One of Hong Kong’s most diverse and historic neighbourhoods, Wan Chai is about to welcome a new kid on the block, with Hotel Indigo, the latest addition to the city’s skyline, due to open its doors for the first time next month.

Culturally aware… Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island

Hotel Indigo Hong Kong Island, opening in mid April, will be a dynamic addition to the fabric of Wan Chai, with its environmental design and individually styled rooms evoking the history and rich culture of one of Hong Kong’s busiest commercial districts.

Set across 29 floors, and housing 138 rooms, the hotel has been designed with the influences of local history and culture, but with a modern twist.

The building’s exterior is wrapped in what designers are calling the gold dragon - burnished bronze solar fins that function as an eco-screen to counteract hot spots and solar gain. The hotel structure is strategically positioned so to utilise the shading effect of neighbouring buildings and create a distinct pattern of sun and shade. This then creates the dramatic image of a dragon, folded around the tall structure and reaching towards a pearl at the very top of the building – a pearl otherwise known as the hotel’s glass-bottom rooftop pool.

The intimate rooftop Skybar is another interesting – and much anticipated – feature of the hotel, serving up classic cocktails, bubbles and a selection of wine as well as some tasty nibbles. But the urban views are reason enough to visit the bar and, of course, the rooftop infinity pool, where you can literally float above the Wan Chai neighbourhood.

An arresting addition to the traditional and modern architecture of Wan Chai, the hotel’s design was inspired by local stories.

Hotel General Manager, Bryan Gabriel, says, “What really sets the hotel apart is the grass roots engagement we have with our intriguing and culturally rich neighbourhood”.

“A big part of our philosophy is to inspire curiosity in our well travelled and savvy guests, connecting them with the neighbourhood from a welcoming and comfortable base that is both striking in design and intimate in its service.”

Wan Chai has many long tau, or tenement houses steeped in history. These days many are still little grocery stores and barber shops that feel distinctly like time stopped back in1962, but some have been restored and transformed, like The Pawn, one of Hong Kong’s first pawn shops and now a charming restaurant.

The old Wan Chai market and flea market at Canal Road East are nearby, and places where locals have gathered for decades – telling stories and haggling and exchanging goods. The last letter is long gone from the old colonial Wan Chai Post Office, but in it’s new guise as the Environment Resource Centre, it’s still well worth a visit.

Along with the hotel, the local government in Hong Kong has recently undertaken several urban renewal projects, including the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), Central Plaza and Hopewell Centre.

Luxurious... First Class lounge

Cathay Pacific’s flagship First Class lounge at The Wing at Hong Kong International Airport reopened its doors this month, after an extensive two-year long refurbishment.

The Wing’s new-look First Class lounge, located on the upper level of Hong Kong airport’s southern concourse, includes a champagne bar where guests are greeted with flutes of Moet and Deutz, a library room complete with ‘reading nook’, and custom-made Solus workstation chairs with a high-gloss black shell and burgundy leather interior.

Privacy... one of five cabanas

The Wing set a new standard in airline ground service when it opened its doors in 1998. With a vision to elevate the passenger experience to the next level, Cathay Pacific commissioned world-renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners to redesign The Wing. Work on the complete renovation commenced in late 2010.

Contemporary, lush furniture fills the main area of the lounge, which has a total seating capacity of 167, up from 123 in the previous design.

Then of course, there’s The Haven Bar, an offshoot of the lounge's Haven restaurant, which overlooks the airport’s boarding gates and apron. The Haven has long been a favourite among travellers and now features a ‘reinvented’ à la carte menu with recommended wine pairings as well as an expanded buffet selection.

Extensive menu... Haven restaurant

The Wing’s legendary cabanas have also had a makeover. Much like private day spa, these five rooms boast a spacious shower area, indulgent full-sized bath, and extendable day bed.

The First Class lounge also features 12 shower suites (up from three) and an in-lounge ironing service with a 10-20 minute turnaround. 

The Wing’s First Class Lounge is open to First Class passengers, Diamond Marco Polo Club members and Emerald oneworld members. Opening hours are from 5:30am until the last departure.

www.cathaypacific.com

Uncompromisingly dry... Hokusetsu sake

In the Japanese language, the word 'sake' refers to any alcoholic drink, while the beverage known as 'sake' in English is in fact 'nihonshu', meaning rice wine.

This humble Japanese beverage of fermented rice has made its way across the globe, with breweries popping up throughout Asia, America and Australia. It can be served hot, cold, or even at room temperature depending on the preference of the drinker and the quality of the sake.

For world-renowned Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, sake is all about a full embodiment of flavour and wonderful smoothness.

At his legendary restaurant, NOBU InterContinental Hong Kong, the ancient brew is celebrated with a unique eight-course Omakase menu, showcasing signature dishes and new local creations, paired with three of the most exclusive Hokusetsu YK-35 sake.

Contemporary... Chef Nobu Matsuhisa

The menu includes anago tempura, sea urchin, Serrano ham cured buri sashimi, A5 kobe wagyu striploin and wood-oven roasted lobster.

While the showcased sake includes Daiginjo YK35 Shizukuzake, extremely rare and filtered drop by drop with an elegant taste that lingers on the palette; Junmai Daiginjo YK35, clean and dry with an intense aroma; and Daiginjo YK35, crisp with a clear balance of fresh flower and fruit.

The sake pairing Omakase menu will be available on Friday 7 December and Saturday 8 December.

NOBU InterContinental Hong Kong

Second Floor, InterContinental Hong Kong

18 Salisbury Road, Kowloon

Hong Kong

Restaurant reservations: (852) 2313-2323 

www. NobuRestaurants.com

It's time to indulge... Hong Kong Wine and Dine Month

A city of culinary delights, Hong Kong's annual Wine and Dine Month has kicked off with a bang – an epicurean feast of wine-themed events paired with the edible creations of some of the city’s culinary wizards. 

Head to the city’s major foodie districts, Lan Kwai Fong, Stanley and Queen’s Road East, for lively street carnivals and dive into Hong Kong’s legendary dining scene with the Festival of Restaurants, which features some of the city's major restaurants offering creative menus and promotional prices. And serious wine buffs will appreciate the food and wine-themed tours, classes and fairs taking place all throughout November. 

For more information visit:

www.discoverhongkong.com

www.festivalofrestaurants.hk

Cocktail at the ready ... The 8pm Hong Kong Light Show

Jonathan Porter

When the sun turns traitor cold
And shivering trees are standing in a naked row
I get the urge for going, but I never seem to go

I could not have put it better than Joni Mitchell (in what I hope is fair use) of her song Urge for Going.
Indeed the idea of climbing on to a giant gleaming steel machine that’s just rolled off a production line in Seattle or Toulouse and going somewhere – anywhere – is upon me.
Right now, this very instant, is the best time ever to book a Qantas Holiday because if you book and pay in full for ANY Qantas Holidays package for departure by no later than 31 October 2012, you’ll get the chance to win back the full cost of your airfares (including taxes).
How it works is this: Qantas Holidays will draw a number on Thursday July 5 and if your departure date matches the winning number (1 – 31 coinciding with days of the month) they pay your airfare – anywhere in the world, on any class. To make your booking, visit your local travel agent, call 1300 656 722 or visit www.flyfreedraw.com.au
The offer is only open to Australian residents, so Lunch Magazine’s readers elsewhere can only dream of getting a free flight to such Qantas Holidays as a four-night tropical island stay or nine days in Phuket.
For Australians, most of whom – (those below the Brisbane Line) are shivering in their chilled conurbations close to the freezing ocean, it’s a great opportunity.
Personally as a proud Australian resident I’m going to get 30 of my mates together and each book a flight on a different day – that way we are sure to get at least one chance to thaw out for  free.
If you’re like me – and let’s face it if you’re reading this you probably are – the idea of travel for its own sake is always an awesome idea.
The megalopolis of Hong Kong beckons me at the moment. The food and shopping are unmatched on Earth, particularly with the  dollar doing so well.

Also it’s great to go to a city where things actually work – the trains run on time, they have about six tunnels under their magnificent harbour and no one makes any fuss about it.

For me it’s a great chance to have a few quiet beers and some chilli mudcrab at Under the Bridge on Lockhardt St with various expat mates who have washed up there. This is generally followed by some more libations usually, but not exclusively, either in Wan Chai or Lan Kwai Fong or at the Foreign Correspondents Club.

I’ve been fortunate enough to go there, (to Hong Kong, not the FCC, well the club too), many times, but I’ll never forget my first time. I was in my early 20s and the lights, sounds and excitement of this amazing city hit me like a diesel coming down Mount Ousley with dodgy brakes and have stayed with me ever since – the memories, not the diesel.

Qantas Holidays has a deal from $1391, which includes fares, four nights’ accommodation on the Island, which let’s face it, is right where you want to be, at the Harbour Plaza Northpoint, high tea, transfers and a tour of Hong Kong.

Where you want to be ... the Harbour Plaza Northpoint on Hong Kong Island

My Hong Kong checklist: Ride the cable car up to the Peak. Gaze across at the city and turn to your life partner and say, “Holy cow, this is awesome’’.

There is also the nightly light and laser show, The Symphony of Lights, designed by an Australian and dubbed the world's largest permanent light and sound show. It could be a great excuse to cross over to the mainland.

Pick a bar in any of the hotels along Salisbury Rd in Kowloon with a Harbour view and make sure you have a cocktail in your hand by 8pm. Take my advice: train, there – cab back, and remember they sock you a bit extra if the meter's over a certain amount, but the taxis are clean and quite inexpensive.

Alternatively you can watch the fun from Wan Chai on the Island, or even better, from the deck of a boat on a harbour cruise.

Shopping all done? Then duck across to Stanley, check out the markets and dine in one of the fishing town’s great seafood restaurants.

Checklist complete? Try to squeeze in a trip to the races at Happy Valley. Enjoy! 

This post was brought to you by Qantas Holidays www.flyfreedraw.com.au

I LOVE staying at this byword for hotel excellence.

The place is such an institution in the former colony that people come from all around the world just to stand outside the lobby and gape, blast them.

It’s worth lashing out on a corner room, too.

The last time I stayed there I was about 30 stories up, in the spa which is nestled in the furthest corner surrounded on two side by glass overlooking the harbor on one side and the city on the other.

I had had a particularly grueling flight from Sydney. I hate to say it but there’s a lower class of Englishman living and working there. Incidentally, the locals aren’t so bad in Sydney. It’s the detritus of the British Isles who arrive in old Sydney town (with a chip on their shoulder and a point to prove) keen to lord it over the locals. It’s not that I don’t mind kicking the occasional convict. especially when he’s down, but nowadays, the Australians don’t really need trumped-up scullery maids and gamekeepers trying to teach them manners – it’s really not quite the thing if you see what I’m getting at.

Anyway, I remember I was giggling with relief at being among the clouds and away from Australia and I slipped over ever so slightly and stubbed my big toe getting into the tub, spilling some gin and tonic in the process.

Such was my relief at being in a spa in the clouds that my chuckles turned into a huge belly laugh – no minor mishap was going to spoil this moment!

It’s the other little things that make the peninsula so special. The glass contrivance connected to the outside that one’s papers arrive in. Put your shoes in there and your butler can clean them without you having to interact with him. Nor do you have to leave the room.

There is one downside, and I hesitate to bring it up. But you may need to be aware that you can’t have guests in your room after midnight. Not that it mattered to me, but a friend of mine said he was coming back from dinner at around two in the morning with a new acquaintance and was informed of the rule, which the concierge alleged was for security reasons.

“This is my research assistant,’’ he stormed, to no avail and had to make arrangements for the lady in question to get home by herself after he accepted a white feather without enduring so much as a light mortaring.

This minor inconvenience is more than made up for by its excellent unobtrusive service; its eight restaurants, two bars, the spa with the ministrations of its skilled masseuses and its fleet of Rollers that pick you up from the airport and deliver you back to the sordid misery of life outside the Peninsula, where you must grimly put your shoulder to the wheel again.

Counting a helicopter, 14 Rolls-Royce Phantoms and one 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II in Peninsula Green, naturally, among its offerings of toys, the hotel recently added two new bespoke Mini Cooper S Clubmans to its fleet in celebration of the hotel’s 81st anniversary last month.

Each car is fitted with a fully stocked minibar and an iPhone/iPod connection in the front and rear.  The vehicles, perfect for beating the opposition to a bargain in Hong Kong traffic are free for guests who stay in one of the suites.

Opened in 1928, the Peninsula Hong Kong is the most historic hotel in the harbor city. A tower extension, finished in 1994, brought the building from a six-storey structure to a 30-storey high-rise, replete with its own helipad.

My room had a separate living area, spa bath and shower with at least six nozzles.

Furthermore (and I’m directly quoting from the hotel’s own gumpf here) the hotel offers a unique array of dining experiences and function venues. The Business Centre is conveniently located on the 1st floor and offers private working offices and a conference room for meetings.

For the convenience of business travelers, each room is equipped with dual-line phones, interactive voicemail system, built-in data line sockets, and dual-voltage electricity sockets.

And it’s here I must apologize for flagrantly reproducing the brochure. I’m lying in the spa bath (generously pulled by the butler) and I let my mind wander.

Yes, it’s an extraordinary sanctuary – ideal for high powered executives after a long day of work or play.

Peninsula Hotel

Salisbury Road 
Hong Kong
 2920 2888

www.peninsula.com/Hong_Kong

Georges Latour O’Kelley