors keep ever- changing Hong Kong in the spotlight. As impressive as Hong Kong’s skyline is, the city never seems to stop building. Case in point: the rapid expansion of the rail system. The MTR’s Island Line was extended to the neighborhood of Kennedy Town at the end of 2014, sparking a development boom on the once-quiet western side of the city. Several other projects are also on the way, including an express link to the mainland border. With all this attention on infrastructure, though, Hong Kong hasn’t sacrificed its soul. It remains one of Asia’s most passionately creative cities, a playground for artists and designers, chefs and entrepreneurs. Kowloon, the congested district opposite Hong Kong Island, for instance, is getting a makeover as the sprawling West Kowloon Cultural District begins opening over the next few years, with M+ (a museum for “visual culture”) as the focal point. While other newly rich Chinese cities vie for tourist dollars, it is cultural endeavors like this that will keep Hong Kong in the spotlight — and as confident as ever. A lobby in gritty Wong Chuk Hang, an area filled with galleries. Credit Lam Yik Fei Friday 1.ARTS REVIVAL, 3 P.M. Hong Kong’s art scene is booming, thanks to the recent arrival of big- name international galleries and the Art Basel Hong Kong fair, not to mention the city’s record-shattering art auctions, one involving the Chinese collector Liu Yiqian’s purchase of a Ming dynasty wall hanging for $45 million in 2014. It’s not all about the cash, though. A more bohemian cultural experience can be found in the gritty neighborhood of Wong Chuk Hang, where galleries and studios have been sprouting up in old industrial lofts in recent years. Head first to the nonprofit Spring Workshop, which hosts frequent exhibitions, performances and art talks, and even has its own artist residency program. Down the street, the Blindspot Gallery exhibits photographic works in a renovated industrial laundry facility, while Beijing-based Pekin Fine Arts focuses on emerging Asian artists. The crumbling warehouses and old steel elevators are part of the charm, but gentrification is sure to pick up once the new South Island MTR line opens in late 2016. 2.TAKE A BAO, 6:30 P.M. What Momofuku’s David Chang has done for the steamed pork bun (a.k.a.bao) in New York, the rising chef May Chow is emulating at her Little Baorestaurant in Hong Kong, which still has lines forming shortly after its 6 p.m. nightly opening more than two years after launching. (No reser- vations.) Ms. Chow’s intimate restaurant has an American diner feel (only stools and counters for seats), with a clever fusion of Western and Asian cuisines. The truffle fries (98 Hong Kong dollars, about $12.60), for instance, come topped with shiitake tempeh, truffle mayonnaise and pickled daikon, while the fried chicken bao (78 dollars) is flavored with mouth- numbing Sichuan mayo and Chinese black vinegar glaze. Bao even appear on the dessert menu, deep-fried like doughnuts to make a heavenly green tea ice cream sandwich (48 dollars). Lan Kwai Fong. CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times 3.QUIRKY LOUNGE, 9:30 P.M. Lan Kwai Fong is party central after a long workweek — music pumps from open-air bars, and the streets rapidly fill with beer-drinking bankers, tourists and the occasional bachelorette party. It’s certainly not for everyone. But removed from the mayhem on the second floor of a commercial building is a cozier place for a nightcap — Orange Peel, the latest venture by the interior designer Joyce Peng following the closure of her popular bar, Joyce Is Not Here, a hangout for artists and musicians, in 2013. Ms. Peng keeps things quirky with her drinks list — the “Joyce Is Here” cocktail, for instance, is a mix of tequila, watermelon and prosecco (68 Hong Kong dollars) — as well as the entertainment, which spans the musical spectrum from jazz to Latin to rock, and includes a weekly poetry night. 1. Photo A hike along Dragon’s Back affords views of fishing villages, boats and beaches. CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times Saturday 4.WALKING WITH THE DRAGON, 8 A.M. Odd as it may seem, this skyscraper-studded city is a hiker’s paradise. (And we’re not talking about the steep staircases in Central.) One of the most accessible hikes to the bustling city center is the Dragon’s Back — a trail that follows an undulating ridge on the southern end of Hong Kong Island much like, well, walking on a dragon’s back. While there are longer, more arduous climbs elsewhere in the city for the serious hiker, the five-mile Dragon’s Back hike affords spectacular views of fishing villages, dinghy-filled bays and pristine beaches — and you’ll be back in plenty of time for lunch. The start is near To Tei Wan village on Shek O Road; from Tai Long Wan beach at the end, there are buses back to civilization. 5.DESIGNER DIM SUM, 11:30 A.M. It’s easy to see why Duddell’s is one of the city’s most in-demand lunchtime spots — it has prime real estate above Shanghai Tang smack in the middle of Central, a high-polish design courtesy of Ilse Crawford and a two-Michelin star kitchen. While dinners can get pricey, there’s a more reasonable all-you- can-eat dim sum brunch on weekends (from 480 Hong Kong dollars a person) in the second-floor lounge — a casual space with mismatched designer chairs, Turkish rugs, art-filled walls and a showstopper of an outdoor terrace. The rotating menu reflects the dressed-up Cantonese dining approach, mixing classics like flaky baked barbecue pork puffs with more decadent options such as mushroom and black truffle dumplings. Service is crisp and attentive. 6.INDIE HEAVEN, 1 P.M. When it comes to shopping, Hong Kong is known for its electronics, luxury goods and, for the mainland Chinese, infant formula. Now, you can add good design to that list. Two years ago, a 1950s complex that once served as the city’s “Police Married Quarters” was reopened as PMQ, a hub for independent designers and other creative types. Open Quote (Shop No. S401) has a well- curated selection of cards, CDs and books by local authors, as well as rotating art exhibitions. Elsewhere, Smith & Norbu (S404) makes bespoke eyewear from buffalo and yak horns, Soil (S307) stocks colorful lacquerware from a Myanmar studio, and Good Design Store (H401) specializes in everything Japanese, from porcelain sake cups to tenugui towels. When you need to recharge, there are plenty of well-placed cafes with views of the central courtyard. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum has a Bruce Lee exhibit. CreditLam Yik Fei for The New York Times 7.KUNG FU CULTURE, 3 P.M. Hong Kong has produced plenty of film stars, but few have left as indelible a mark on the city as Bruce Lee, the martial arts legend. To mark the 40th anniversary of Lee’s untimely death at 32, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum opened an excellent exhibition on his life in 2013, gathering memorabilia from his early years (including footage of his smooth cha-cha dance moves), along with his well-worn punching bags, old training schedules, skintight 1970s sweaters, and the famous yellow tracksuit he wore in “Game of Death,” which Lee was filming when he died. The best transport option is bus 170, which connects directly to Causeway Bay. 8.DINNER WITH A D.J., 8 P.M. When Cantonese pop songs start pumping from giant speakers, and the owner of the restaurant glides by your table doing the moonwalk in white rubber boots, you know you haven’t walked into a typical dai pai dong, the city’s once- ubiquitous, low-budget Cantonese food halls. Tung Po is traditional in a sense — diners crowd around small tables on stools, sipping beer from small bowls and sharing plates of garlic-roasted chicken (450 Hong Kong dollars) and deep-fried prawns coated in salted duck yolk (market price, usually from 533 dollars per kilogram). But when the gregarious owner Robby Cheung turns up the volume, the place suddenly morphs into a club, and the fashionable crowd starts dancing around the tables, toasting bowls of beer. This party is popular, so book ahead. 9.GIN PONG, 10 P.M. The red neon Chinese characters behind the bar at Ping Pong 129 say,“Keep your body fit,” but smoothies and health elixirs aren’t served here — gin is the drink of choice. Opened in a former Ping-Pong club in the trendy Sai Ying Pun neighborhood, the cavernous space is stocked with some 120 types of gin — many from craft distilleries in the owner Juan Martínez Gregorio’s native Spain, such as Xoriguer, a 300-year-old operation on the island of Menorca (140 Hong Kong dollars). Although there are no tables for pick-up games of Ping-Pong, the décor features elements from the venue’s former life, such as the original red street-side door and retro aluminum window frames, along with large-scale works by local artists, including Hong Kong’s most well- known graffiti artist, Tsang Tsou-Choi, a.k.a. the King of Kowloon. Sunday 10.FISHERMAN’S LIFE, 10 A.M. Tai O village is about as far as you can get from central Hong Kong — both literally and figuratively.

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