Tropicana Jan-Feb 2018 #116 A Start from the Heart

THE VACATION
Pyeongchang, South Korea
Rather than stamp out a start-up spirit, recordsetting
commercial rents in Hong Kong’s wellestablished
neighbourhoods — Central, Wan Chai
and Sheung Wan among them — have inspired
an unprecedented sprawl towards this polyglot
island’s four cardinal points.
One headed south to eat the day’s catch around Aberdeen
Harbour, a natural typhoon shelter still home to a dwindling
community of Tanka and Hoklo boat-dwellers. Then came
Wong Chuk Hang, a ‘go down’ or warehouse district of
wholesale food distributors, car mechanics and Chinese
furniture-makers-turned-breeding-ground for space-seeking
art galleries and other creative enterprises; a mass transit
station is now planned for late 2016.
To help first-timers ferret out these often-unmarked
addresses, pioneers formed the South Island Cultural District
(sicd.com.hk). The nearly two-dozen-strong, mostly gallery
members scattered around Wong Chuk Hang and the
neighbouring former fishing villages of Ap Lei Chau and Tin
Wan regularly host art walks and sponsor shuttle buses from
Wan Chai on the Victoria Harbour waterfront. During the
day around Wong Chuk Hang, named after Aberdeen’s main
thoroughfare, watch for pencil-thin glamazons navigating
these still gritty sidewalks in this season’s stilettos. They’ll
be heading to One Island South, Hong Kong’s fashion
headquarters, after lunching — gluten-free — at the array
of eateries hidden within Wong Chuk Hang’s deceptively
dilapidated edifices.
Bed down: Industrial chic with home
comforts
Luring international art lovers to abandon their hotel
loyalty point tallies, and locals to head south, Ovolo
Southside’s (64 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen; 00 852
3460 8100; ovolohotels.com; doubles from £120) 162 pareddown
guestrooms balance backdrops of exposed pipes and
raw brick with creature comforts including puffed-up beds,
powerful rain showers and cosy couches angled towards the
South China Sea. Cool-kid concierges are on hand to lead
guests past loading docks and up industrial elevators to
invitation-only pop-ups and a handful of Hong Kong’s top
private kitchens.
Some of the best Wong Chuk Hang meals, however, can
be had in-house, starting with the tapas menu at the hotel’s
23rd floor rooftop lounge, where happy hour cocktails run a
very reasonable HKD$150 (£13) and include complimentary
bites from the kitchen. The hotel’s restaurant, Cirqle, is
home to one of Hong Kong’s best burgers as well as higherbrow
dishes such as Lebanese goat’s cheese and fig salad,
and seared Saltbush lamb chops with orzo tzatziki in shallot
salsa. Further freebies include citywide Wi-Fi, an all-day
snack buffet featuring bottomless jars of homemade cookies,
flexible checkout and DIY laundry.
TM | january/february 2018
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