Business Travel Guide: Hong
Kong
Money,
honey. That’s what Hong Kong is—and always
has been—about. Making it and spending it are
highest on the list of how residents and visitors spend
their time. The pirates and opium trade that jump-started
HK are long gone, the 1997 Chinese takeover that was
predicted to crash the economy certainly had its influence,
and SARS put a crimp in the tourism industry, but still
the city is booming, as is evidenced by the stock-brokering,
banking, media moguling and shopping ‘til you
drop that takes place virtually round the clock. As
for those who wonder about the face of the once British
territory now that it’s had time to settle into
being a Special Administrative Region of China, it’s
as complex a combination of East and West as ever, with
its soaring skyscrapers and back alleys filled with
dim sum and astrologers. The most notable change, as
far as corporate life is concerned, is the invasion
of businesspeople from mainland China, as well as the
influx of foreign investors using HK as their gateway
to the mainland. While many argue that the city is on
an inevitable decline as a financial tiger, we say otherwise.
In fact, we feel that this is Hong Kong’s most
exhilarating moment, and there’s no better time
to do business here than now.
|
Facts
to Know Before You Go |
Currency:
HK Dollar
| Despite
a takeover by China, Hong Kong maintains autonomy
over its currency, the HK dollar, which has been
fixed since the early 1980s at HK$7.8 to the U.S.
dollar; rates in other currencies can be calculated
off their U.S. exchange. Notes are issued by three
banks (each has its own design). There are numerous
exchange outlets at the airport, and countless ATMS
throughout the city that dispense HK currency. |
Transportation:
| Opened
in 1998 on Lantau Island, Hong Kong International
Airport (www.hongkongairport.com)
serves as a major gateway to mainland China. From
here metered taxis are plentiful—flag fall
is HK$15, and the cost to the Central District is
about HK$340. But the best option for travel to
downtown, as far as we’re concerned, is the
MTR (Mass Transit Railway, www.mtr.com.hk)
Airport Express. It takes less than half an hour;
we suggest you purchase a round-trip pass at HK$180,
good for one month. In addition, check with your
hotel, as most offer free shuttle or limousine service
from the airport. Once in town, MTR is easy to use,
and unlimited use day passes are available. If you
need to take a cab, keep this in mind: red taxis
serve most destinations throughout Hong Kong, green
taxis serve New Territories and the airport, and
blue taxis serve Lantau and the airport. |
Information:
| For
daily local and international news, Hong Kong’s
English language newspapers are the South China
Morning Post and The Standard. There
are also local TV and radio stations in English.
To find out what’s going on around town each
week, check out the following free publications:
What’s On—Hong Kong (available
from the Tourist Board, www.discoverhongkong.com)
and HK Magazine (available in restaurants,
bars and shops). |
|
Ready to book a trip now?
Click here for exclusive savings. |
|
Grand
Hyatt Hong Kong
1 Harbour Rd.
Wanchai, Hong Kong
85-2-2588-1234
www.hongkong.hyatt.com
info@grandhyatt.com.hk
 In
a city flooded with venerable luxury business hotels,
Hyatt International’s flagship property offers
556 comfortable, contemporary guestrooms and suites
(the majority with Victoria Harbour views) and plenty
of business amenities. Twenty-six meeting rooms are
equipped with inter-room computer connectivity—temporary
internal networks can be set up. Accommodations come
with high-speed Internet, confidential fax machines
and interactive TVs with Internet and email capabilities
via cordless keyboards. There are eight floors of Grand
Club accommodations with extensive business perks (take
advantage of one-hour complimentary boardroom use per
day) and Specialty Suites for VIP delegations. Eight
restaurants and bars include Cantonese favorite One
Harbour Road, the dramatic high ceilings of Grissini's
with an excellent Sicilian chef, and the outdoor Grill
in the warmer months for lush steaks and superb salads.
The latest addition is a chic journey into residential
spa and wellness, Plateau, with its own Zen rooms, balconies
with city views, a cutting-edge gym, and a fabulous
pool all by designer John Morford. A notch above the
usual recreational offerings is Grand Cru, a 150-foot
motor yacht.
InterContinental
Hong Kong
18 Salisbury Rd.
Kowloon, Hong Kong
85-2-2721-1211
www.hongkong-ic.intercontinental.com
hongkong@interconti.com
 The
InterContinental takes its business hotel status seriously.
At the same time, it throws out a few surprises. Most
notably: the restaurants SPOON by Alain Ducasse and
Yan Toh Heen (see below), plus their in-house Steak
House, with an excellent wine list and enormous American
strip steaks, melting chocolate cakes, and platters
of oyster. Nobu's first non-Japanese outlet in Asia
is on the hotel's second floor. Formerly the Regent,
this waterfront hotel has a contemporary new look and
lots of business perks, including 24-hour business services,
the largest ballroom in HK and harbor view meeting rooms.
The 514 guestrooms and 92 suites (most with harbor and
island views) come with high-speed Broadband Internet
access. One notable amenity is the Club InterContinental
Executive Lounge—with all the freebies of a typical
corporate level lounge, it doesn’t require you
to stay in a corporate level room. You simply sign up
and pay a fee for the privileges. The food, dedicated
concierge, and meeting rooms here are among the best,
and the Presidential Suite is arguably the town's finest—available
by the day or for a half-day event.
Le
Meridien Cyberport
100 Cyberport Rd.
Hong Kong
85-2-2980-7788
hongkong.lemeridien.com
 With
its flashy, futuristic style (check expectations about
HK’s colonial past at the door), the Cyberport
is giving the old standbys a run for their money. And
at just 173 rooms, it’s about as boutique as it
gets among the upper echelon of business hotels. Taking
its cues from the Philippe Starck school of design,
this place is for the next generation of business travelers.
There’s wireless connectivity throughout and access
to a range of services, such as tablet PCs and cordless
digital phones. The Art + Tech guestrooms have 42-inch
plasma TVs and (take note!) glassed-walled bathrooms.
The Club Floor on the top four levels features @Lounge,
which comes with all the expected comps. Eight function
rooms enjoy the benefit of outdoor spaces. Restaurants
include Prompt, with al fresco dining.
Mandarin
Oriental, Hong Kong
5 Connaught Rd.
Central, Hong Kong
85-2-2522-0111
www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong
 When
it comes to flagship hotels, Hong Kong has its fair
share. But the Mandarin Oriental is surely the most
distinguished. Overlooking Victoria Harbour, it boasts
a guest list mingling business titans with sultans,
princesses and U.S. presidents, plus the crème
de la crème of the Hong Kong beau monde. The
style—both in the bedrooms and boardrooms—is
classic with tasteful Asian touches like silk wall hangings
and teak paneling. Most of the 486 guest rooms and 55
suites feature balconies, and all come with TV systems
that access your email, STSN plug-and-play for laptops,
and high-speed Internet access. Meeting and event spaces
are classic-contemporary. Among the excellent restaurants
are Pierre by French chef Pierre Gagnaire, Mandarin
Grill for power dining with new design by Sir Terence
Conran and the redone China House restaurant—featuring
traditional Cantonese in an Art Deco atmosphere reminiscent
of 1930s Shanghai. Tea here is still the draw for Hong
Kong society and the rose petal jam and scones are rightfully
legendary.
The
Peninsula Hong Kong
Salisbury Rd.
Kowloon, Hong Kong
85-2-2920-2888
www.peninsula.com
pen@peninsula.com
 The
Peninsula is the Grande Dame of Hong Kong hotels. Dating
back to 1928, it’s a bastion of tradition—exemplary
service, a fleet of Rolls Royce limousines (there is
now also helicopter shuttle service to the airport from
the rooftop helipad) and Gaddi’s French restaurant,
a local institution. The business center offers private
working offices, and the rooms (both in the historic
Main Building and newer tower) come with treats such
as silent fax machines and TVs with video camera playback.
At over 4,000 square-feet—and with conference
room, mini gym and private office—The Peninsula
Suite is a standout. To keep the hotel on the cutting
edge: Felix 4 (see below), a stylish contemporary restaurant
designed by Philippe Starck.
Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong
15 Queen's Rd.
Central, Hong Kong
85-2-2132-0188
www.mandarinoriental.com/landmark
lmhkg-enquiry@mohg.com
In a daring act of brand extension, the venerable Mandarin
Oriental took a jimmy-step into the world of design
and boutique hotels with their 2005-opening: the Landmark
Mandarin Oriental. This property takes its name from
the famous shopping building it inhabits. The emphasis
is on style, which draws a huge customer base of fashion
buyers, executives, and designers, but the hotel has
the business polish of the mother property with fabulous
private dining rooms, dedicated concierge services,
and lots of in-room touches from in-house business cards
to the best desk set-ups in any hotel in town. Visually,
the deep browns, creams, polished woods, and swish bathrooms
in the 113 rooms are the work of Los Angeles-based Peter
Remedios; he's also responsible for the more exotic
stylings of the spa. New Yorker Adam Tihany's playful
hand is at work in the MO Bar, where you'll likely catch
us having a newfangled high tea (wasabi in salmon finger
sandwiches) amidst the moss green chairs and sculpted
white glass bar meant to evoke a drawbridge, the lobby,
and the soigne continental-style eatery, Amber, where
3,000-plus copper rods hang from the ceiling. A fine
alternative for those wanting style without sacrificing
the infrastructure of a traditional five-key hotel.
|
 For
those seeking an alternative to the clubby, old boys’
business dining that has long been a mainstay in Hong
Kong, Felix is a breath of fresh air. The man behind the
stylish décor? Über designer Philippe Starck.
Ah, that explains it—the zinc cylinders, aluminum
wall, curving glass façades and tiny disco. Reached
by an elevator whose lights dim to set the mood as you
ascend, the restaurant is on the 28th floor of The Peninsula
Tower. The contemporary American menu is orchestrated
by an ex-French
Laundry chef. The bar makes excellent fruit martinis
and riffs on bellinis. |
Hutong
28/F One Peking Rd.
Kowloon, Hong Kong
85-2-3428-8342
|
$$$$$
|
Calvin Yeung and Mabel Wong have become the first couple
of Hong Kong’s cooking revival. They’ve followed
the tiny Shui Hu Ju with a pair of stylish eateries inspired
by up-country cooking. We had to wait in line fifteen
minutes just to ascend in the elevator to the 12th-floor
Times Square perch that houses Water Margin. Hand-carved
wooden doors and swaths of concrete give the room an ancient
feeling—with an echo. Hutong, meanwhile, is in suddenly-reviving
Kowloon and has awesome 28th-floor panoramas of the Victoria
Harbour and the cityscape. Nineteenth-century rooftops
and tables sourced from mainland markets make for a dramatic
re-imagination of the traditional Beijing courtyard. The
former is thunderous and very familial; the latter moody
and subtly glam. There are enchanting flavors to be found
at both. Many hint at the Silk Road era and represent
a sort of hybrid cooking with history as its teacher.
Steamed scallops cloaked in a sensuous pumpkin puree speak
to the earth-bound restraint of cooking in China’s
colder provinces. Bamboo clams are cut julienne-thin,
lightly bathed in rosewater, finished with hot peppers.
Lamb ribs are de-boned and then deep-fried, their primal
meatiness tamed by a chile-soy dip. Shredded pig’s
throat with scallions and coriander is transformative.
It tastes elegant and almost squid-like. |
 Though
one must wind past a hotel buffet, around a dark corner,
and through a small corridor in the Intercontinental Hong
Kong to enter the dining room, Steak House hides nothing
once a meal begins. Like the sides of creamed spinach
and mashed potatoes it pushes like any good steakhouse,
it just when to be boisterously over-the-top and just
when to sit back and let the hulking plates of Canadian
angus and Australian wagyu do the talking. Table side
presentations of different salts (Hawaiian pink, sel de
guerande) and knives (Japanese-made global or the French
classic Laguiole?) come off as cheeky and fun when done
by a smiling waiter in a red apron. And there's a smartly
purposeful under-statement to the servers that underlines
what makes the American-style steakhouse experience great
in the first place: in the end, it's a highly focused
meal that's all about the meat. Here, they're all grilled
over charcoal and—be it Dutch milk-fed veal, an
entire leg of lamb, or a bone-in ribeye—there's
a nip of smoke in the meat to offset the chew and sweet
pink juices when cooked medium rare. (Our only quibbles:
They could improve on a thicker, saltier crust and sear.
And what's that tacky salad bar?). One of Hong Kong's
best sommeliers steers guests through a fine wine list
that's strong on New World reds like American Pinot or
Rhône-style Australian. If there's any hesitation
to ordering dessert, ignore it and in fact be sure to
pre-order at least one of the chocolate fondant or apple
tarte tatin. They're cartoonishly big and admirably taste,
and that's exactly why meals here succeed. |
KEE
Club
32 Wellington St.
Central, Hong Kong
85-2-2810-9000
|
|
Capturing the zeitgeist of the new/old Hong Kong is KEE
Club on Wellington Street. Riotous fun can be had thanks
to the eclectic room—decked out with Picasso prints,
African statuettes, and a spunky retro vibe—and
a glamorous crowd. For lunch one orders from Yung Kee
downstairs, the shop famed Asia-wide for roast goose and
textbook Canton-style cooking. Deep-fried taro stuffed
with stewed pork, scallops stir-fried with lychees and
ginger, and Chui Chow dumplings are all excellent. KEE
is the private self—full of import, but sophisticated
fun when poked —that Hong Kong ought show more often
in public. By evening, the dining room is presided over
by a kitchen team which spent a half-year training with
Ferran Adria in Spain. They do Italian contemporary cuisine
here that is highly adventurous, but well-matched with
a cellar stocked to the brim with first-growth and rare
Burgundy. Late-night, the dining room turns into a lounge
for the beautiful people and celebrities of Hong Kong.
Be-friend your hotel concierge at places like Grand Hyatt
and Peninsula to get a table |
 This
former tram station, built in 1888, may seem like an unusual
option for business wining and dining, but it offers a
nice change from the typical choices. Set atop Victoria
Peak, its views over Lamma Channel—make sure to
book a table on the terrace—are superb, especially
at night. And if mist rolls in, the views may diminish,
but the already pleasant atmosphere seems to improve in
direct proportion with the glow of candlelight and charcoal
braziers to ward off the chill. Offering tandoori, satay,
linguine and grilled steak, the menu is eclectic, to say
the least. |
When it took over from the Regent, the InterContinental
put itself on the map with its superb selection of restaurants,
including the haute Yan Toh Hee. For Cantonese, it’s
among the top in town, thanks to chef Cheung Kam Chuen
(who served a stint in this same space during the hotel’s
previous incarnation). We like the earthiness of his
food, which includes signatures such as deep friend
garoupa with pine nuts and pickles. This is also a good
choice for a dim sum lunch.
|
 D-I,
as locals call it, has become a legend in both
local and global circles. Owner Gilbert Leung
hired designer India Mahdavi to create a modern
Oriental fantasy with silk lanterns, circular
banquettes, and even a birdcage on the terrace.
There's a dim sum lunch during daylight hours
and contemporary Japanese food in the evening,
but its the after-dark and late-hours action that
counts most. Models, celebrities, captains of
industry East and West all congregate here for
the scene—very, very beautiful thanks to
hundreds of models who come here nightly—and
the dance floor. |
Aqua Spirit
29-30/F One Peking Rd.
Kowloon, Hong Kong
85-2-3427-2288
aqua@aqua.com.hk
|
|
The flagship bar of the group behind Hutong sits
lofted above their 29th-floor Italian restaurant,
Aqua Roma. It's got Industrial design-style and
is barely lit save for sexy spot-lights on tables,
the radiant light of the skyline, and an under-lit
bar. The drinks, like lychee bellinis, are superb,
the wine list strong on blockbuster Italian reds
and vintage Champagne, and the lounge seating
is small, but perfectly made for business gatherings.
Reserve the couch seating next to the bar or,
for something more private, the semi-circular
booths set looking over Kowloon and its urban
sprawl in the back. |
|
Located
in the Intercontinental Hong Kong, Spoon is a trendy
place to unwind after a long day doing business.
Although SPOON is primarily a restaurant, the bar
is a great spot to meet fellow travelers and have
a cocktail in a chic atmosphere. The bar's design,
by Tony Chi, is pure fun, with a leather and chrome
bar counter, eel skin upholstered chairs, sofas
with mink cushions and 550 hand-blown glass spoons
dangling from the ceiling. |
For entertaining clients, this is one of the most
intriguing charters in Asia. The famous, high-style
restaurant group behind Hutong and Aqua has taken
their areas of expertise—dramatically chic
looks, Western style, but superb Chinese food—and
applied them to that most famous of Hong Kong
icons, the Victoria Harbour junk. It's possible
to charter the boat and do bespoke menus, cocktails,
and journeys in front of the famous skyline. The
28-meter ship was built by craftsmen in their
1980s and hand-detailed. It does 45-minute sails
daily between hong Kong and Kowloon, but can be
rented out entirely. |
Festivals
www.discoverhongkong.com
 Given
that celebrations coincide with every wax and wane of
the moon, you’ll be hard pressed to not find a
festival when you’re in town. The most notorious
is the New Year Festival in late-January or early-February,
although keep in mind that this isn’t the best
time for business travelers as many companies shut down
for the party. The Dragon Boat Festival in June is good
fun with the racing of elaborately decorated dragon
boats. One of our favorites is the Mid-Autumn Festival
in September, which finds public spaces and parks filled
with families wielding lanterns and chowing down on
moon cakes. With their feasts, fortune-telling, Chinese
opera and more, festivals offer unbeatable entertainment.
Happy
Valley Racetrack
1 Sports Rd.
Happy Valley, Hong Kong
85-2-2966-8111
www.hkjc.com/english/index.asp
 Good
luck finding a sport more popular in Hong Kong than
horse racing. It’s a must see cultural event,
particularly at the Happy Valley Racetrack, where the
first race was run in 1846. Today the track is a modern
marvel, with enormous video screens, computer betting
and room for 35,000 spectators. In season (September
through June) you can mingle with locals in the standing
room only section, or flash your passport—and
pay a small fee—for access to the exclusive Hong
Kong Jockey Club Members’ Enclosure. Races are
on Wednesday evenings and the occasional Saturday and
Sunday afternoons.
Hiking
Lantau Island
www.hiking.com.hk/english/
 For
those who think Hong Kong is all skyscrapers and stock
markets, think again. More than 40 percent of HK is
made up of nature parks. With these parks come excellent
hiking trails, particularly on Lantao Island, which
has over forty miles of marked trails. The trails are
divided into twelve sections, and if you’re looking
for the ultimate coffee break, this is it. Depending
on which section you hike, you may encounter temples,
traditional Chinese gardens, fishing villages and beaches.
The pinnacle hike: a two-and-a-half hour trek to the
top of Lantao Peak.
The
Jockey Club Kau Sai Chau Public Golf Course Limited
New Territories, Hong Kong
85-2-2791-3388
www.kscgolf.org.hk
jckscpgc@kscgolf.org.hk
 Hong
Kong has a wealth of good golf clubs (www.hkga.com),
but most are private and allow outsiders only on select
days on a first come basis. That’s one of the
things that makes this public course—the only
one in HK—so popular. With 36 holes designed by
Gary Player, it offers two courses for medium and advanced
level players. The course sits at the north end of Kau
Sai Chau Island and is considered to be one of the most
scenic in Asia. It offers a refreshing escape from the
concrete jungle, as well as a driving range and putting
facility. Priority is given to Hong Kong residents,
but being able to book a week in advance helps. Beware
windy days. |
Ready to book a trip now?
Click here for exclusive savings. |
| P092004 |
(Updated: 11/09/07 AK) |
|
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