Visit to Hong Kong (not wine related, well, not directly)

[Gavin Trott]

Hello all

best wishes of the season.

I am heading off later this year to France via Hong Kong.

I was hoping to seek some expertise and experience from the fine folks here who may have visited those parts.

I am initially seeking recommendations for accommodation in Hong Kong? Who's stayed somewhere nice, not too expensive and well located. Needs to be near an underground I think?

Ideas, experiences?

[JamieBahrain]

try zuji.com Gavin. They can have a few good deals.

Things are quiet in Honkers due recession.

[vinx]

Hello all

best wishes of the season.

I am heading off later this year to France via Hong Kong.

I was hoping to seek some expertise and experience from the fine folks here who may have visited those parts.

I am initially seeking recommendations for accommodation in Hong Kong? Who's stayed somewhere nice, not too expensive and well located. Needs to be near an underground I think?

Ideas, experiences?

I always stay at Marco Polo (5*), Gateway and Prince (4*) hotels and stayed at Marco Polo Prince early this month. You may pay bit more for accommodation but you will save time for transportaion and conveniences. They are all in Harbour City and you have access to good restaurants and fine shops all under one roof plus less than 10mins walking distance to MTR and Star Ferry to HK Central. I prefer to catch the ferry over MTR as it is far less crowded and cheap (less than a A$1) to cross to HK Island!

Let me know if you need more information.

David

[DaveB]

In Wanchai I've stayed at the Wharney and the Empire....the Empire is the best of the two and close to the MTR and about 5 minutes walk from the star ferry terminal....both seem to have pretty decent rates on Wotif.com......good cafe (Pacific Cafe from memory) across the road from both with both wireless and free internet access. There is a great bar called the Canny Man in the basement of the wharney with around 145 single malts on offer which is well worth a visit.....both are at the edge of the red light district though.

I've also stayed at the Four Seasons and the Mariott on Hong Kong Island but they are a bit X'y.

Kowloon side....the Kimberly Hotel in Tsimshatsui was very reasonable, close to the MTR and Temple Street Night Markets/Mongkok.

Eating wise....check out:

Robuchon in Macau...just got 3 Michelin Stars and worth every penny

Yung Kee...just picked up a star and has super roast goose.

Yellow Door - private kitchen/speakeasy joint...super food

Xi Yan - I actually went here with Jamie and a bunch of people visiting Vinexpo....amazing food.

http://www.xiyan.com.hk/

http://www.yellowdoorkitchen.com.hk/ecmanage/page6.php

Had some of the best meals on my visits trawling through past posts at the following website.....little eateries where you will be the only westerner for 5 blocks but the food is awesome.

http://chaxiubao.typepad.com/

[craig loves shiraz]

Having spent the most part of 2008 in HK, here's a few pointers.

Hotels;
* Pretty expensive in HK - Probably most expensive part of asia.
* If you want soemthing cheap (Say around $100aud) then try the Bishop Lei hotel. Old place but nice and clean and a pretty good spot on Robinson road at teh top of teh escalators.
* If you have a biit more cash to spend, I'd recommend hotel LKF (Lan Kwai Fong). Private hotel in the mddle of LKF. Looking at $200 a night upwards but well worth it.
* I use asiarooms.com, wired-destinations.com & wotif.com. I recommend them all.

Dining;
* If you want European/Non-chinese food head up to Soho. Just off teh escalators you'll find hundreds of restaurants. Try Cecconi's (Italian - and yes, same as one in Melbourne), Craft (Steak) and there's a couple of Tapa's places that I can't recall the name of.
* Japanese - Tokio Joes in LKF.
* Some very nice restaurants upstairs at International Finance Centre (IFC).

[Jay60A]

No comments on hotels as I stay with the brother-in-law Kowloon-side. I normally try and get to HK once a year as I did some expat-y years and met my wife there. HK is one of those places there is no need to spend a lot to eat great asian food.

Gavin, slightly off-base idea idea but Kowloon City is packed with 30-40 Thai restaurants and is basically "ThaiTown". Really worth a trip in the evening for a local experience. Take the MTR to Kowloon Tong and get a taxi from the Festival Walk shopping plaza from memory - maybe $25hkd.

For Macanese cuisine (in Macau!) that's good value and consistently excellent try A Lorcha. Non flashy but great food.

Take a trip out to Lamma island for some of the seafood restaurants if you have time. Used to be lots but Rainbow seems to dominate these days. Nice outing anyway.

Another vote for the goose at Yung Kee -- Wanchai as I remember.

I was probably more into local life than the expat scene probably as I had an expert tour guide at the time! Locals don't normally spend a lot on food unless it's an occasion where one is giving face i.e. business, weddings etc.

European food is generally a bit hit and miss and overpriced imo although the top places (often in hotels) are always amazing but also amazingly pricey.

Jay

[JamieBahrain]

Yung Kee is in Lan Kwai Fong or two minutes walk from Central staion.

A Michelin guide has just been released for Honkers.

Dining out pre-negotiate BYO. It is a must as restaurants have not passed on savings from zero wine taxation.

[Gavin Trott]

In Wanchai I've stayed at the Wharney and the Empire....the Empire is the best of the two and close to the MTR and about 5 minutes walk from the star ferry terminal....both seem to have pretty decent rates on Wotif.com......good cafe (Pacific Cafe from memory) across the road from both with both wireless and free internet access. There is a great bar called the Canny Man in the basement of the wharney with around 145 single malts on offer which is well worth a visit.....both are at the edge of the red light district though.

I've also stayed at the Four Seasons and the Mariott on Hong Kong Island but they are a bit X'y.

Kowloon side....the Kimberly Hotel in Tsimshatsui was very reasonable, close to the MTR and Temple Street Night Markets/Mongkok.

Eating wise....check out:

Robuchon in Macau...just got 3 Michelin Stars and worth every penny

Yung Kee...just picked up a star and has super roast goose.

Yellow Door - private kitchen/speakeasy joint...super food

Xi Yan - I actually went here with Jamie and a bunch of people visiting Vinexpo....amazing food.

http://www.xiyan.com.hk/

http://www.yellowdoorkitchen.com.hk/ecmanage/page6.php

Had some of the best meals on my visits trawling through past posts at the following website.....little eateries where you will be the only westerner for 5 blocks but the food is awesome.

http://chaxiubao.typepad.com/

Dave

Yellow Door sounds great.

Tell me, do they, did you BYO or just enjoy what's there?

Is it hard to book into?

[JamieBahrain]

Gavin

They do BYO. Call beforehand. I suggest a dry Southern Rhone red....

Anything else is blown out of the water.

[tpang]

Gavin, if you have the time, as others here have already suggested, you should take the hydrofoil over to Macau for abit. The food there is cheap and good, and most restaurants in the hotels have stellar wine lists.

Galera de Robuchon in the Grand Lisboa is fantastic but you'll have to make reservations. If anything, check out the wine display they have outside the restaurant. Really interesting Moutons and DRCs, with Torbrecks on the top shelf.

If that's abit over the top for you, the noodle house on the second level inside the Grand Lisboa casino serves freshly made noodles in very good soup stock. All for like $4-6.

Robuchon also got 1 Michelin star for his HK establishment but I can't quite remember where this is located.

[Gavin Trott]

Thanks for the help.

Trip is now getting very very close

Getting excited.

Hong Kong ( a favourite)

plus

many great wine producers to visit while in France!