Art of the City Hong Kong’S Mix of Creative Culture and Traditional Style

WINTER 2015 | CAAMAGAZINE.CA SANTA FE: A DIFFERENT WORLD COMPACT CROSSOVERS GROW UP ART OF THE CITY HONG KONG’S MIX OF CREATIVE CULTURE AND TRADITIONAL STYLE PM40065459 HONG KONG OLD-SCHOOL TRADITION JOINS MODERN SOPHISTICATION IN HONG KONG WORDS BY VAWN HIMMELSBACH PHOTOGRAPHY BY NAOMI FINLAY 34 CAA MAGAZINE WINTER 2015 COLOUR YOUR WORLD Opposite: Lanterns at the Man Mo Temple, which pays tribute to the gods of literature and war. This page, clockwise from top left: Find Zen with a visit to the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island; weekend brunch at Duddell’s; there are more than 100 gins to sample at Ping Pong 129; barbecued goose is prepared at the Tai Po Market; street art is ubiquitous in Hong Kong; jewelry designer Pinky Wong at PMQ CAAMAGAZINE.CA 35 HONG KONG T’S A HOT, HUMID DAY and I’m craving caffeine. Hong Kong’s food scene has exploded over the past So I head to Smoko, an industrial-chic coffee bar five years, says Celia Hu, editor of Foodie Magazine, (standing room only) for a cold-brew coffee sweetened who meets me at Lin Heung Tea House, a Hong with cucumber syrup. It’s crafted by a woman so Kong institution that’s been around since the 1920s. stylish I’m momentarily self-conscious of the fact I’m She picks up a shrimp dumpling with her chopsticks dressed head to toe in quick-dry material. Sipping my and inspects it closely; if it has 12 folds, then a master Asian-inspired drink, I turn back toward the noisy street chef has made it. (For the record, it didn’t have 12 in search of a dai pai dong (streetside food stall) for lunch. folds, but it was still delicious.) This is Hong Kong, a place that somehow manages “You get to really know a culture through its food,” to cling to its traditions despite the fast pace of change. says Hu. “You can differ on politics or whatever, From the financial hub and city centre on Hong but food is a common denominator.” In China, in Kong Island to the mainland and Kowloon Peninsula addition to the Han majority, there are 55 ethnic (reached by Star Ferry or MTR subway system), as well groups, each with their own culinary heritage. “That’s as New Territories and outlying islands beyond, the why I never get bored of Chinese food.” sprawling territory may seem intimidating at first, but But, she adds, Hong Kong has seen the emergence it’s easy to navigate by neighbourhood. Wandering its of a new kind of restaurant: “hipsterized” Chinese, alleyways and discovering its hidden treasures, you’ll where places like Ho Lee Fook and Mott 32 put a simultaneously step back in time and into the future. Western twist on classic Chinese flavours. A new So, where to start? In Hong Kong, you start with restaurant, Lai Bun Fu, pairs Chinese food with the food. You can spend a few dollars on a bowl of whiskies (think Angus beef brisket with turnip and chu noodles or head to one of its trendy restos, hidden hau bean sauce paired with 15-year-old Bowmore). speakeasies or hole-in-the-wall eateries (which just Mrs. Pound, one of Hu’s favourite spots, has a might have a Michelin star or two). Hong Kong secret entrance and offers such hybrids as bulgogi offers the best of Chinese cuisine, from Cantonese pork belly, salted egg yolk squid and rendang poutine to Sichuanese, as well as excellent French, Italian, (a spicy meat dish from Indonesia and Malaysia Japanese, Thai and Indian—to name a few. meets gravy and fries—yes, poutine has found its Morning dim sum is a ritual here. Head to a yum way to China), plus a “bohemian sour” with green cha, or traditional teahouse, where waiters wheel tea infused whisky. by with carts of dim sum in bamboo baskets. Later There’s an emerging cocktail scene in Hong Kong in the day, head to a cha chaan teng, a Western-style as well. In Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island, teahouse that emerged in 1940s Hong Kong and you’ll find stylish bars popping up in a sleepy serves everything from spaghetti and sandwiches to residential neighbourhood—often with hard-to-find wonton soup and barbecued pork. locations or secret doorways. 36 CAA MAGAZINE WINTER 2015 HIGH HOPES Left to right: Swish apps at the high-up Ozone Bar; the Pressed Juices store on Hollywood Road; the view from the sky100 observation deck on the 100th floor of the International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong’s tallest building; Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple attracts worshippers who come to pray for good fortune; Rex Yam and Joey Ku of the boutique and events space 22 Degrees North CAAMAGAZINE.CA 37 HONG KONG IS A LIGHT UP THE PLACE THAT SOMEHOW SKY Left to right: Towering skyscrapers make MANAGES TO CLING for a dramatic skyline, especially TO ITS TRADITIONS during the nightly Symphony of Lights; traditional DESPITE THE FAST PACE Chinese cuisine at Lai Bun Fu; the OF CHANGE spacey design of The Ritz-Carlton’s swanky Ozone bar; eat, shop and lounge on the beach at trendy Repulse Bay; colourful, fresh offerings at the Tai Po Market 38 CAA MAGAZINE WINTER 2015 HONG KONG One such spot is Ping Pong 129, a former ping- Joey Ku, co-founder of lifestyle shop 22 Degrees pong hall converted into a gin-and-tonic bar with North and owner of a leatherworks company more than 100 gins on offer, sourced with care by called Made in Eden, wanted a space to showcase owner Juan Martinez Gregorio. Stepping through a products from Hong Kong designers. He opened up nondescript red door, you descend a narrow staircase shop with his business partner in the Sham Shui Po into a room lined with art and vintage fixtures. neighbourhood in northwest Kowloon, converting a For some of the best city views, head to Ozone— former fabric store into a boutique with a space for Asia’s highest bar—at The Ritz-Carlton, where you concerts, exhibitions, tastings and even tango lessons. take an ear-popping elevator ride to the 118th floor. “This is Hong Kong in the 1990s—not the Enjoy a cocktail overlooking the neon lights of modern Hong Kong,” says Ku of Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong Island in a space designed to feel like referring to the handover in 1997, when sovereignty an extension of the night sky. over Hong Kong transferred from the United Like the chefs and bartenders, artists and designers Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China. Since too are setting up shop to redefine the “made in China” then China has been eagerly modernizing the concept. In the Po Hing Fong area of Sheung Wan territory, tearing down old buildings and replacing District, you’ll find the PMQ, or former Police Married them with new ones. In Sham Shui Po, however, Quarters, which was built as a housing complex for travellers can see the history of Hong Kong, with married junior police officers after the Second World its old shop-houses and markets. “This is what we War. It was recently converted into a new arts hub with should preserve,” says Ku. design studios, art galleries, pop-up shops and cafés. Just around the corner from his shop, scenes from “It’s a unique place because in Hong Kong, most the movie Transformers 4 were filmed beneath the shopping malls sell large, luxury brands. If you visit massive signboards hanging over the street. Director PMQ, you can find all the unique Hong Kong brands Michael Bay was reportedly interested in shooting in you can’t find elsewhere,” says Cheuk Yiu Wong of Sham Shui Po for its unique aesthetic as one of the PMQ Management Co. Ltd., which operates the non- oldest, most densely populated areas of Hong Kong. profit. “You can get Chanel everywhere in the world.” For a taste of Kowloon nightlife, the gritty, Mere steps away from the city’s up-and-coming working-class neighbourhood of Yau Ma Tei is a artists is Hollywood Road, one of the oldest roads in few subway stops away. Walk In Hong Kong takes Hong Kong, which is lined with antique shops and art visitors on walking tours of Kowloon at night, hitting galleries. Across the water on the Kowloon Peninsula, it’s all the highlights, like the century-year-old Yau Ma easy to step back in time—and some residents want to Tei wholesale fruit market that was once a haven for preserve that history while introducing modern elements. drug smugglers and gangsters. CAAMAGAZINE.CA 39 CAA_WIN15_COM_HongKong_v3.indd 39 2015-10-09 10:32 AM HONG KONG Nearby Temple Street turns into a lively night green hills to visit the Tian Tan Buddha (sitting at market jam-packed with vendors hawking almost 34 metres high). Or stop by the historic Tai O fishing any kind of trinket you can think of, and the village with its original stilt houses. streets are lined with food stalls, fortune tellers and This traditional side of life—along with old-fashioned singing parlours. (Here, for a fee, signboards and singing parlours—is fast disappearing singers-for-hire will perform traditional Chinese in modern-day Hong Kong. You’ll find morning songs for you or with you.) tai chi, bustling markets and Taoist temples alongside No trip to Hong Kong, though, is complete futuristic skyscrapers that put on a nightly spectacle without exploring its green spaces.

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