CITY INFORMATION Countries | Hong Kong | NIGHLIFE where to go | where to eat | where to shop | diving   Cafe Austin Bar and Cafe: Fairly basic inside with painted walls, subtle lighting--in other words it is dark and a loud, loud jukebox belting out Canto pop hits, you will not find many Westerners here. Instead the tables are full of local Chinese drinkers, playing dice, knocking back buckets of beer, in a cacophony of noise, smoke and laughter. Address: 1 Austin Avenue Tsim Sha Tsui Hong Kong Phone: +852 2366 2712     Café Gypsy: The Café Gypsy is located near the mosque and right next to the Mid-levels Escalator, making this open-fronted establishment a great place to sit and watch the world go by. The fresh, wooden interior, and a great mural depicting the wines available add to the French atmosphere in which to enjoy light meals and the house speciality—crepes with a multitude of different sauces and fillings, both sweet and savoury. Address: 29 Shelley Street Mid-levels Hong Kong Phone: +852 2521 0000     TW Cafe: This secluded cafe located in Central is a fun place to relax with a coffee. The interior is clean and bright, allowing ample room for the ten or so customers that can be seated at any one time. Breakfast is the best deal so if you are staying in the vicinity and like a big meal at the start of the day--or the end, depending on your particular nocturnal habits--then this is a great diner for stocking up on energy. Address: 2 Queen Victoria Street Central Hong Kong Phone: +852 2522 9795, Fax : +852 2710 7626   Clubs Club Dream Moods: Not open to the public, Club Dream Moods caters for private parties. You can hire the whole venue complete with bar, karaoke, kitchen and disco, and party till late safe in the knowledge that no unwelcome guest will spoil the mood with loud talk, brazen behaviour and poor dancing. Address: 24-30 Ice House Street Central Hong Kong Phone: +852 2525 6414, Fax: +852 2521 6486     Westworld/Manhattan: Predominantly a Chinese disco which is popular with students, this is a fairly anonymous, large, high-tech disco with the lights, the beat, and the beautiful dancers. You need to look smart to get in and no untidy dressers get past the security personnel, unless you are famous of course. Thursday night is "ladies' night", which really means "lads"' night, because the lads come for the ladies. Address: Renaissance Harbor View, 1 Harbor Road Wanchai, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2824 0523     La Bamba: A bit of a pick-up joint, this bar is packed with middle-aged men on the hunt, supplemented by groups of lads hoping to get lucky. Harmless and fun, the big boppy La Bamba is not somewhere to go on a date, rather the place to find one. The music is typical of most Wanchai discos, a blend of Filipino house, techno and trance. Not that people come here for the fancy tunes! Address: 20 Luard Road Wanchai, Hong Kong     Bars, Pubs & Tavern The Bar: Added, it seems, almost as an afterthought to the cafe, The Bar is a small hotel bar with a "ye olde world" look made up of a wood-panelled bar counter, well-made wooden tables and chairs, and subdued lighting. Busy over lunch, this place tends to quieten down after 10pm. The crowd is a mix of hotel guests and others who like a quiet drink without a tinkling piano or a crooning three-piece band in the background. Address: 3/F, Ritz-Carlton, 3 Connaught Road Central Hong Kong Phone: +852 2877 6666, Fax: +852 2845 3910     Blue Kingdom: This basement bar offers cheap beer, Thai food, and very blue lighting, which gives the spooky impression of drinking under the ocean. As with many basement bars, this one is spacious with three main drinking areas, one of which is mysteriously referred to as the VIP room, even though it looks just like an extension to the main drinking area but with more comfortable chairs. All three areas rock to a jukebox, and dice and darts are available from behind the bar. Address: 16 Chatham Court Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2736 1369     Bull and Bear Pub: The Bull and Bear is situated in the heart of business land, where financiers, bankers, lawyers, and stockbrokers come after work and discuss matters of economics and trade. Loud and smoky in the evenings, with a big screen television in the corner, this joint tends to fill with regulars rather than tourists. This place claims to be the oldest British-style pub in Hong Kong, and it does well in replicating the British climate with fierce air-conditioning all year round! Address: G/F, Hutchinson House, 10 Harcourt Road Central Hong Kong Phone: +852 2525 7436     Chin Chin Bar: So dark, you could develop photos in the hushed, stylish darkness of the Chin Chin Bar. Definitely a place for secret rendezvous and illicit gatherings. A large wooden Buddha-like carving welcomes you into the plush, stylish interior, where business people languish at the velvet-cushioned bar counter listening to the snazzy in-house Filipino band. Address: AHyatt Regency, 67 Nathan Road Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2311 1234     Big Apple Pub & Disco: This late-night pub and disco is usually still thumping at 6am. The bar is not that great, but if you want to strut your stuff until breakfast, The Big Apple offers average hip-hop and techno as well as a band twice a week. No cover charge means that this place is popular, and the dance floor gets unbelievably packed on Sunday afternoons, so watch out! Address: LG/F, 20 Luard Road Wanchai, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2529 3461     Brewery Tap Pub: What a great deal—running from Sunday to Friday between 5pm and 9pm, you can eat as much Nepalese curry as you like for HKD50! Great food, plus an exhaustive range of draught bitters, lagers and bottled beers, makes this a top Hong Kong drinking hole. The interior is fashioned around a British pub, with wooden tables and bar chairs, and the terrace outside allows you space to relax and enjoy the flamenco guitarists entertaining diners at the restaurant opposite. Address: 66-72 Paterson Street, A-D, G/F Fashion Walk, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2576 2075, Fax: +852 2834 5038     California Bar: This well-established bar for the young and trendy is a great place to catch someone's eye—space is at a premium, so striking up a conversation, despite the noise, is never difficult. Last orders for food is at 10:30pm, and no lunch is served on Sundays, but drinking goes on until 5am over the weekends. The drinks are frighteningly expensive but if you want to mix with wild young things, this is the place. Address: G/F, California Tower 24-26 Lan Kwai Fong Hong Kong Phone: +852 2521 1345