traveldk.com

The shining pinnacle of Hong Kong bars is set in Kowloon’s famous Peninsula Hotel. Philippe Starcke designed Felix, and the result is coolness incarnate. Let the experience envelope you, beginning with the dedicated elevators and their light effects, to the untrammelled delights of Felix’s restrooms. The harbour views are an added bonus. If you plan to visit just one bar in Hong Kong, make this the one (see Felix).

Any club that has brass plaques screwed to the bar top, commemorating members who died drinking on that spot, deserves to be a legend. Open only to members and their guests.

Stunning interior design in mixed Chinese and Japanese style but with lots of New York thrown in across two completely different rooms. The Red Room dining room becomes a VIP lounge for the famous as the evening progresses, with everyone else sinking into the booths in the bronze and mirrored Playground, drinking powerful cocktails, Be stylish, or be somewhere else (see Dragon-i).

A discreet keypad and unmarked doorway on Wellington Street is the entrance to this spanking new and seriously happening club. Everyone worth knowing in Hong Kong is on its members’ list, but this means that it can be hard to gain access. Inspired by the Enlightenment concept of literary and discursive salons, Kee can sometimes be too arty by half, but it’s always worth an invitation. Assuming you’re lucky enough to score one.

This small tunnel-shaped bar crammed with beautiful people makes the perfect startto any evening. But with special prices on early evening aperitifs and around 40 wines available by the glass, it’s not long before snacks become a look at the menu, a memorable Italian meal and a rather later than planned move to elsewhere (see Di Vino).

Fulfill your sad James Bond fantasies in the padded, crepuscular interior of this 1970s topless bar, which was used as a location inThe Man with the Golden Gun . It had more character under its legendary original owner and ex-Windmill Girl, Pat Sephton. Don’t despair: for kitsch factor alone, Bottoms Up will always be a worthy pit stop (see Bottom’s Up).

At ordinary times, this tiny and utterly unremarkable bar and performance space would hardly be worth mentioning. But when a maestro is in town, the Jazz Club is the scene of legendary, impromptu jams. Believe it or not, even the likes of Wynton Marsalis and Miles Davis have played here, right in the faces of the 100 or so people lucky enough to have been there at the time.

A slacker alternative to the unremitting trendiness of SoHo and BoHo, Visage Free is the kind of bar that can disregard commercial imperatives to mount monthly poetry readings. The crowd is loyal and diverse.

Away from the rowdy main strip of Staunton Street bars sits this unremarked gem, with its inconspicuous entrance, fin-de-siècle gold drapes and sofas. The crowd is young, arts and media-slanted, and cliquey. One of SoHo’s better kept secrets: would it could stay that way (see Feather Boa).

Hong Kong is a prime Asian stop on the international DJ circuit (everyone from Fat Boy Slim to Paul Oakenfold and Carl Cox have hit the decks here), and the city has nurtured more than enough turntable talent of its own. Hong Kong’s dance parties, particularly at the cavernous HITEC venue, are well-organized affairs. Check the local media for details.